Newly released figures reveal Vietnamese hotel room occupancy dropped by 30 per cent in the first eight months of 2009.
HCM CityHowever, what’s bad news for the industry is good news for bargain hunting tourists planning on visiting Viet Nam.
The information, provided by commercial real estate CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), also shows numbers of foreign tourists coming to Viet Nam has decreased by 19.7 per cent compared to the same period in 2008.
In Hanoi, the occupancy rate at three-star hotels dropped from 77 per cent last year to 43 per cent in the first six months of 2009, while the rate at four star hotels dropped from 67 per cent to 39 per cent. The rate at five star hotels dropped from 69 per cent to 50 per cent.
It’s a situation that has been mirrored in HCM City. By June the average room rate at four-star hotels had dropped from its year beginning price of $80 to just $50 per night. Five star hotels averaged a drop from $130 a night to $80.
In general, the room rate in HCM City has dropped by 25-38 percent within six months.
Though the survey makes for gloomy reading for the tourist industry, according to global hotel index provier STR Global, Vietnam is still considered a more bustling market than many others.
According to Robert Mcintosh, a senior executive of CBRE Hotels Asia Pacific, hotels are taking the right course of action in reducing room rates in order to attract more clients.
However, in some cases, hotels fear reducing room rates will badly affect brand names. Some have opted instead for launching promotional campaigns.
Mr Mcintosh added that Vietnam’s biggest problem in the hotel market remains the lack of medium range options. However he believes the situation will be quite different in three to five years.
He adds that big hotel management groups like Accor, Intercontinental and Marriot may well bring more mass market and top level brand names to further develop the market.
VietNamNet/VNE
Showing posts with label rates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rates. Show all posts
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Vietnam to let banks set rates on consumer loans
HANOI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Vietnam will allow banks to establish interest rates on consumer loans on a negotiable basis from next month, the central bank said.
The new rule, effective from Feb. 1, will allow banks to set interest rates on consumer loans outside the ceiling rate, which is equivalent to 150 percent of the base rate regulated by the central bank, bankers said.
"Banks are allowed to apply negotiable interest rates for consumer loans and credit card loans according to the central bank's lending regulation, the supply and demand of funds and borrowers' creditworthiness," the central bank said in a statement seen on Saturday.
On Friday, the central bank said it would also cut the benchmark base rate to 7 percent from Feb. 1, effectively lowering the ceiling rates to 10.5 percent, from 12.75 percent now as it moved to boost corporate borrowing to stave off an economic slowdown. (Reporting by Nguyen Nhat Lam
The new rule, effective from Feb. 1, will allow banks to set interest rates on consumer loans outside the ceiling rate, which is equivalent to 150 percent of the base rate regulated by the central bank, bankers said.
"Banks are allowed to apply negotiable interest rates for consumer loans and credit card loans according to the central bank's lending regulation, the supply and demand of funds and borrowers' creditworthiness," the central bank said in a statement seen on Saturday.
On Friday, the central bank said it would also cut the benchmark base rate to 7 percent from Feb. 1, effectively lowering the ceiling rates to 10.5 percent, from 12.75 percent now as it moved to boost corporate borrowing to stave off an economic slowdown. (Reporting by Nguyen Nhat Lam
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Hotel room rates in Vietnam remain
The average hotel room rate in Vietnam remains 10% to 15% higher than the rates in some regional countries despite efforts to reduce prices to lure travelers recently, the national tourism authority says in a report.
Some tour operators told the Daily that just hotels in big cities like Hanoi and HCMC have reduced their rates, while hotels and resorts elsewhere still keep the rate or just offer fractional cut.The Hotel Department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism says in a just-released report that local room rates at the beginning of this year were 20% to 30% higher than those in the region. However, as many local hotels have slashed hotel tariffs by 15% to 25% to cope with the decline in international arrivals, the gap has been narrowed down but is still higher than regional rivals' rates.
Some tour operators told the Daily that just hotels in big cities like Hanoi and HCMC have reduced their rates, while hotels and resorts elsewhere still keep the rate or just offer fractional cut.
"I've booked a room night of an international resort in Phan Thiet City for this Lunar New Year. The resort has increased the rate from US$79 to US$145," said Ta Thi Cam Vinh, manager of the outbound department of Ben Thanh Tourist.
She said that some small hotels surrounding the Ben Thanh Market of HCMC set the rate for foreigners at around US$40 per night, which Vinh claimed to be preventively high.
"With the rate, I can buy a three-star hotel room in Malaysia," Vinh gave comparison.
The report was presented last week in Hanoi at a meeting of the hospitality industry to seek ways to cope with the difficult situation.
According to the report, occupancy is going down especially in HCMC in Hanoi. Average occupancy at many hotels in the two cities has fallen by around 10% to 20%, while bookings for the coming months have also tumbled.
"The average occupancy of hotels in Vietnam is to reach around 49% in this year, down by 2 percentage points compared to 2007," says the report.
Some hoteliers in HCMC last week have confirmed the decline.
Now is the high season for international arrivals but many hotels have reported occupancy of about 60%. Some hotels have said that their occupancy is around 40% to 50%, or even as low as 30% in some days of the month.
"Our food and beverage revenue has also fallen. The hotel manages to maintain salary for the employees but reduces other fringe benefits," said the manager of marketing and communication at a five-star hotel.
The Hotel Department said the country has around 10,400 tourist accommodations with over 207,000 rooms. These include 31 five-star hotels with nearly 8,200 rooms, 90 four-star hotels with nearly 11,000 rooms, 175 three-star hotels with over 12,500 rooms, and 710 two-star hotels with 27,000 rooms.
In the first 11 months of the year, Vietnam's tourism has welcomed nearly 3.9 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of merely 1.1% thanks to strong increase in arrivals in initial months of this year. The number of international tourists started to fall since the middle of 2008.
At the meeting, the Hotel Department has also seen lower hotel room rates as a good way to attract more visitors to come back.
(Source: SGT)
Some tour operators told the Daily that just hotels in big cities like Hanoi and HCMC have reduced their rates, while hotels and resorts elsewhere still keep the rate or just offer fractional cut.The Hotel Department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism says in a just-released report that local room rates at the beginning of this year were 20% to 30% higher than those in the region. However, as many local hotels have slashed hotel tariffs by 15% to 25% to cope with the decline in international arrivals, the gap has been narrowed down but is still higher than regional rivals' rates.
Some tour operators told the Daily that just hotels in big cities like Hanoi and HCMC have reduced their rates, while hotels and resorts elsewhere still keep the rate or just offer fractional cut.
"I've booked a room night of an international resort in Phan Thiet City for this Lunar New Year. The resort has increased the rate from US$79 to US$145," said Ta Thi Cam Vinh, manager of the outbound department of Ben Thanh Tourist.
She said that some small hotels surrounding the Ben Thanh Market of HCMC set the rate for foreigners at around US$40 per night, which Vinh claimed to be preventively high.
"With the rate, I can buy a three-star hotel room in Malaysia," Vinh gave comparison.
The report was presented last week in Hanoi at a meeting of the hospitality industry to seek ways to cope with the difficult situation.
According to the report, occupancy is going down especially in HCMC in Hanoi. Average occupancy at many hotels in the two cities has fallen by around 10% to 20%, while bookings for the coming months have also tumbled.
"The average occupancy of hotels in Vietnam is to reach around 49% in this year, down by 2 percentage points compared to 2007," says the report.
Some hoteliers in HCMC last week have confirmed the decline.
Now is the high season for international arrivals but many hotels have reported occupancy of about 60%. Some hotels have said that their occupancy is around 40% to 50%, or even as low as 30% in some days of the month.
"Our food and beverage revenue has also fallen. The hotel manages to maintain salary for the employees but reduces other fringe benefits," said the manager of marketing and communication at a five-star hotel.
The Hotel Department said the country has around 10,400 tourist accommodations with over 207,000 rooms. These include 31 five-star hotels with nearly 8,200 rooms, 90 four-star hotels with nearly 11,000 rooms, 175 three-star hotels with over 12,500 rooms, and 710 two-star hotels with 27,000 rooms.
In the first 11 months of the year, Vietnam's tourism has welcomed nearly 3.9 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of merely 1.1% thanks to strong increase in arrivals in initial months of this year. The number of international tourists started to fall since the middle of 2008.
At the meeting, the Hotel Department has also seen lower hotel room rates as a good way to attract more visitors to come back.
(Source: SGT)
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