Despite low occupancy rates and a drop in the number of Chinese tourists in May and June, high-end hotels in Vietnam showed increases in room rates and revenue per room in the first half of the year, according to consulting firm Grant Thornton Vietnam.

The company said in its report released on September 30 that RevPAR (revenue per available room) of 4-and 5-star in the first half of the year increased by 1.7 percent compared with the growth of 4.2 percent in the same period last year. It grew from 56.6 USD to 57.6 USD.

This increase was affected by a significant rise in average room rates of 7.9 percent, which was much higher than the 0.1 percent increase in the first half of the year. On the other hand, the occupancy rate overall experienced a major drop of 5.7 percent in the first half.

Compared with the performance of the first half of 2013, RevPAR of 4-star hotels significantly fell by 13.8 percent while RevPAR of 5-star hotels continued to increase by 3.3 percent.

An increase in RevPAR of 5-star hotels might be attributed to an increase of 5.1 percent in average occupancy rates in the first half of the year, according to the report.

In addition, 5-star hotels in the north also experienced an increase in RevPAR by 25.8 percent in the first six months of 2014, compared to the same period last year.

By region, the growth rate from the first half of 2013 to the first half of 2014 was 7 percent for the north, 10.7 percent for the central region and the Highlands, and 8.8 percent for the south.

There was a significant growth in overall average room rates of 7.9 percent in the first half of 2014 for high-end lodging (3 to 5 star) in Vietnam, which was higher than the growth of 0.1 percent in the first half of 2013.

Regarding the average room rate by star ranking, both 4- and 5-Star hotels experienced a drop of 6.6 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively, in the first six months of 2014.

There was a significant increase in average room rates in the north, and the central region and the Highlands, by 15.6 and 9.1 percent, respectively, in the first half of 2014.

This was due to a significant increase in average room rate of international hotel brands in these two locations, by 47.5 and 43.7 percent, respectively.

With a slower growth rate, the south also experienced an increase in average room rate by 2.7 percent in the first six months of 2014, compared with the same period last year.

Overall average occupancy rate of 3- to 5- star hotels in the first half of 2014 decreased significantly to 60.4 percent from 64.1 percent in the first half of 2013 dropping by 5.7 percent.

A decrease in average occupancy rate could be attributed to the East Sea tension in the second quarter and also by an increase in the number of new rooms in main destinations, including Hanoi, which gained three additional 3- to 4-star hotels with 200 rooms in the first quarter of 2014.-VNA