Diaspora meet spurs hotel rush in Delhi

The three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Samaroh, which starts from January 9, has resulted in a sudden spurt in occupancies in five-star hotels here. According to sources, close to 400 rooms have already been booked in the city's leading five-star hotels.

This is going to rise further as the organisers of the summit expect at least 2,000 delegates, mostly expatriates, to attend the summit. The organisers have been able to negotiate good rates with these hotels as they have made bulk bookings.

"As of now, almost 400 hotel rooms have been booked. We expect more bookings," Amit Mitra, secretary-general, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), said. Ficci is organising the summit in association with the ministry of external affairs.

Though the bulk of the bookings have been limited to five-star hotels, four-star and three-star hotels have also seen some business.

Hotels like the Grand Intercontinental, Taj Palace, Le Meridien and Hotel Ashok, which are near the conference venue Vigyan Bhawan, are seeing the maximum rush. Sources said about 50 rooms had been booked at the Hotel Ashok at $70 a room and enquiries for more rooms are coming in.

Similarly, 100 rooms have been booked at the Grand Intercontinental. The organisers also pointed out that some of the hotels had to turn down requests for more rooms as they were completely booked.

This year, the rush for rooms is more than last year, when many delegates preferred to stay with relatives.