The Winter Session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, combined with the wedding season and several conferences, has caused a hotel room shortage in Nagpur next week. Thousands of visitors are expected to arrive starting December 16, causing hotel prices to soar. The rack rate is the standard price charged to walk-in customers who haven’t made prior bookings or negotiated rates.
Ordinary citizens traveling to Nagpur for the Winter Session will face significant challenges due to the high costs. While politicians will cover their party workers’ expenses, flight fares have skyrocketed to Rs 20,000, and train tickets are nearly sold out. Once in Nagpur, affordable accommodation will be hard to find, as both high-end and local hotels have significantly raised their prices.
According to local media reports, during the off-season, hotels offer special discounts on their rack rates, but as the peak season begins on December 16, these discounts vanish. Hoteliers take advantage of the demand, increasing prices by a substantial 200 to 300 percent, according to an analysis of online hotel rates. Experts suggest that the surge is due to the wedding season and festive bookings, with many hotels already reporting full occupancy.
For instance, Le Meridien is charging Rs 9,500 for a night on December 9, but the price will rise sharply to Rs 30,000 by December 16, remaining at that rate for the rest of the month. Similarly, Hotel Tuli Imperial’s tariff for December 9 is Rs 27,805, which will jump to Rs 17,963 on December 16. At Radisson Blu, prices will go from Rs 14,080 on December 9 to Rs 38,400 by December 16. While representatives of these hotels declined to comment, they cited increased demand due to weddings and festive bookings as the reason for the hike.
Tejinder Singh Renu, President of the Nagpur Residential Hotels Association (NRHA), explained that hotel prices are driven by supply and demand. “When demand exceeds supply, prices rise. This effect is even more pronounced when the product is scarce. Nagpur’s hotel room rates are reflective of this phenomenon during the Winter Assembly,” he said. The influx of visitors, including ministers, bureaucrats, and officials, increases demand, further compounded by bulk wedding bookings. Renu added that while not all rooms are fully booked, the demand for high-end rooms, which are limited in Nagpur, drives prices up. However, the city’s expanding hotel infrastructure is expected to provide relief in the future, stabilizing prices during peak seasons.
Travel agencies have expressed their inability to help travelers facing high hotel rates, as the surge is driven by the increased demand from visitors. Recently, airfares on the Nagpur-Mumbai route have exceeded Rs 20,000, and train seats are almost fully booked, adding to the challenges faced by travelers.