Hotels sold out as ‘big fat Indian weddings’ recover from Covid shock

In seemingly good news for the hospitality industry, the big fat Indian weddings are back with a bang. Despite no ‘auspicious’ dates in October, hotels are expecting to be ‘booked out’ as Indians get ready to celebrate weddings on the pre-covid-scale.

For instance, the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur will likely be booked out from October end till February next year, as the hotel is almost sold out. The rates for the hotel have gone up by 35 per cent from the pre-Covid period, the Economic Times reported.

Generally, April, May and June have a lot of dates which are considered auspicious for weddings in India. But, the demand this year remained subdued due to Omicron spread and the subsequent restrictions in the country.

In January 2022, several hotels witnessed mass cancellations due to the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

According to the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI), in late 2021, booking cancellations for Christmas and New Year celebrations including weddings and planned events due to the surge in Covid cases had caused a loss of Rs 200 crore to the hospitality industry.

Wyndham has already clocked 100 per cent bookings on wedding dates in various Indian cities, like Chandigarh, Kochi, Dehradun, Mussoorie, Kasauli, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Udaipur and Jaipur. And Royal Orchid and Regenta Hotels present in Goa, Mussoorie, Ranthambore, and Hampi too admitted to improved demand for hotels in the wedding season according to the Economic Times report.

Hoteliers across India are looking at the wedding season with great hope as the demand is expected to surpass pre-Covid levels in the wedding season spanning from October end till March 2022.