Reeling under Covid-19 impact, Patna hotels get a leg-up thanks to Bihar polls

Business has picked up for both the big and the budget hotels after the announcement of elections in Bihar.

After the prolonged dry run for months due the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown, during which their business lay in tatters, hotels in Patna are now witnessing a revival of sorts, thanks to the announcement of assembly elections in Bihar.

IPS and IAS officers attending a meeting to review preparedness for the upcoming Bihar assembly election at Hotel Maurya in Patna on Wednesday. (HT Photo/Santosh Kumar)

Because of the model code of conduct, visiting leaders of political parties are staying at hotels instead of government guest houses or other such facilities in the city. Bookings of banquet halls in hotels for meetings and press briefings have also suddenly gone up.

Patna has over a dozen big hotels, including three-star, four star and five-star facilities, besides around 200 budget hotels located on its streets and lanes near Ashok Rajpath, Boring Road, Gandhi Maidan, Jamal Road, Station Road, Kankarbagh, Saguna More and Bhattacharya Road corner.

While most of these big hotels have around 100 rooms, budget hotels have 20-25 rooms each. Over 5,000 hotel rooms are available in the city.

Most of these hotels were closed during the Covid-19 lockdown and were allowed to open and operate a couple of months ago as per the ministry of home affairs’ guidelines.

“But the good thing is that almost every big hotel has 40% to 60% occupancy these days,” says Bhola Kumar, an official from Lemon Tree, a five-star hotel in the city.

An employee of another leading hotel in the city, who preferred not to be named, said, “Because of the model code, parties cannot hire circuit houses for political activities and party offices are too small to accommodate members and media persons at press briefings.”

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Also, big spaces are needed to maintain Covid-19 protocols and social distancing, he said.

BD Singh, manager of Hotel Maurya in the city, said elections had provided them some much needed relief. “At least we now have some vehicles parked at our hotel entrance. For months, this space remained empty, without any visitor,” he said.

“The occupancy at Maurya hotel is around 40% these days. In fact, many political leaders prefer to stay here despite the fact that many new hotels have come up in the city in the last few years,” he said.

“They all have different reasons. Some find its location more convenient. But many prominent leaders prefer to be here just because they consider it lucky for them considering their past association with the property. Maurya hotel has remained a witness to changes in power,” he said.

Singh said budget hotels in the city too were gaining from elections. “Ticket seekers from different districts stay at these hotels,” he said. Besides, many entrepreneurs from other cities who handle election materials, too, are in state capital these days for work and have been occupying rooms at these hotels, he said.

TK Sinha, the top official at Hotel Chanakya, another leading hotel in the city, said the occupancy was around 50% now. “Most of the bookings are by political leaders and their associates. The banquet halls get booked for press conferences and meetings,” he said.

“Most of the hotels are still running huge losses and many have even slashed down the number of employees. All we can say is that the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the hotel industry back by 10 years,” he said.