80pc of hotel rooms in Mecca reserved

Mecca: Reservations at hotels in the central area in Mecca registered their highest operational capacity this year, and reached their peak during Ramadan, with 80 per cent reservations for all rooms and hotel suites.

Specialists in the hotel market said paid reservations reached 124,000 rooms, of a total of 155,000 rooms in the central area for the first 10 days of Ramadan, with a total value of SR1 billion.

The director of reservations and marketing at a hotel in the central area, Rida Shalabi, said the paid rates for hotel rooms reached 80pc from the total hotel rooms of 810, for prices that varied between SR1,950 and SR2,500 for one room, including breakfast for the first 10 days of Ramadan. Prices for a double room reached SR1,950; a room for three people reached SR2,200; and a room for four people reached SR2,500.

He said prices for the last 10 days of Ramadan start at SR29,000 for two people, SR32,000 for three people, and SR36,000 for four people including breakfast. He said reservations for the whole hotel during the last days of the holy month reached 100pc. All rooms were reserved during Shaban.

A receptionist in one of the hotels in the central area, Mansour Al-Harbi, said reservation rates are very high this year at 85pc in comparison with the same period last year, when it stood at 70 per cent. 

He said smart applications and communication networks helped people to complete their reservations earlier than usual. (Zawya)