Indian Hotels may hike room tariffs

Indian Hotels may hike room tariffsIndian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), a subsidiary of Tata Group, announced on Monday that it might increase room tariffs in some segments.

Raymond Bickson, managing director of IHCL, said, "Due to seasonality, Q4 is looking strong. In Q3, we had increased room tariffs in some of our segments and we hope to improve on that during the next quarter."

Bickson announced the possibility of hiking room tariffs as the company's profit after tax increased 28.01 per cent to Rs 64.62 crore in the quarter through December 31. In the October to December quarter of the previous fiscal, the company had reported profit after tax of Rs 50.48 crore.

On consolidated basis, the company's profit after tax remained flat at Rs 49.77 crore, as compared with Rs 49 crore during the same period of last year.

Net revenues jumped to Rs 544.55 crore in the October to December period of current fiscal, against Rs 521.48 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The occupancy rate was exceptionally good in the October to December quarter and the industry average was recorded at 66 per cent. The company expects the occupancy rate to improve further to nearly 69 per cent to 70 per cent in the current quarter.

IHCL shares slipped 0.73 per cent to close at Rs 61.50 a share on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday.