It sounds like a standard hotel and resort announcement: more hotels with more addresses in a growing property in Vrindavan. Compare it to all the other events that have taken place in this town this past year, though, and it turns out that it's anything but mundane.
The hotel is approaching the important temple complex in Vrindavan, the place where it is more or less advisable to erect a hotel. It features 72 rooms, a vegetarian multi-cuisine restaurant, a rooftop pool, and a banquet hall that's large enough to host weddings and social events, basically three different types of guests that all fit in the same building: pilgrims who need a comfortable place to stay near the temples, families attending religious events, and tourists who don't want to sacrifice comfort simply because they're in a sacred town. The signing was "more than just a portfolio addition," said a company spokesman. "It's an opportunity to be a part of a place that has a deep spiritual connection to millions of people. That's pretty normal hotel jargon, but the business rationale behind it is just as much of a consideration as the words themselves.
Here's the thing. Treat Hotels is not alone in making this move now, and that's even more important than any one of their signings. Not long ago, ITC Hotels announced its first Welcomhotel in Vrindavan, in partnership with a local developer. Here too, Royal Orchid signed a Regenta Z property with an asset-light management contract, with its chairman, in particular, noting the unprecedented rise in the flow of religious tourists. And, separately, Omaxe has launched a hospitality segment valued at about Rs. The 6,200 crores, of which two out of the nineteen planned hotels will be dedicated to Vrindavan. Four different developers, four different business models, all coming into the same small town in about the same period of 12 months. This is not a coincidence; it is a real-time market repricing that is also influencing demand for commercial property in Vrindavan.
The reason for it is also not a secret. Pilgrim numbers have been increasing in Vrindavan for years, and anyone who has tried to book even a decent room at Janmashtami or Holi here can attest to the fact that even the good options book up quickly, and what's left is either too expensive or too basic. The improved access via the Yamuna Expressway has made the town easily accessible from Delhi and beyond and has brought a different kind of traveller to the area than the former, who came here purely on faith: business visitors, extended families making multi-generational trips, and an increase in the number of NRIs making short international layovers in the area.
No speculations are made by branded hotel chains. Once they're reckoned to be justified by occupancy stats and footfall trends, and once a few of their peers begin to do the same, they move in rather than risk being the last to sense the read and embark on a market that's clearly turning. Vrindavan seems to be at that juncture at this moment.
This pattern may be more of a useful indicator than the trend in tourism, for those who are interested in tracking real estate or investment opportunities in the town, rather than just trends in tourism. The arrival of a cluster of branded hotels has the power to create better infrastructure, more organised commercial activity, and increasing land interest in the pockets around them. Treat Hotels' signing of 72 key players might have been just a small step on its own, but it feels like an early sign of where Vrindavan is going next when compared to what ITC, Royal Orchid, and Omaxe have all done simultaneously.