As soon as the World Cup match between India and Pakistan was announced, booking inquiries started in hotels, which led them to push their tariff 10 times. All the hype and hoopla surrounding the high-octane clash rubbed on to the sentiments of hotel owners, who too became partakers of the festive heat.
However, due to non-availability of bookings, the prices had to be reduced by as much as 60 per cent. Against anticipation, many hotels have not received even 50 per cent bookings. Three and four-star hotels in the city which were costing Rs 30,000 for a night’s stay have come down to around Rs 15,000 now. Flurry of cancellation requests have also been received in many refundable hotels.
According to Deepjyoti Bhattacharya, manager of Cama Hotel, “When the schedule of World Cup matches was announced, the price was kept up to Rs 40,000 per night. However, due to low bookings, the prices have been reduced.”
“Currently, we are giving away rooms for as low as Rs 20,000 for a night. Almost 70 per cent booking has been done. Around 50 per cent of the rooms have been booked by NRIs. Prices may still fluctuate. Even in Lemon Tree, initially, the price was more than Rs 50,000. However, now it has reached around Rs 18,000. Close to 70 per cent bookings are for the 13th and 14th,” the manager of Golden Plaza Hotel, Arvind Sharma said. The hotel sells rooms for Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,000 in normal times.
Although the prices were hiked up to 100 per cent or even beyond because of the India-Pakistan match, so far only 25 to 30 per cent bookings have come for October 13, 14 and 15. Hence, the price may decrease by Rs 3,000to Rs 4,000 more in the coming days, insiders predict.
Jaikishan Jadwani, managing director of President Hotel and committee member of Hotels and Restaurants Gujarat, said there were 100 hotels of three star or more in Ahmedabad, in which only 1,000 rooms had been booked out of approximately 8,000 rooms. Since the remaining 7,000 rooms have not been booked, hotels have come to reduce the room rent. Apart from this, up to 50 per cent of rooms have been canceled in hotels with a refundable policy.
Meanwhile, for the first time a special train for the India vs Pakistan match will be run by the railways. Western Railway Mumbai Division Senior DCM Vineet Abhishek sent a proposal to run a special train, which has finally been approved. This train will be reserved.It will depart Mumbai Central at 9.30 pm on Oct 1 and reach Ahmedabad at 5.30 am. The special train will reach Vapi at 11.57 pm, Valsad at 12.30 pm, Surat at 1.38 pm, Vadodara at 3.40 pm. After the completion of the match, the train will return to Mumbai from Ahmedabad at 4 am on October 15.
| Hotels | Price earlier | Now | Reduced |
| Treebo Trend | 50446 | 21693 | 28753 |
| Hotel Elysian | 29600 | 25000 | 4600 |
| Summit Hotel | 19000 | 9400 | 9600 |
| The Ummed | 55000 | 44000 | 11000 |
| Pristine | 20000 | 146000 | 5400 |
| El Dorado | 25600 | 10840 | 14800 |
| Lemon Tree | 51175 | 18000 | 33000 |
| Artilla | 22000 | 12800 | 9200 |
| Silver Hieghts | 21000 | 9075 | 11925 |
| According to the hotel prices shown online | |||
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