Wedding season boom: Hotels in Corbett, Goa, Rajasthan see record bookings
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Thinking of a year-end holiday? You may not get rooms at many hotels and villas at some popular destinations in India as they are close to getting sold out already, thanks to what promises to be a bumper wedding season this year. Besides Rajasthan, destinations such as Corbett, Goa and the hill stations in the North are seeing substantially higher demand than last year, hoteliers and wedding planners said.Recent geopolitical developments, a greater number of auspicious dates and the launch of several luxury and premium properties in leisure destinations have led to a surge in demand for domestic bookings ahead of the upcoming wedding season. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to organise weddings within the country also seems to have struck a chord with wealthy Indians, industry insiders said.Wedding bookings are almost 80% higher than the same time last year for the Radisson Hotel Group, said Nikhil Sharma, managing director and chief operating officer for South Asia at the chain. 'Delhi-NCR continues to be a top choice, followed by hotels in the North and central India, especially those with large event spaces,' he said. 'Many of these hotels are already close to being sold out for the peak wedding months.'India's main wedding seasons are during November-December and from mid-January to mid-March. At luxury villa rental platform StayVista, wedding bookings this year have 'significantly' outpaced those of the previous year, said founder Ankita Sheth, adding that several villas in Goa, Kasauli, Coorg, Mussoorie and Alibaug are nearing full capacity for key dates.Monthly wedding queries that the company gets have increased to as many as 200 this year from 70-80 last year, she said.Damini Oberoi, founder of Q Events & Weddings, said customers are looking for wedding bookings for certain dates at hotels and the availability is very limited. 'With countries like Turkey being out of the picture this year, more people are preferring domestic weddings this year,' she said. 'We are fully booked from November to February. Destinations such as Mussoorie and Corbett are getting more popular and Rajasthan has more luxury hotels than before,' she added. Nidhi Sahi, founder of Enjay Events, said more luxury hotel launches are also boosting prospects for wealthy Indians looking at hosting weddings in the country.'The season usually kickstarts from November, but we are planning for an October wedding at a luxury hotel in Rajasthan. People seem to be considering hotel prices as well besides the muhurat dates,' she added. The wedding season is shaping up very strongly for the coming quarter, said Vishrut Gupta, general manager at Fairmont Udaipur Palace, the property launched last month by Accor. 'All auspicious dates are already sold out, and we are even seeing strong demand for non-auspicious dates, as many couples now prefer those months for personal reasons,' he added.
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