Corporate travellers and tourists coming to Mumbai this season must make arrangement for their stay in the city as they may otherwise face problems in finding place as most five-star hotels have been booked till March.
Most of the hospitality majors have reported occupancy of over 90 per cent this year, against 70-80 per cent last year.
"We have 390 rooms and more than 90 per cent occupancy till March 2008 and the remaining rooms are also likely to get booked in the next few days," Leela Venture's director (sales and marketing) Indrajeet Banerjee, told PTI.
The hotel's occupancy was around 80 per cent at the same time last year, he said.
Banerjee said the present rush on bookings was expected to continue till end-March, considered the end of the high season. "However, there is no longer a low season post-April as the average occupancy is at least 70-80 per cent," Banerjee added.
With the country's economy booming, international corporates and businessmen are coming to India, "high-level delegates attending different seminars are driving the growth of the industry even in non-peak seasons," he said.
Sahara Star, located near Mumbai's domestic airport, also has over 90 per cent occupancy.
"Presently, around 233 rooms are functional and we hope by 2009, 415 rooms will be functional," Sahara India Pariwar's assistant senior manager (corporate communications) Ghulam Zeeshan, said, adding that "sometimes there are bookings up to 150 per cent."
"We can say that the rush is almost equally spread all over the year for corporates. Adding to this, the months from October to December give a special boost to the hotel industry as vacation travelling increases," Zeeshan said.
Another factor contributing to the robustness in the hospitality industry is the increasing household income.
With special holiday packages now facilitating easier and convenient travel, an increasing number of people are opting for these packages, which, consequently benefits the hospitality industry.
Reflecting a similar view, General Manager of ITC Grand Central, another high-end hotel, Anil Malik said the hotel which has 242 rooms has around 95 per cent occupancy and with bookings for March 2008 having started long back.
Other five-star hotels like J W Marriot near Juhu also has 98 per cent occupancy, its spokesperson said.
