HCMC’s hotel occupancy is falling

The Ho Chi Minh bcity's hospitality industry is facing dampened business as most hotels report a sharp fall in occupancy after a long time of good business performances, hoteliers said.

General director of Bong Sen Joint Stock Company Tran Kim Long told the Daily on Wednesday that the occupancy at the company's hotels is going down since early last month. This month, the Palace's room occupancy is around 64%, down by 10 to 15 percentage points compared to the same period of last year.

"The number of guests is falling. We are receiving individual bookings but few group bookings as seen in the same period of last year," Long from Bong Sen said.

Tao Van Nghe, general director of the Majestic hotel, said that sales of room were poorer than expected. During June to August of last year, its occupancy was 72% to 85% while this June, the occupancy is around 55% to 60%, which will likely plunged to just 50% next month, he said.

"We've never seen an average occupancy under 70% per month, and last year there was no distinction between the high season and the low season. However, we are seeing the stark contrast now, not like in the past years," he said.

A representative of the Rex hotel also said that the hotel is seeing the same situation like other hotels.

Goetze Bauer, director of marketing of the Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon, on Wednesday also said that his hotel room occupancy this month also went down by 5% compared to the same period of last year.

In a talk with the Daily early this month, Truong Vinh Tho, head of the hotel division of the Tourism Department, said that the hotel occupancy plummeted last month while March and April witnessed an increase though these were the off-season months. Many hotels fear that the room occupancy will continue to go down until September.

Bui Viet Thuy Tien, director of the travel company Asian Trails Co., Ltd, said that it was easier now to book hotel rooms for her guests compared to last year. Some hotels even offer promotions such as free airport transfer services, or give a free night for long-staying guests, she said.

"Many of our tourists travel in July and August. It was very difficult to arrange rooms for them in these months of last year, but now we can get rooms easier," she said.

Hoteliers said the inflation in Viet Nam and other countries was one of the reasons behind the situation. Furthermore, high prices of hotel rooms last year might have discouraged international visitors from coming back.

To cope with the situation, some hotels have decided to Cut down their room rates to increase the occupancy besides promotional services.

"To increase occupancy, we have discounted our room rate from US$170 to between US$120 and US$140 for groups of tourists but it is still difficult to fill up the hotel," Nghe from the Majestic hotel said.

Nghe added that his hotel this year even accepted group bookings one year in advance, while in the previous year, some hotels only confirmed rooms for tour operators on a daily basis only.

However, Goetze Bauer from the Renaissance Riverside remarked that the hotel did not see any fall in the hotel's main guests who are business travelers. He said the fall was in the number of leisure guests as induced by inflation.

"I think that it's a short-term problem. Tourists will continue to come when the inflation is solved," he said, and explained that his hotel never resorted to the price discount method.

"It's a short-term solution. You can increase occupancy quickly if you cut down rate but who will come in? We're not looking for occupancy only. We're looking for revenue and our revenue come mostly from business travelers," he added. (SGT)