Hotel room rents highest in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi.

Luxury hotels may be seeing a decline in occupancy, but room tariffs remain amongst the highest in the world. Many are trying to increase their appeal by providing more personalised services

Three major Indian cities — Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi — have the highest room rents in the world, comparable to London, Moscow and Rome.

A study on the hospitality sector by Indusview Advisors has estimated that Bangalore had the world’s highest room rents ranging upwards of $500 a night, with Mumbai at $400-450 coming a close second and Delhi ranking third with room rents at $350.

London hotels charge $300-450, while star properties in Moscow and Rome charge between $260-350 and $140-350 respectively.

According to the study, room rents have seen an increase across the board. “The average room rate for a 5-star property is up by 27% to $160 in 2005-2006 as compared to a 3-star one which is up by 12% at $46 per night,” the study said.

Skyrocketing prices are principally because of shortage of hotel rooms. According to a report by FICCI, India has 1.05 lakh hotel rooms while just Shanghai accounts for 1.35 lakh rooms. In fact, China has 10 times the number of rooms and the US 40 times as compared to India. The New York metropolitan area itself has room’s equivalent to all of India. The tourism ministry has launched the ‘Incredible India Bed and Breakfast establishments’ as a quick-fix solution (to add an estimated 20,000-25,000 rooms) to meet the shortage of hotel rooms in the Capital in time for the Commonwealth Games.

Source : Times of India