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As New Delhi prepares to host the 18th BRICS Leaders' Summit on September 12-13, the impact is already being felt a lot farther away from the conference
halls. World leaders, senior officials, business representatives, international delegations and other visitors are prepping to descend on the capital and naturally, everyone is facing an increasingly difficult time to book or even find hotel rooms. The ones that are still on the radar are immensely difficult to book and significantly more expensive too. Read More: Destination Dupes Are The New Way To Travel For Less Money
BRICS Summit In Delhi
The BRICS summit will be held at Bharat Mandapam in Pragati Maidan and extensive security along with traffic arrangements will have to be put in place across the whole city to accommodate the movement happening on such a large scale. The surge in the demand of Delhi's luxury inventory has been put under a lot of pressure with a number of prominent and notable properties already showing limited availability while many are all booked around the summit dates.
For those who are travelling and trying to book a hotel room for September 12-13, the prices are shocking. A quick check can show that some of the Delhi's best-known properties are running deep into five figure prices with ITC Maurya touching around ₹2.5 lakh per room for the night. The Lodhi is listed at around ₹80,000, while The Claridges is around ₹65,000. At the Hyatt, rates are around ₹60,000, while The Lalit is showing rooms at approximately ₹50,000. Travellers looking towards the airport are not entirely escaping the surge either, with Hyatt Aerocity at around ₹40,000. Novotel is around ₹35,000, while Marriott is listed at approximately ₹27,000 per room.
This hotel room price surge is not just limited to the weekend surge in Delhi. This increase comes in as the demand converges on a very narrow window as the delegations and other visitors would be arriving just days before or on the day of the summit, with only few of them extending their stays. Industry executives have also pointed to the BRICS Summit as a contributor to stronger demand and higher room rates in Delhi this month. This squeeze is being particularly felt in the luxury end of the market. Recent checks of booking platforms have found that high-end properties like Taj Palace New Delhi have zero availability for parts of the September 11–13 period, while other prominent hotels were either sold out or had sharply limited inventory.
For regular travellers, that leaves a few options: pay the premium, move away from the traditional luxury belt, look at hotels in the wider NCR region or shift the dates altogether. It is also worth remembering that hotel prices are dynamic, so rates can change with fresh bookings, cancellations and rooms being released back into inventory.
A BRICS Summit Weekend That Doubles As A Long Weekend
Another important thing to note is that, with the BRICS summit falling over the weekend, Friday September 11 becomes a prominent day as this is when most of the movement is expected to happen. As a result of this, Friday has been declared a holiday for central government offices in Delhi and New Delhi as well as Delhi government offices and several associated bodies as extensive security and logistical arrangements will be put in place around the city. September 12 and 13 are Saturday and Sunday, creating a three-day break for those covered by the holiday. That makes the timing particularly convenient for people looking to step out of the capital for a short break, while visitors coming into Delhi for the summit compete for the same limited hotel inventory.
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