The occupancy rate of luxury hotels is now at the lowest level in the last four years, according to a survey conducted by Grant Thornton.

2008 was a difficult year for hotels

In 2008, despite the occupancy rate decreases, prices of rooms at high-grade hotels in Vietnam still increased by 9.6 percent. The average room price at 4-5 star hotels increased by 14.2 and 1.5 percent, respectively. Only 3-star hotels saw room price decreases.

Grant Thornton’s Executive Matthew Lourey said that the number of travellers in the last seven months of 2008 decreased by 10 percent over the same period of the previous year, and the number decreased further in the first five months of this year, which explain why hotels have seen few customers.

He added that the defining of a reasonable marketing strategy proves to be a very important thing for hotels in order to maintain profit.

According to Phan Duc Man, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, hotels and resorts have suffered from the economic crisis. While the world has not completely recovered from the economic crisis, it is now facing a pandemic. A lot of people have cut spending and limited travels.

Though hotel business is eligible for a 50 percent value added tax (VAT) reduction, experts believe that the tourism industry and hotels will still face a lot of difficulties.

VietNamNet/VNE