A slew of hotels in HCM City, one of the
country’s key destinations for international tourists, has pushed down room
rates to attract guests as low occupancy has severely affected their revenues.
In the
first week of May, occupancy at many high-end hotels plunged sharply over the
same period last year.
A
popular business hotel on Dong Khoi Street in the city’s downtown recorded an
occupancy rate of 50-60%. A five-star hotel in District 5 even faced a lower
rate, at a mere 36%.
Nguyen
Anh Vu, general director of Majestic Hotel, a unit of Saigontourist Holding
Company, said his hotel’s occupancy in April dropped 11% year-on-year. In 2010
and 2011, even in the off-season, the hotel never witnessed such a low number
of guests.
However,
this year has seen the number of international visitors diminishing while
domestic customers have cut their spending on food and events. “We have 178
rooms but for days on end, the hotel is 70-80% full. Though we have launched
several promotion programs, no major improvement has been achieved,” said Vu.
He said
Majestic had events almost every day last year but this year the situation has
been somber. Customers, if any, only take small meeting rooms and spend less on
food and drinks.
Representatives
of some luxury hotels said that hotels of lower grades, two or three stars,
were enjoying better business performance because their room rates were more
competitive.
However,
this is not a general picture for two- and three-start hotels. Except for some
small two- and three-star hotels around the landmark Ben Thanh Market, others
are also experiencing tough times.
Do Dai
Ba, sales and marketing director at Lavender Hotel on Le Thanh Ton Street, said
average occupancy at his hotel was 70%, versus 80% in the year-ago period.
Despite the fairly high occupancy, Ba stressed the situation was not so
optimistic.
He said
his hotel and others in the area mostly earn from room sales and dining
services and do not serve events.
Vien
Dong Hotel, a three-star hotel on Pham Ngu Lao Street, is struggling with an
occupancy rate of 50% at the moment, way below the 70% recorded around this
time last year. “We have already lowered room rates and applied a promotion
program since mid-April, but little progress has been made. Customers have not
switched to hotels with cheaper prices, but have cut spending on hotel
services,” said Nguyen Xuan Hong, director of the hotel.
Many
hotels are also offering price discounts. Majestic Hotel currently quotes their
rooms at US$145 per night, versus the previous level of US$170.
A
luxury hotel on Dong Khoi Street has reduced their room rates from US$198 and
US$170 to US$163 and US$139 respectively. In areas farther from the downtown,
it only costs US$83 for one night at a high-grade hotel.
Saigon
Times
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