Properties that were worth Rs 30 crore, for instance, are being sold at a discount of over Rs 25-50 lakh.

To be sure, players in the field believe that this slowdown could benefit the big players in the market and hoteliers will look to acquire land in areas where it was otherwise difficult for them to make purchases.

"If the real estate market slows down and there is still demand for hotel rooms in that micromarket, a developer might want to mitigate his risk of holding on to unsold inventory by considering lower immediate returns in a hotel project," says Shreenath Shastry, national director (hospitality and leisure), Knight Frank (India).

In 2007, over a dozen global chains, including the Hilton, Accor, Marriott International, Berggruen Hotels, Cabana Hotels, Premier Travel Inn and InterContinental Hotels group, announced plans to set up over 350 five-star, four-star and budget hotels and 50 villas in India.

Most of these chains joined hands with real estate developers. The plans would roughly translate into 65,000 additional hotel rooms a quantum leap, considering that over the past decade the total number of hotel rooms in all categories only grew by 10 per cent to about 92,000 rooms.

The slowdown in the real state sector can, however, soften the occupancy rate of hotels in the metros and leisure destinations, say analysts.

The occupancy rate in metros at present is between 75 to 80 per cent, which could go down to around 70 per cent in the next few months as the off-season will begin. "If the off season is weaker than usual, there could be a down grading of hospitality stocks," said an analyst.

"Builders could be putting the land to commercial use as the land rates (FSI cost) are too high (more that 50 per cent of the cost of the project for a hotel), and the commercial market is bullish. Also, a particular micro market may see many hotel rooms coming up, as a result of which a non-hotelier developer may develop cold feet.

Feasibility studies to that effect have a tendency to scare a developer as it is easy to predict supply and difficult to predict demand for hotel rooms," adds Shastry.