By optimising the room allotment system at Tirumala, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is not only providing additional rooms to thousands of devotees waiting in the queue lines, but also earning good money.
The demand-supply gap is a perennial problem at the ever-bustling Tirumala hills, while lack of information is a major impediment that further widens it. While several rooms remain unoccupied, thousands of devotees seeking shelter forms the other side of the coin. “We have identified this peculiar phenomenon and decided to plug the gap by passing on information to devotees,” TTD Executive Officer D. Sambasiva Rao said.
By making proper use of the public address system to inform devotees of vacancies, he found a significant rise in the number of devotees making a beeline to the reception counters for reserving rooms. “Devotees get dejected by seeing overflowing queues and assume that rooms are not available. The occupancy rate rose phenomenally after we started announcing the vacancy position tariff-wise and area-wise periodically,” he added.
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By allotting the same room for more than one party on a given day, the TTD ensured more than 100 per cent occupancy. As the occupancy went up by 15 per cent, the TTD generated an additional revenue of Rs. 1.7 crore in April, compared to the previous year.
Demand-supply gap plugged by announcing vacancy position through public address system
D. Sambasiva Rao
TTD Executive Officer
Demand-supply gap plugged by announcing vacancy position through public address system