Diwali Festive Stays: Room Rates Rise 17% To ₹8,500 A Night

Indians are spending more on festive travel this year, opting for luxury resorts, premium hotel suites and spacious villas over budget accommodation. Travel fintech platform Scapia reported that festive bookings have nearly quadrupled year-on-year, while room nights have increased more than 4.2 times. Want to know more about it? Read on!

On the same note, Rathinamurthy R, Head of Travel at Scapia, stated that travellers are also booking earlier and the average booking lead time has increased from around 20 days to 29 days, with nearly 16% of bookings made at least two months in advance. The report also revealed how October 2 and 3 recorded the highest number of hotel check-ins on the platform.

Luxury properties now account for nearly a third of bookings and almost two-thirds of festive travel spending. Meanwhile, bookings for villas, homestays and serviced apartments have grown 4.7 times year-on-year, outpacing the 3.9-fold rise in hotel and resort bookings.

At SaffronStays, demand is rising for larger villas with swimming pools, pickleball courts and barbecue facilities. Enquiries for short-drive destinations such as Kamshet, Mulshi, Pawna and Panchgani in Maharashtra have increased by 35-40%, said co-founder Deven Parulekar. Average nightly room rates have climbed 17% year-on-year to around ₹8,500, according to Scapia. Rates are approximately 20% higher during Dussehra and 30% higher during Diwali. Christmas and New Year’s Eve rates are nearly 40% above regular prices.

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Luxury properties are also attracting high-spending guests. Noor Mahal in Karnal, part of Marriott International, offers festive packages starting at ₹25,000 per night and going up to nearly ₹2 lakh for its penthouse. The property expects near-full occupancy on key festive dates.

Pride Hotels expects occupancy at several properties to reach the high 80s or exceed 90%, while budget hospitality chain Zostel anticipates occupancy of 87-90% during peak dates.

Short Break Destinations Are A Big Hit

Goa remains India’s most-booked domestic destination, but pilgrimage centres such as Ujjain, Rishikesh, Puri, Madurai, Tirupati and Haridwar are seeing increased hotel searches, Scapia said.

Short-break destinations, including Lonavala, Mahabaleshwar, Coorg and Ooty, are also gaining traction. Hotels report strong demand around Diwali, Navratri and Durga Puja, while Christmas and New Year’s Eve bookings are running more than seven times ahead of last year’s level at the same stage. Internationally, Singapore, Bangkok and Dubai remain popular, while bookings are growing fastest in Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and Sri Lanka.

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Which of these is your favourite destination?

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