Tourists visiting Bui Vien walking street, District 1, HCM City. (Source: english.vietnamnet.vn) HCM City (VNA) - Four- andfive-star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City have seen a slight decline in room ratesalthough the rising number of tourists has resulted in an increase in occupancyrates at high-end hotels.
The average room rateof three- to five-star hotels was more than 1.914 million VND (84 USD) in thefirst six months of the year, a decrease of 11.3 percent compared to 2014,according to the city’s Department of Tourism.
The average occupancyrate for four- and five-star hotels rose to 85 percent from 70 percent of thesame period last year.
According to onefive-star hotel, its current room rate is 112 USD compared to 130 USD of thesame period last year.
The hotel marketremains a lucrative business but the competition is fierce due to expanding roominventory, a manager of a downtown five-star hotel said.
“An increase of 2 USDin room rates will result in a fall in the occupancy rate,” the manager said.
From 2013 to 2016,the supply of four- and five-star hotels increased 20 percent per year to meetinternational tourist demand for upscale resorts and luxury accommodation,according to Savills Vietnam, the property consultant.
HCM City has thelargest hotel supply in Vietnam, with approximately 16,000 three- to five-starrooms.
Over the next threeyears, the city expects to have 3,500 new rooms, a 22 percent increase.
Besides an abundantsupply of two- to three-star hotels, the growth of apartments and houses rentedout to tourists has increased the competition in the hotel segment, experts inthe hospitality sector said.
Lam Quang Huy, deputygeneral director of the Grand Hotel in HCM City’s District 1, said the hotel’soccupancy rate rose to 87-90 percent in the last few months.
“The hotel isoffering additional services to attract customers and maintain the room rate,”Huy said.
Travel firms saidthat around 70 percent of tourists chose to stay at two- to three-star hotelsas the difference of room rates between three-star and five-star hotels couldreach 60-70 percent.
Three- to four-starhotels usually sell at least 50-60 percent of their rooms in advance to travelfirms and offer flexible and incentive policies on room rates for them, arepresentative of TransViet Travel said.
As accommodationcosts make up around 40-60 percent of tour prices, tour operators often choosethree- to four-star hotels with reasonable prices instead of five-star hotels.
In the first ninemonths of the year, the city welcomed 4.2 million foreign tourists, ayear-on-year rise of 16.6 percent, according to the Department of Tourism.
Tourism revenue wasestimated at 84.57 trillion VND (3.72 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of10 percent.-VNA
VNA
