Accommodation in Ayodhya costly affair with 50 days to go for opening of Ram Temple

Ayodhya's Ram Temple consecration ceremony on Jan 22, 2024 draws near; hotel rooms in the temple town almost fully booked, 7-10x normal rate. PM Modi to be chief guest, 25K Hindu religious leaders invited. 10K expected to attend, lakhs of pilgrims likely. Govt. sets price cap of ₹1,500-₹2,500 for 146 certified paying guest facilities & homestays. CM Adityanath inspects temple & airport construction, 1st phase of airport to be completed by Dec 15. PM Modi's vision of new India restoring Ayodhya's glory.

With just around 50 days to go for the long-awaited consecration ceremony of the idol of Lord Ram at the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024, hotel rooms in the temple town are almost fully booked despite being priced seven to 10 times more than the normal rates.

It is estimated that there are roughly 10,000 rooms in Ayodhya, which includes accommodation facilities in around 150 economy hotels, 30 dharamshalas (rest houses), and 20 luxury hotels.

Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be the chief guest at the event, the temple trust plans to invite eminent personalities and over 25,000 Hindu religious leaders of 136 ‘Sanatan’ traditions for the ceremony.

While the trust is expecting 10,000 people to attend the event inside the temple, lakhs of pilgrims are likely to turn up in Ayodhya with the Ram Temple set to be opened to devotees on January 23, a day after the consecration. The trust is set to feed one lakh saints and devotees every day for 30 days before the inauguration.

“While searching for rooms online, I found very few hotels offering accommodation at a price below ₹3,000 after January 15,” said Raghvendra Pratap, 52, a devotee of Ram and resident of Gomti Nagar in Lucknow, who has been planning for a year to witness the consecration.

Several hotels have claimed that their rooms are already booked from January 18 to 31, while others are charging seven to 10 times the normal rate.

“Bookings are open, but the rate is eight times higher than normal. Between January 20 and 24, a room will cost ₹8,000. Other hotels are charging even more,” said Aman Sasodan, who runs Ram Bhoomi Hotel at Panchkosi Parikrama Marg on Ranopali bypass, 3 km from the temple. The hotel’s normal daily room tariff is ₹1,000.