Easter is just around the corner and yes it is a long weekend which generally means the hospitality industry will be looking forward to more business. Or will they? The months after the protocols were lifted, business improved. Hotels reopened and staff was recruited and business improved with a large number of domestic tourists coming in. Everyone expressed relief at the change in fortunes.
Now with another long weekend, hoteliers are hoping business will be very good. Anand Chatterjee, GM of a property in the north said business was very good. He said “We are full and with his long weekend we expect to do well over this period of time. We have leisure travellers and yes some of them are foreigners from the UK. Otherwise the majority of our guests are domestic travellers from cities as diverse as Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. Importantly we are getting business at the rates we quote. We expect this trend of high occupancy to continue for the next couple of months.”
Jacob John who heads another property said business was very good with around eighty percent occupancy. He said there were guests from all over the country. He said he had nothing to complain about and expressed his confidence that business would continue in the same vein.
An executive in a star hotel who is not authorised to speak to the media said business was good but everyone was pushing hard for discounts. He said “There is business for everyone but our clients still push hard for discounts. Of course the discounts are not as deep as they were when the restrictions were lifted and everyone was looking for business. Business is good but it could be better.”
Savio Messias, hotelier and former President of the TTAG said the Easter season would be excellent because it was a long weekend. He said he had talked to his colleagues in the business and all of them had talked of groups coming from Maharashtra, Karnataka and other nearby states. He said many of them were staying for three nights and his outlet and many others were sold out. He said earlier because of the school exams, many could not make it to Goa but now with the holidays having commenced, everyone could come down without any stress. He said business would be good even for all the night spots because there was a high percentage of young people who wanted to come down and relax. He said this would add a great boost to what was already a pretty decent season.
For the several double or triple star hotels in the state business was pretty decent. An executive at a hotel in Baga said business was good but rooms were still available in the twenty eight room facility. She said domestic tourists were coming and booking rooms after some negotiation. Business, the executive said, was good and she hoped by Saturday they were full. She said it was important to earn as much because the last two years were miserable and no one could ever forget those years.
Another hotelier who has a property in Canacona which is slightly off the general path said domestic tourists were interested but were still asking for discounts which he was not willing to give. He however said he had sold out all his rooms at the rate he was asking for. He however said this was like the last push of a season that was generally mixed. He said people come to Goa and they love it but they all want deep discounts but no one seemed to want to understand that they had taken a serious hit over two years that left many of them close to bankruptcy.
Other small hoteliers said business was present and most of them were ok with the business and felt this was better than what they went through for two years.
The Easter season is the last hurrah so to speak before a lull in the season with the monsoons set to follow in a month or two.
