Hanoi –world’s cheapest city for tourists | Look At Vietnam

Hanoi –world’s cheapest city for tourists

June 19, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi has been rated as the cheapest destination for travelers in summer 2012 (from June 1 to August 31), according to the US website TripAdvisor.

Hanoi stood out of the surveyed cities from 48 countries which receive the largest number of visitors in the world
Criteria for ranking (TripIndex) is based on the combined costs for two people touring and staying one night at a four-star hotel, cocktails at a five-star hotel, a two-course dinner with a bottle of wine, and 2-mile long taxi fares.
Asia has six cities among the top ten cheapest localities while European cities are the most expensive with London staying atop.
The cheapest hotel room goes to Bangkok at US$81 per night, while the most expensive goes to London, at US$362 per night.
 * The top five cheapest cities:
1.    Hanoi, Vietnam (US$141.12)
2.    Beijing, China (US$159.05)
3.    Bangkok, Thailand (US$161.90)
4.    Budapest, Hungary (US$193.78)
5.    Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (US$194.43)
 * The top five most expensive cities:
1.    London (US$518.01)
2.    Oslo, Norway (US$499.91)
3.    Zurich, Switzerland (US$485.82)
4.    Paris, France (US$480.76)
5.    Stockholm, Sweden (US$472.36)
VietNamNet/VOV

“No-star hotels” charge 5-star room rates | Look At Vietnam

No-star hotels” charge 5-star room rates

June 7, 2012

LookAtVietnam – A lot of hotels and resorts in sea cities advertise
themselves as five-star hotels to overcharge guests.

Resorts give stars to themselves
At a resort advertised as five-star resort on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street in Phan
Thiet City, a guest said to a receptionist that he wanted to book 25 rooms at
the resort for a group of travelers for three days and two nights.
“Would you like to visit the rooms beforehand? This is a 5-star resort managed
by a well-known international group,” the receptionist replied the guest.
Showing the price list, she said: “These are just the quoted hotel room rates.
We can offer you a commission of 25-30 percent.”
The quoted room rates may surprise any one, because the lowest rate here was 5-6
million dong a night, while medium class room had the rates of between 9-11
million dong a night. To stay in higher class rooms, guests would have to pay
17-20 million dong a night.
The resort has a big advantage that it is located on a good position with the
view to the Ham Tien beach. However, the resort, which has been operational for
the last two years, did not do any outstanding things in material facilities in
comparison with the other hundreds of resorts in Phan Thiet City.
Hoang Van Toan from the HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism,
affirmed that the resort had not been seen in the list of ranked resorts in Binh
Thuan province.
“Therefore, the resort just gives stars to itself, while it is not recognized by
competent agencies,” Toan said.
In Binh Thuan province, according to Toan, only Sealinks Hotel has been
recognized as five star hotel. “Any others advertised five-star hotels are just
self-proclaimed,” Toan said.
According to the Binh Thuan provincial Department of Culture, Sports and
Tourism, there is one 5-star hotel in the locality, 15 4-star hotels and resorts
and 12 3-star resorts as well. However, travel firms have spontaneously
“upgraded” all the hotels here into five-star accommodations.
On the website of ChuDu24 travel firm in HCM City, for example, one would see
that there are 28 4-star resorts in Mui Ne. Anantara (which was named L’Anmien
in Phan Thiet City) and D’Annam resort in Ham Thuan Nam district, were also
introduced by the travel firm as five star hotels and compared with very famous
hotels like PalmGarden in Hoi An ancient town in Quang Nam province.
Who to believe?
Toan said that there are only three 2-star hotels on the southern coastal region
and there is no hotel or resort which can meet 3-star standards. However, the
travel firms all tell travelers that they would stay in 3-4 star resorts.
Especially a resort in Ke Ga has introduced itself as five star resort.
Le Ngoc Huu, a clerk in district 7 in HCM City, who has returned from Mui Ne
beach, said he was so disappointed about the trip.
“I booked room online before we flew there. They told me that the rooms meet
4-star standards, 1.6 million dong a night. However, the room disappointed us,”
he said.
“Besides the natural beauty, the resort cannot offer you any special thing. The
services were mediocre. Though there were few guests, the servicing staff was
slow and unfriendly. I would never stay at the resort if I return to Mui Ne,” he
said.
According to Tran Van Binh, Deputy Chair of the Binh Thuan Tourist Association,
a 3-star resort would charge 2 million dong per day, while it would charge 3
million dong if it introduces itself as four star resort. Meanwhile,
self-proclaimed five star resorts charge 7-8 million dong per day.
Source: Lao dong

New hotel development tendency: owned by Vietnamese, managed by foreigners | Look At Vietnam

New hotel development tendency: owned by Vietnamese, managed by foreigners

April 17, 2012

LookAtVietnam – A lot of well-known big hotels in Vietnam have changed
hands recently. However, they would not change their names.

A real estate expert said that he does not think Daewoo hotel would change its
name after it has a new owner, because Daewoo is a well-known strong brand in
Hanoi. The value of the merger & acquisition deal has not been revealed, but he
is sure the Vietnamese new owner had to pay for the brand as well. Besides, the
experts think it would be not a wise move if the new owner uses another name,
because this means that he would have to start the business from the very
beginning.
In most of the hotel and resort transfer deals made recently, the old brands
developed by the previous owners have been retained in accordance with the
provisions on branding which have not been made public.
BRG bought the Hilton Hotel several years ago, but the name “Hilton” still has
been associated with the hotel after it fell into the hand of the new owner.
Sovico has bought all the stakes of Furama Resort Da Nang, but it has not
intended to change its name. Similarly, Victoria, the name of the chain of
hotels and resorts, has been maintained by Thien Tourism Company after it bought
from Hong Kong’s EEM Victoria.
The expert said that the value of the material facilities of the hotels could
not be as high as the value of the brand. Meanwhile, Vietnamese enterprises now
still cannot develop new brands for their hotels. Especially, many of the new
owners do not have experience in the hotel management field; therefore, it would
not be an easy task to develop the hotels under the new names.
Besides, the foreign previous owners might have set up strict requirements in
the transfer deals to be sure that their names would not be influenced. Most of
the new investors have been keeping the same staff, especially the high ranking
management posts held by foreigners.
Analysts have commented that Vietnamese businessmen have made good bargains when
buying back the hotels which have been operating for many years and bringing
stable source of income. They believe that the businessmen would be able to
recover the investment capital just after 9 or 10 more years.
It’s easier built than managed
The strong development of hotels and resorts recently in Vietnam has caught the
attention of many management companies. A series of well-known hotel management
groups in the world have been present in Vietnam, including Six Senses, Accor or
Marriott.
To Nhu Tung, Director of a four star hotel, said that most of the hotels and
resorts belonging to Vietnamese businessmen, have still been managed by
managers. It is because Vietnamese people still lack the management skills.
There are very few 100 percent Vietnamese owned hotel management companies,
while most of them are managing the hotels built by their parent groups.
Tung’s resort has also been managed by a foreign company, even though the resort
owner has to spend a big sum of money to hire the manager.
In Vietnam, Accord Group with Sofitel and Novotel brands is managing more than
20 hotels. Meanwhile, Six Senses Resorts and Spas, which has been in Vietnam not
for a long time, is managing the big resorts in Nha Trang, Con Dao, Da Lat and
Phu Quoc island.
Ninh Van Bay, a Vietnamese tourism real estate firm also signed a contract with
the brand on the management of a resort in Khanh Hoa province. Sixsense Ninh Van
Bay, the high grade resort with 58 villas has become famous. The firm has
continued cooperating with the brand in the Six Senses Saigon River project.
Not only managing 4-5 star hotels, the brands have also reached out to three
star hotels as well. Accord, after tens of years focusing to develop Novotel
brand (4 star) and Sofitel (5 star), has decided to bring Pullman (5 star),
Mercure (3 star) and Ibis (3 star) to Vietnam through franchising contracts.
Duy Anh

Tourism increasing in Vietnam

Raising the bar

Tourist numbers are recovering but Vietnam’s hospitality sector must be fully prepared for the more choosy tourist created by the financial crisis
The performance of Vietnam’s hotels and resorts has begun to stabilise over the last few months as tourist arrivals increase and business visitors return. According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, total international arrivals in the first seven months of 2010 stood at 2.92 million, an increase of 34.9 per cent over the same period last year. 
International and local investors have re-entered the hospitality market, with new projects being launched. “Better medium- and long-term investment opportunities are appearing in Vietnam due to its stunning coastal areas, beautiful mountains and highly-populated cities,” said Mr Robert McIntosh, Executive Director of CBRE Hotels. “By capitalising on this unexplored country, a number of projects have been successfully completed and launched over recent years, making Vietnam an underrated market for hospitality investment.”

Accor, the largest international hotel operator and management group in Vietnam, with 14 hotels at present, has successfully cooperated with local and foreign investors to expand their brand names in Vietnam, such as Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel and Mercure. In Ho Chi Minh City, Accor have reached agreement with the investor, the Liberty Joint Stock Company, to manage the Novotel Saigon Center Hotel, which is being built on the site of the old Que Huong 1 Hotel, and construction of the Pullman Hotel will start in September on the site of the old Metropole Hotel in Tran Hung Dao Street, District 1. The Novotel Saigon Center Hotel, with 350 rooms, is to open in 2012, and Pullman Hotel in 2013. 

In Hanoi, Accor have also reached agreement to manage the Horison Hanoi Hotel, which will be renamed the Pullman Hotel in the middle of 2011. According to Mr Patrick Basset, Vice President for Operations for Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan and Korea at the Accor Group, within the next two years it will manage 12 more hotels in Vietnam, including two Ibis hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, a Pullman Hotel in Vung Tau, the Novotel Imperial Hoi An, and the Novotel Imperial Phu Quoc. With these new projects, Accor will be managing 2,000 more rooms, double the number now under its management in Vietnam. 

Vietnam’s hospitality market is moving to a more complex stage. Both international and local investors have made changes in cooperative relations with leading hotel management groups around the world, to enhance international standards and services. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide will manage Le Meridien Saigon, which received investment of $120 million from Phuoc Tien Ltd and the 990 Trading-Manufacturing-Services Company. The 357-room, five-star hotel will open in Quarter II, 2011. Another brand of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Westin, has also come to an agreement to manage The Westin Resort and Spa in Cam Ranh, Khanh Hoa province, which is invested by the Phat Dat Real Estate Company, when it opens in 2012. Fei Yueh Vietnam (Taiwan) also signed a contract with JAL-Hotels (Japan), to manage the Nikko Saigon Hotel, which is now under construction with investment capital of $100 million. 

Mr Mauro Gasporotti, Manager of Hospitality Services at CBRE Vietnam, remarked that Vietnam’s hospitality business has been changed by the financial crisis, with clients now becoming more demanding as more options are made available. New projects either under construction or near completion will have to face fiercer competition and more sophisticated clients than in the past. Vietnam’s hospitality sector is clearly advancing to a point where the market is ready for the development of more refined products targeting more refined clients. He added that it is necessary to have a better mix of design, quality, prices and services made possible by clear, meticulous and more informed development planning; something rarely seen before in Vietnam.

The inbound tourism market in the short- to medium term is still not clearly defined, as the client mix for city-based hotels and resorts continues to evolve. High unemployment rates in the US and Europe have had a detrimental effect on the number of westerners travelling to Southeast Asia. Conversely, the number of Chinese and Russian travellers to the continent appears to be increasing. “Looking at the short-term, the market suggests concentrating on developments and services tailored towards countries where visitor numbers are increasing,” said Mr McIntosh. “The focus will increasingly be on Asian demand.” 

Significant demand is now also coming from Vietnamese travellers. “Vietnamese clients are not the same as they were a few years ago,” said Mr McIntosh. “They are more demanding, more conscious about value and services and better informed. Developers that simply replicate existing concepts will face many difficulties in a rapidly evolving market like Vietnam.” According to Mr Gasparotti, more accurate planning and preparation, including preliminary studies of target clients, the selection of an appropriate operator and reviews of existing investment strategies are keys to a successful hospitality project.

Source: VnEconomy

Room rates at three- to five-star hotels fall 18% in first half

The room rate at three- to five-star hotels in HCMC has fallen by 18% in the first half of this year to an average of US$92 per room per night while the average room occupancy has reached around 63%, up 10 percentage points year on year, the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on Tuesday.

5-star hotels, resorts offering big discounts

Vietnam promises lucrative business for 3-star hotels

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Dalat to become five-star resort

Vinpearl in Nha Trang.

The department explained in its report that the room rate fell strongly as some international hotel management groups have cut down their rate after a period of strong rates in 2006-2007 to raise competitiveness.

In addition, greater supply of rooms has also tended to bring rates down. The city had more than 600 new three- to five-star rooms in the period, including around 300 five-star rooms at the newly opened InterContinental Asiana Saigon hotel.

According to the report, the city currently has 60 three- to five-star hotels with nearly 8,600 rooms.

While the average room tariff has fallen, the number of foreign visitors has increased 12% to1.5 million in the first half. Around 50% of the visitors come as tourists, 30% for business and the rest for other purposes, including medical treatment, according to the department.

The department commented that HCMC needed to develop new tourism products and services to attract visitors to stay and spend more time in the city instead of just dropping in for a while and then going to tourist sites elsewhere.

“The city’s tourism products are still poor. It has still not made the most of its advantages, such as rich culture and quality shopping centers, to boost tourists’ spending and their stay here,” the department said.

La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the department, had told the Daily the day earlier that the department was focusing on the two main activities, namely promoting and developing tourism products.

He said the department had completed the HCMC – One Hundred Excitements program to select 100 best tourism brands for international visitors and 100 best brands for local tourists in the city.

It is surveying the river routes in HCMC and neighboring provinces to develop river tourism.

“The city’s leaders and our department will have a meeting on Thursday to further discuss river tourism development. The city has a strong potential to develop it,” Khanh said.

The department said tourism revenue reached VND18.5 trillion in the first half of this year, up 16% year on year.

VietNamNet/SGT

HCMC earns VND3.2 tril from tourism this month

HCMC earns VND3.2 tril from tourism this month


Last update 23:07, Wednesday, 28/04/2010 (GMT+7)

 The hospitality sector has contributed about VND3.2 trillion to HCMC this month, up 14% year-on-year, bringing the tourism sector’s total revenue in the first four months of this year to VND12.6 trillion, a 19% annual increase, according to a report.
Hotel business positive in first quarter
Nha Trang offers sure bet for building hotels
Indochina Capital builds five-star hotel in Danang

The report by the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that about 230,000 international visitors had come to HCMC this month, up 10% compared to the same period in 2009. The majority of tourists arrived by air. The figure raises the total number of foreign visitors to the city to about 1.08 million, a 9% increase year-on-year.

Foreign cruise passengers arrive at the Navi Oil Port in HCM City.

The city’s tourism department said that about 60,000 local people from HCMC and other provinces traveled to foreign countries via Tan Son Nhat International Airport; however, the report did not show domestic travel figures.

The favorite outbound destinations of Vietnamese people are Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Cambodia, Western Europe, Australia and the U.S.

The Travel Management Division under the city’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Department compiled another report about hotel performance in 2010’s first quarter. Average room occupancy for three- to five-star hotels was 69%, up 8% compared to the same period in 2009 while the average room rate was down 18% at US$85 per night.

The report added that on average room occupancy at five-star hotels was 66%, 76% at four-star hotels and 70% at three-star hotels.

Average rates for a five-star standard room declined 16% to US$123, while four-star rooms cost 20% less at US$76 and three-star rooms were US$43, down 14%.

HCMC currently has 58 three- to five-star hotels with a combined 8,480 rooms, according to the Travel Management Division.

The division is yet to issue this month’s report as it is still collecting information from hotels in the city. Hotels have until mid-May to send their reports to the division.

In related news, Savills Vietnam Ltd just issued a report about hotel performance in the city in this year’s first quarter. The report highlights the different figures compared to the Hotel Management Division’s results.

According to Savills, the average rate for a five-star room was US$124 per night, US$83 for a four-star room, and US$51 for a three-star room.

The company said HCMC has 60 three- to five-star hotels with about 8,800 rooms while the division reported only 58 hotels.

New hotel shows how far conservation can go-03 March, 2010

New hotel shows how far conservation can go-03 March, 2010: "The recently re-branded Verdanza Hotel San Juan says it has gone beyond normal conservation initiatives. For example:


---“While eco-conscious practices such as recycling at hotels are expected, Verdanza has taken extra steps with initiatives such as providing disposable restaurant and picnic lunch to-go containers that are 100 percent biodegradable, made from corn resin.”


---Nearly all hotel personnel are clothed by a line of uniforms made out of 100 percent recycled polyester produced entirely from post consumer waste.


---The hotel’s kitchen houses a 250-gallon holding tank used for vegetable oil, which is recovered by a local business to be used as bio-diesel fuel to prevent thousands of gallons of used fats from contaminating landfills or polluting Puerto Rico's waterways.


--- In addition, two water tanks at the hotel collect rainwater, which is then used to supply the water for Spray Park, a low-cost step toward reducing the impact on local water supplies.


---In the hotel's administrative offices, in addition to using 100 percent recycled FSC-certified stock for stationery, everyday multipurpose office paper is produced of eucalyptus fibers from 100 percent renewable forests. Eucalyptus is a sustainable source because it is extremely fast growing, according to the hotel.


'We are working to set a new precedent in San Juan for sustainable business operations,' said Ricky Newman, general manager.


By David Wilkening"

Luxury hotels may never come back-02 March, 2010

Luxury hotels may never come back-02 March, 2010: "Luxury hotels with $1,000-a-night room rates and extravagant Caribbean resorts may face a tougher recovery than the rest of the industry, according to Marriott International Inc.


'The most over-the-top excesses will probably be a long time -- if ever-- coming back,' Marriott President Arne Sorenson said at a conference.


He drew a distinction between these hotels and the typical Ritz-Carlton luxury hotels the company operates.


Marriott's other brands include its namesake properties and Courtyards.


Sorenson added that some projects in the Caribbean, which tend to be smaller and draw locals, 'may never come back' because they rely on the kind of lavish conspicuous consumption that has gone out of vogue with travelers, reported the AP.


Of all hotels, luxury properties were the hardest hit last year. While rates sank nearly 9 percent for the U.S. industry, luxury hotels saw their rates tumble more than 16 percent, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.


By David Wilkening"

Empty hotel rooms means cheaper accommodation for tourists |Vietnam

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

Dubai hotel rates bouncing off the bottom-27 August, 2009

DUBAI - Dubai hotels experienced a substantial improvement in performance in July following sharp declines in revenues in the first half of the year.

Hotels in the emirate saw a 24 percent fall in revenue per available room (REVPAR) to US$107.09 last month compared with $141.03 in the same month last year, according to data from STR Global.

This represented a major improvement compared with the 33.9 percent decline seen in the previous month.



“The Middle East finally showed some signs of improvement, with Dubai making significant gains,” said James Chappell, the managing director of STR Global.



Occupancy levels for Dubai hotels increased last month compared with June, but were down from last year. Occupancy was 65.1 per cent last month compared with 71.7 per cent in July of last year.
.
For the Middle East as a whole, there was a 16.3 per cent drop in REVPAR to $103.17 last month from $123.27 in July last year.

Occupancy levels were down to 61.1 per cent from 68.1 per cent.



Beirut experienced the largest increase in the region, with REVPAR up 74 per cent last month to $256.15.

Healthiest hotels for guests and conventioneers-19 August, 2009

Healthiest hotels for guests and conventioneers
Where are you most likely to find healthy meetings? Health Magazine has a top ten list which includes:
• Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has stress-relief options that include a hand massage specifically for those who overuse BlackBerrys.
• Westin Hotels & Resorts’ guests work out in privacy in a number of rooms that include a treadmill or spinning cycle.
• Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts offers wellness facilities that go beyond fitness with exercises such as paddle boarding, kayak tours and outrigger canoeing. Some of the brand hotels offer organic fruits and cheeses instead of chocolate.
• Hilton Hotels Corporation has an “Eat Right” menu that features high-energy, high-fiber, low-fat offerings.
• Hyatt Hotels and Resorts has a “StayRight Hyatt” program that has a selection of workout routines catering to fitness-conscious guests.
• The Ritz-Carlton has hypoallergenic bedding, signature spas and 100 percent smoke-free properties as well as healthy features such as snowshoe hikes at colder properties. There are also various outdoor activities that include organized beach walks and tennis tournaments.
• Loews Hotels have great gym facilities and maps are available for jogging or walking.
• Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants offer nontoxic cleaning products and on-demand yoga and Pilates workouts in some rooms. Planners can take advantage of out-of-the-box approaches such as starting off the day with group yoga sessions.
• Cambria Suites offer gyms with state-of-the-art Precor equipment and a light fare bistro menu that avoids fried foods.
• The Peninsula Hotels was “inspiring spas,” and food and drink includes organic teas and coffees. A Guest Nutrition Advisor is also available.
by David Wilkening

Accor puts a million rooms up for sale-20 February, 2009

Accor puts a million rooms up for sale

SINGAPORE - Accor has launched the largest-ever hotel sale staged in the Asia Pacific region, with 1,000,000 rooms on sale throughout 13 countries.

The sale commences at midnight February 24, (midnight in the country of the hotel being booked) until 11.59pm February 26, 2009.

Rooms at more than 300 hotels will be available for stays from April 1 – July 31, 2009 with discounts of up to 75 percent booked via www.accorhotels.com/supersale

Accor Hotel brands participating in the sale include Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Mercure, all seasons and ibis.

Each participating country has a single sale rate – Australia US$52, Singapore US$60, Hong Kong US$55, Malaysia US$37 and Thailand US$38. Rates reflected are approximate US Dollar conversions at time of release.

Commenting on the launch of the three-day super sale, Accor Asia senior vice president sales and marketing, Ray Stone, said the super sale would provide a significant stimulus to regional tourism.

He added, “With an unprecedented range of cheap airfares, and now bargain hotel rooms, short-breaks and longer holidays have never been more affordable.

“People are looking for value in this difficult economic climate and these special rates will allow couples and families to get away for a quality holiday without breaking the bank.

“It will be a welcome boost to local tourism and all the businesses that rely on the industry for income and jobs.”

Thailand recovery effort is floundering, says hotelier

BANGKOK – A leading Bangkok hotelier says more can be done to restore global confidence in Thailand’s tourism sector.

Andrew J Wood, general manager of the Chaophya Park Hotel & Resort,said " My hotel occupancy this week is almost 80 percent. For the month we will finish February 09 at 60 percent, a drop of 20 percent from last year.

“I am working flat out on marketing my way out of the global slowdown so might be a few points ahead of the average, however across the board the recovery effort is floundering.

“We need action as the 5-star hotels hover at 30-40 percent occupancy and the resorts are facing possible single digit occupancy on their forward bookings radar,” said Wood.

“Much talk has happened now we need funding and action.

“We need a campaign to drive business back to Thailand that was lost to Indonesia, Australia, China, Vietnam and Japan,” Wood added,

“In my view, we need a well-orchestrated campaign that focuses on the wonderful positive aspect of Thailand's great strengths.

“It needs to draw in all the major arms of the industry, airline and travel agents and accommodation providers.

“The campaign needs to cover a broad range of media: Print, TV, radio, Internet, email and possibly new social networks like Facebook.

“This would be best-achieved with a focused, country-by-country campaign using a global media firm. The budget will be steep but the losses are already enormous.

“We need action and we need activity,” Wood added.

Thailand bouncing back

There are thousands of hotels in Thailand and it’s hard to generalize about them but overall it seems that great deals are more scarce than some foreign visitors might have hoped a few weeks ago after the airport closures in Bangkok. The general trend seems to be that business hotels in Bangkok have had trouble bouncing back but that beach resorts are doing OK. Here’s an article from today’s IHT on the topic:
In the closing weeks of 2008 it looked like Thailand might be beckoning visitors for an opportunity of a lifetime: cheap luxury hotel rooms and empty beaches. The global economic downturn combined with the seizure of Bangkok’s two main airports by protesters in late November brought the travel industry to its knees. In early December staff at Bangkok’s top five-star hotels greatly outnumbered the dwindling number of guests.
But as has happened many times in recent years when tourism suffered from disasters natural and human-made - the tsunami of 2004 and military coup of 2006 among them - the foreigners have returned to Thailand.
“It’s started to bounce back,” said Pornthip Hiranyakij, secretary general of the Tourism Council of Thailand, a travel industry association. She estimates that beach resorts in southern Thailand were about 80 to 85 percent full during the holiday season compared with about 90 percent last year.
A staff member at the high-end Four Seasons hotel in the northern city of Chiang Mai said the hotel would be “crowded” for the rest of January; on the resort islands of Samui and Phuket the beach chairs filled up for the holidays.
The Thai central bank reported this week that the weeklong closure of Bangkok’s airports by protesters cost the country 290 billion baht, or $8.3 billion, in lost income, about 3 percent of the country’s total gross domestic product.
Thailand remains a relatively cheap place to visit. Hotel Web sites are offering off-season rates for what would normally be peak season, even around Chinese New Year, when visitors from Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China normally flood the country. The Year of the Ox starts Jan. 26.
Some luxury hotels are discounting more than others. Hotels that cater to business travelers were worst affected by the cumulative effect of the business downturn, Thailand’s political crisis and the airport closure. The Conrad Hotel, which caters to business travelers and diplomats, is offering rooms for $150. By contrast the riverside Mandarin Oriental Hotel, popular with well-to-do tourists, showed no discounted rates in early January on its Web site and was offering rooms upwards of $389.
The early months of the year are traditionally considered the high season in Thailand because it rains less frequently and temperatures are generally cooler. But travel industry executives say they are most concerned about the political climate.
Thailand’s three years of political turbulence climaxed Nov. 25 with the seizure of both of Bangkok’s airports by anti-government protestors. The airports reopened eight days later, but only after hundreds of thousands of foreigners were left stranded.
Now with a new government in power and the protesters strutting victoriously - the new foreign minister was one of the anti-government protesters who shut down the airport - the tables are turned.
Supporters of the previous government are out on the street protesting. Thailand’s political crisis looks likely to drag on.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced that an upcoming summit of regional leaders would be moved from Bangkok to the beach resort town of Hua Hin because of fears protesters could disrupt the event. The summit by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which will begin Feb. 27, was initially scheduled to take place in December but was postponed because of the country’s political crisis.

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)

Hanoi hotels feel sting of economic downturn, high room rates

Hotels in Hanoi are seeing the gilded age of business going away when their room occupancy and revenue fall due to the sluggish growth in the global economy and high room tariff they have applied for a long time.

In Hanoi, the hotel market was hit by slow demand growth in 2008, as a result of a year-on-year increase of 5.8% in the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam in the first nine months of this year, or much lower than the national target of 12-17% rise.The international property services firm Savills Vietnam has released a survey showing that the 4 and 5-star hotel markets in Hanoi continued to drop in both average occupancy and room rate at 4.4% and 4.8% respectively in the third quarter of this year compared to the second quarter.
The 4-star hotels performed better than the 5-star properties in their average occupancy, at slightly higher than 70.5% and less than 60% in the first three quarters of 2008, respectively, according to the survey.
The room occupancy of 60-70% is much lower than that in previous years when there was not any “no low season” for the hotels of 4- and 5-star ratings in the capital city. Even in the third quarter of previous years, which is considered as a low tourist season, many hotels reported their average occupancy of over 90%.
An executive of a 5-star hotel in Hanoi, who asked not to be named, told the Daily on the phone that demand this year was much lower than that of previous years.
Savills Vietnam put overall revenue per available room of the 4 to 5-star hotels in Hanoi in the third quarter at around US$80 per night, and said this was a significant decrease. However, the company did not clarify how much this average revenue is lower than the same period last year.
The hotel executive and Savills Vietnam attributed the falling revenue to the impact of volatility in local and global markets, as well as higher hotel prices that luxury hotels offered over the past years because demand outstripped supply.
According to the survey, the current average room rate at 5-star hotels in Hanoi is less than US$145 per night white the rate at 4-star hotels is more than US$95 per night. These rates are exclusive of 5% service charge and 10% value-added tax.
However, the rates were lower than in HCMC where 5-star hotels publicized nearly US$158 per day, 4-star hotels charged more than US$100 per day and 3-star offered more than US$63 per day. This was one of the reasons why average occupancy was much lower-than-expected in the period, about 55.16% at 5-star hotels and 67.24% at 4-star properties in HCMC.
In Hanoi, the hotel market was hit by slow demand growth in 2008, as a result of a year-on-year increase of 5.8% in the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam in the first nine months of this year, or much lower than the national target of 12-17% rise.
However, Savills Vietnam anticipates that Hanoi’s hotel performance will perform better in the medium-term given improved economic conditions next year.
There are 15 four and five star hotels in Hanoi, or over 1.4 million room nights yearly. Hanoi’s tourism officials said this capital city would need approximately 24,000 hotel rooms, with 6,800 of 4 to 5-star ratings in 2010 when the city looks to attracting two million foreign visitors.
However, there are concerns that high building materials costs and a tight credit policy in 2008 have had a negative impact on the capacity of many developers to implement their hotel projects, resulting in some delays and even cancellations.
Savills Vietnam predicts a total of 2,000 new 4 to 5-star rooms will enter the market by 2010, and nearly 1,000 of these will be in Tu Liem District in Hanoi’s suburbs.
(Source: SGT)

Marco Polo Hotels expands in Asia

Sep. 12, 2008 (China Knowledge) - Marco Polo Hotels, one of the world's largest hotel chains, said that it will open a new outlet in Wuhan, Hubei Province on Sep. 15, 2008.

The new hotel, located in Hankou, the commercial center of Wuhan, has 380 guestrooms, providing amenities and services including a fragrance program, iPod surround sound system, complimentary Internet access and Wifi throughout the hotel.

Business facilities include a full-service business centre, a travel desk, and an exclusive club lounge with private meeting rooms. The Marco Polo Ballroom, Silk Room and multi-function rooms can accommodate up to 800 guests.

Currently, Marco Polo Hotels runs 10 outlets in Asian cities such as Hong Kong, Beijing and Xiamen, as well as the idyllic seaside city of Cebu and Davao in the Philippines. The company also plans to open new hotels in Chengdu and Wuxi in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Investors rush to cash in on building boom

Developers both foreign and domestic are rushing to build new resorts throughout Vietnam. Luxury hotels are rising above the sands, and villas carry price tags of several million US dollars.


Tourism authorities are expecting a sharp rise in the number of newly-built resorts in the country. The Hai Phong port city’s Cat Ba Island is planning to build a number of high-end resorts.

The development of tourism in Vietnam has created a boom in newly built resorts across the country. Many tourism projects worth several hundred million dollars are being implemented in Vietnam. Around 50 resort projects are waiting for licenses while 20 others are about to be built or expanded, according to statistics released the by Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

Vietnam is bestowed with many advantages such as beautiful beaches along 3,260 km of its coastline and many cultural heritage and wildlife sites throughout the country. And while political uncertainty elsewhere in the region has been worrying potential visitors, Vietnam has emerged as a safe and friendly destination in the eyes of foreign tourists.

Over 200 resorts currently operate in Vietnam, mostly based in Mui Ne - Phan Thiet of Binh Thuan Province, where there are approximately 100 resorts. The remainder are distributed across Ha Long, Cat Ba, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tay in the North and Da Nang, Hoi An, Thua Thien Hue, and Quy Nhon in the Central region.

According to the real estate advisory and management Company CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Vietnam, budget flights offered by airlines such as AirAsia, Jetstar, Tiger Airways and Hong Kong Air are bringing an increasing number of tourists to Vietnam. Moreover, visitors who travel to Vietnam for Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) purposes account for 20 per cent of the 3.6 million annual international visitors to Vietnam. This kind of tourism demands high quality complexes including entertainment and convention centres and resorts.

Jeff Tisdall, vice chairman of Kingdom Hotel Investment Group, the investor of Raffles Danang Resort project, said that Vietnam’s tourism market offered huge opportunities for investors because of lower investment costs compared to other countries. In addition, Vietnam is fully eligible for construction of luxury hotels and resorts.

Hurdles such as the acquisition of sites for resort construction and licence-granting procedures have discouraged some from investing. At the same time, however, many international real estate firms are now partnering with domestic firms, marrying capital and know-how to property and human resources, in order to successfully realise new building projects.

While the number of resorts in operation is growing at a fast clip, most projects remain small-scale. There are exceptions, though, such as the Furama Da Nang, Padanus Mui Ne, Sai Gon - Phu Quoc, Kien Giang and Vinpearl Nha Trang, among others.

Vu Quoc Thai, research director of Research and Advisory Real Estate Company VietRees, said that resort owners were now beginning to offer units as time-shares. Owners can reserve their villa for a holiday whenever they like, turning a profit for the rest of the year by renting their unit out to other vacationers.

The price range for a villa falls between VND4 - 50 billion ($250,000 - 3.125 million) depending on the location and scale of the project, as well as the investor’s brand name and prestige.

More projects will be launched in Vung Tau, Binh Thuan, Da Lat and Dong Nai provinces in the time to come, according to VietRees’ studies.

Vietnam now has 30 five-star resorts nation-wide.