Kazan ahead of Moscow in hotel bookings for New Year holidays but below previous level
Currently, the occupancy rate of hotels on New Year's Eve is 70%
Kazan hotels are demonstrating greater demand than Moscow accommodation facilities: the share of rooms booked from 31 December to 2 January is currently 70% versus 60%. However, as Executive Director of the Association of Hotels of Kazan and Tatarstan Alexandra Yushutina told Realnoe Vremya, the capital of the republic is behind its own last year's figures. Then tourists began booking hotels for the holiday weekend back in September, and by the same period this year, local hotels had already achieved higher occupancy rates. Read more about the situation in the hotel sector in the newspaper’s article.
Narrowing the planning horizon
The share of rooms in Kazan hotels that are currently booked for the period from 31 December to 2 January does not exceed 70%, Executive Director of the Association of Hotels of the City and Tatarstan Alexandra Yushutina told Realnoe Vremya. The highest occupancy is expected on 3-4 January — about 80% of hotels are booked. After that, the numbers begin to gradually decline, reaching 25% on 8 January.
She suggested that the number of bookings will increase closer to the holidays themselves. The trend is more likely associated with the narrowing of the planning horizon of tourists:
“There were reports of outbreaks of acute respiratory viral infections and pneumonia. Maybe someone is in no hurry to book a room, realizing that they can get sick and cancel their trip. We expect the number of bookings to increase closer to the holiday dates.”
The popularity of daily apartment rentals also plays a role. There are no regulations to control this sector, so there is no official data on the number of booked apartments. However, Yushutina said that “daily rentals take up a fairly large percentage of hotel bookings.”
Kazan is ahead of Moscow
Despite the later booking of hotels in Kazan, the city is ahead of Moscow in terms of current indicators — in the capital, the occupancy rate for 31 December — 2 January is 60%, and for 3-4 January — 65-70%. Yushutina also linked this to the “invisible” market of daily apartment rentals.
“As for plans, in some hotels [in Kazan] the occupancy rate may reach 100%. Especially in hotels in the centre with a New Year's program or group stays. On average, I think the occupancy rate will be 85-90%. This is a good result, because 100% occupancy causes difficulties. Firstly, it is more difficult for hotels. Secondly, force majeure events happen, and sometimes it is necessary to relocate a guest. Naturally, this cannot be done with full occupancy,” she said
For comparison, last year the occupancy of Kazan hotels from 30 December to 2 January reached 81%. From 3 to 5 January, 86% of the room stock was occupied, and from 6 to 8 January — 51%.
“If the planned occupancy does not come true, some decrease in profit is possible. In addition, from January 1, we will also introduce a tourist tax. Hoteliers are quite puzzled by this. We hope that the bookings will still come. Sometimes it happens: late ignition and a large number of bookings at one time. Perhaps someone will start planning their vacation a little later,” the speaker expressed hope.
At the same time, hotels are ready for a large influx of guests, Yushutina said.
Kazan in the top for daily rental prices
Speaking of daily rentals, Kazan entered the top 5 cities in Russia for the cost of apartments per day during the New Year holidays. The average price is 6,200 rubles, TASS reports. Thus, one can indirectly judge the popularity of such accommodation in the city.
The most expensive New Year's rentals are noted at Sheregesh ski resort, where the average cost of a day in an apartment is 14,600 rubles. Next come Nizhny Novgorod (7,300 rubles), Moscow (6,800 rubles). Kazan took 4th place, ahead of Sochi (6,100 rubles) and St. Petersburg (5,700 rubles).
The average cost of renting housing in Russia as a whole for these holidays is 6,500 rubles. Over the year, prices have increased by 10%. Derbent, Ufa and Irkutsk topped the list of cities with the cheapest housing rentals during the New Year holidays, the source told the publication.
On average, tourists spend 24,000 rubles on rent. Over the year, their spending has increased by 17%. The most popular dates for bookings are 29-31 December and 2-3 January. The average rental period is four days.