Is it a great idea to raise hotel room rates now?

A Danang resort

This week we reported that hotels in the central city of Da Nang have raised their room rates by 20 percent on the back of rising demand as tourism recovers from Covid-19.

Average rent in the city was hovering around $70 a room per night in the first quarter, up 3 percent quarter-on-quarter and 20 percent against last year, according to real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam.

Occupancy rates rose to 30 percent, up 10.2 percentage points from last quarter, driven by the recovery of domestic tourism starting from Tet, the Lunar New Year festival in February.

In March, supply of high-end hotels (four and five stars) also recovered to the pre-pandemic level of 11,000 rooms. Da Nang also expects to add 4,000 rooms from nineteen private hotels to its inventory in the next three years.

Covid cases are still high

But with Covid cases still around 40,000 a day Vietnam is still not out of the woods yet.

All SE Asia tourist boards are actively trying to attract international travellers, however with Covid restrictions and testing at airports still the norm, international travellers are still reluctant to jump on a plane.

They like us all are suffering from the rising cost of living.

So, does it make sense when occupancies quoted are still comparatively low, for hoteliers to raise prices?

Surely, they want to encourage people to stay.

Perhaps they should consider offering locals and expats special rates as we enter the low season. This will be a lot easier to fill rooms!

Join our 3 x a week Vietnam News, Travel and Expat information newsletter and keep up to date. https://aseannow.com/newsletter.php