The Hindu Business Line : Leelaventure hotels top revenue per room charts

IMPROVED inventory and revenue management coupled with a sustained marketing drive have helped two hotels of Hotel Leelaventure Ltd maintain their top position in terms of the revenue per available room, or revPAR, for December.

The Leela Goa has recorded a revPAR of about Rs 6,700, and the Leela Palace Rs 5,289. This is a reversal of the position in November when the Leela Palace pipped the Leela Goa.

According to a Crisil report, the Taj Mahal Hotel, Delhi, came in third with a revPAR of Rs 4,758 last December, while the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai (Rs 4,610), and The Oberoi, Delhi (Rs 4,526), placed fourth and fifth respectively.

Mr Sanjoy Pasricha, Corporate Head, Sales & Marketing, attributed the performance to the group's sales and marketing drive as well as their ability to sell a larger number of high-category rooms, namely Suites and Club Rooms. He added that better inventory and revenue management have also helped the hotel improve revPAR. (This figure is got by multiplying the number of rooms occupied by the revenue per room, and denotes the yield per room.)

The Leela Palace, Bangalore, has been topping the revPAR chart for the past four-five months and was considered among the top business hotels in the country. He added that about 65 per cent of the rooms offered at the Goa resort were suites.

An analyst with a ratings firm concurred, saying the Bangalore property has been pushing up revPAR and the trend was expected to continue into the medium term.

The performance of the two group hotels reflected the buoyancy in the hotel industry as a whole.

"After a space of three-four years, the hotel industry is on the upswing, boosted by positive sentiment in the market and proactive Government policy," Mr Pasricha said.

While the average room rent (ARR) at the Leela Goa last December was around Rs 9,500, the occupancy was at a high 85 per cent. The Leela Palace in Bangalore recorded an ARR of Rs 7,936 and occupancy of 67 per cent. He attributed the performance to the growth of BPOs in the Garden City, which has led to a sharp rise in the demand for five-star rooms.

The group's other property, The Leela at Mumbai, which came up in North Mumbai 18 years ago, has "maintained" business in a competitive and rapidly expanding market. North Mumbai has seen more than 2,000 premium category rooms being added in a short span of three years.

The Leela, Mumbai, has recorded an average occupancy of 71.2 per cent in December with the ARR being Rs 4,073 and the revPAR Rs 2,901.

Mr Pasricha pointed out that the new premium category hotels in North Mumbai, including the ITC Grand Maratha, The Hyatt, The Intercontinental, and the Le Meridien, have gained favour with clients on account of their "newness".

The Leela group was reinvesting money in its Mumbai property to guard against a "dilution of the brand image".

While the Coffee Shop and the Indian Restaurant have been relaunched as the `Citrus' and `Jamavar,' following the success of the brands at the Leela Palace in Bangalore, the bar is now under renovation with the Chinese restaurant next in line.

The hotel would also upgrade all its 425 rooms over the next 10 months to present what would be a new product by October-November this year, in time for the next tourist season, he added.