ID :
14711
Sun, 08/03/2008 - 00:41
Auther :

Hotels are pricier, despite more rooms

HCM City (VNA) - Accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton Vietnam
's latest survey results on Vietnam 's hotels show increases in average
room rates and number of rooms.

The Hotel Survey 2008, which covers 37 three - to five-star hotels and
resorts with more than a total of 5,200 rooms across the country, reveals a
37 percent increase in average room rates from 2006 to 2007.

The rate has reached almost 120 USD in the north, more than 100 USD in the
central areas and almost 100 USD in the south.

Hanoi is the most expensive destination in the country and Da Lat is
the cheapest of the five surveyed areas - Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City ,
Phan Thiet, Da Lat and Hoi An-Da Nang.

On average, hotel guests in the capital had to pay nearly 83 USD more than
in Da Lat.

In high season, visitors staying in five-star hotels pay about 52 USD, on
average, more than in low season.

The total increase in the average occupancy rates from 2003 to 2007 was
142 percent.

HCM City had the highest overall occupancy rate of 79 percent in
2007, up from the previous year's 77 percent.

The coastal town of Phan Thiet , however, posted the highest annual
occupancy increase of 29.4 percent.

The occupancy rate was 76.21 percent at large hotels, 65.83 percent at
medium-sized hotels and 66.13 percent at small hotels.

The country's number of hotels, from one to five-star, nearly tripled from
2003 to 2007, reaching 9,000 last year.

That figure is expected to reach more than 13,500 in 2010.

The number of rooms doubled, reaching over 180,000 last year, expected to
go up to 270,000 in 2010.

There were 1.11 and 1.44 employees per room in the north and south and
5.56 in the centre.

However, the average salary in the north was twice that in the centre.

Ken Atkinson, managing partner of Grant Thornton Vietnam , said hotel
customers traveling to the country for business purposes had risen 5.26
percent over the previous two years.

Five-star hotels tend to rely more on business visitors as their main
source of revenue, representing 39.65 percent of their total revenue.

Meanwhile tour groups made up 39.59 percent of four-star hotels' revenue.
Last year, international guests accounted for 87.63 percent of
hotels' total customers, up from 2006's 81.55 percent.

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