Three- to five-star hotels have continued growing in room rates and occupancy given the rising numbers of both inbound and domestic tourists, with four-star hotels gaining the highest growth.
Kenneth Atkinson, managing partner of Grant Thornton Vietnam, cited a hotel market research project as saying on Wednesday that 2011 was a successful year for Vietnam’s hotel sector.
Higher room prices and occupancy rates have led to a year-on-year increase of 10.4% in revenue per available room (RevPAR), a gauge of room use efficiency and hotel revenue.
Atkinson said the country’s tourism market continued to grow last year with over six million international tourists arriving, up 19% over the preceding year, and that the average room rate rose 9% against 2010 to nearly VND1.8 million, or US$91, per night.
The average RevPAR picked up from VND1 million, US$49.7, to VND1.1 million, or nearly US$54.9, thanks to higher room prices and occupancy rates.
The four-star hotel segment recorded the strongest RevPAR growth, hitting some VND1.1 million, or US$54.7, while five-star hotels saw a significant RevPAR decline due to a 6.5% drop in average room tariffs, from VND2.7 million to VND2.5 million, or from US$131 to US$123.
Hotels gained quite stable revenues last year. Revenue from room services accounted for 63%, dinning services made up 28%, and others took the remainder.
Four-star hotels achieved the highest net profit margin of 37.8%, followed by five-star hotels with 28.4% and three-star hotels 19%.
Atkinson said the market witnessed a fall in room prices and occupancy at the five-star hotel segment in the early months of this year due to an oversupply and customers’ switch to three- and four-star hotels on financial worries.
According to a survey of Grant Thornton Vietnam, the average room rate of three-star hotels is VND932,000 (US$45.5) per night, while that of four-star hotels is VND1.9 million (US$93), versus VND2.5 million (US$123) of five-star hotels.
Market observers said the average hotel room rate in Vietnam is still higher than most regional countries, only after Hong Kong and Singapore.
Data of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism show there are currently some 12,000 lodging facilities nationwide with 265,000 guest rooms. Particularly, there are 48 five-star hotels with 12,120 rooms, 126 four-star hotels with 15,517 rooms and 273 three-star hotels with 18,990 rooms.