Mumbai hotels fully booked ahead of World Cup final

The city has more than 12,000 rooms across categories like three, four and five star hotels and economy hotels which are fully booked ahead of the Cricket World Cup final.

"Apart from the economy rooms and other hotels that come under the unorganised sector, there are around 8,000-odd rooms available in Mumbai," Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) president Kamlesh Barot told IANS.

"Most rooms are booked and we have inquires pouring in. More than 20 percent of the rooms are booked owing to the World Cup final," he said. According to Barot, around 75 percent of rooms were already booked before the World Cup madness took over. "These were our regular bookings, mostly not related to the World Cup."

"But more than 20 percent of reservations were made in the last few days owing to the final. The calls and inquiries were at a high after India's victory over Pakistan Wednesday in Mohali," Barot said.

He said hotels like the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, Oberoi, Trident, The Diplomat, Emerald Suites and Hotel Transit are booked to their full capacity.   A small hotel in terms of the number of rooms, but very close to the Wankhede Stadium in south Mumbai, the Shalimar Hotel's rooms got booked real fast.

"Being a hotel close to the stadium, we are already full for the final. Most of the rooms have been booked in advance," said George Mathew, general manager of the Shalimar.
"We have a room inventory of 65 and most of them are already sold. Since this morning we have received several inquiries about room bookings, but we can't do much as we have a small inventory," he added.

Not deterred by the distances, cricket fans did not mind going to north Mumbai in search of accommodation. All 225 rooms of the Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport (HIMIA) have been booked owing to the final. More than 50 percent of the hotel's bookings are due to the World Cup match, a hotel official said.

"Even as the reservations were made over a period of last two weeks, several reservations were made after India won the semifinal against Pakistan in Mohali," said Samit Ganguly, director of sales and marketing of HIMIA. "We are sitting on a high occupancy, primarily because of the support of fans and the cricket fanatics," he added.