After two years of being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the hotel industry is seeing international brands become operational.

Archipelago is a new hotel management brand in Vietnam. Its first five contracts are services for managing room distribution and revenue for four hotels in HCM City and one hotel in Phu Quoc.

Norbert Vas, vice president of Archipelago International, said they will connect independent hotels and hotel groups with their own system, automate the distribution process, and connect with over 3,000 partners. The company also provides packaged management services for hotels with up to 1,000 rooms, soft brand management and franchising.

In Hanoi, Capella Hanoi is the first project which marks the presence of Capella Hotel Group in the Vietnamese market. The hotel has 47 rooms with luxurious interior decoration, architectural design and amenities. This is the first 5-star boutique hotel in the capital city.

The Vietnamese market is also seeing many new hotel brands such as Regent Phu Quoc, Voco Hotel Da Nang, Best Western Plus Marvella Nha Trang, Radisson Resort Phan Thiet and Mercure Da Lat.

IHG Hotels & Resorts has announced that it wi double the number of hotels in Vietnam in the next 3-5 years and focus on sustainable development to satisfy increasingly high demand in tourism. IHG now has 15 hotels in Vietnam, and if counting the 18 new hotels being developed, IHG will put into operation 6,000 more hotel rooms by 2027.

Melia Hotels has announced the development of a hotel project in Quy Nhon. The project, covering an area of 12 hectares, has 140 rooms and 93 villas with 1-3 bedrooms.

Melia has recently signed with Vinpearl a contract under which Vinpearl transfers the right to manage 12 hotels and resorts to Melia Hotels International. The hotels and resorts will bear a new brand – Melia Vinpearl. Before the deal, Melia had eight operational hotels and 16 hotels expected to be inaugurated throughout the country.

Meanwhile, Marriott International Inc has announced a plan to have nearly 9,000 rooms in Vietnam and the launch of strategic brands such as Ritz-Carlton Residences, Marriott Hotels, and Westin and Courtyard by Marriott Hotels.

Sojo is a notable Vietnamese brand. Sojo Hotels have become operational in Hanoi, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Bac Giang and in Hoa Binh and Phu Tho recently. The hotel chain plans to open four new hotels in cities this year, a part of its plan to open 100 hotels from now to 2026.

Strong recovery

The newly released report of Savills Hotels showed that as of February 2022, 64 hotel brands, regional and international, were present in Vietnam. The figure is expected to increase in the next quarters.

The number of branded resorts and hotels in Vietnam increased significantly from 36 (8,200 rooms) in 2010 to 120  (32,000 rooms) as of the end of January 2022.

In the past, international and regional management brands paid attention to tge key markets of HCM City, Hanoi, Nha Trang, Da Nang and Phu Quoc. Now, other destinations such as Ho Tram, Da Lat, Phan Thiet and Quy Nhon also receive attention. 

According to Savills Hotels, since Q1 2022, many investors and hotel operators are boldly restarting their business plans, recruiting workers and promoting marketing campaigns in anticipation of the recovery of the international market. Investors are speeding up construction and carrying out pre-launching activities.

Rajit Sukumaran, Managing Director - South East Asia and Korea - for what??, said the tourism industry in Vietnam is recovering and it will bounce back strongly. According to STR data, the occupancy rate in Vietnam in February increased by 47 percent over the last year.

“Driven by pent-up tourism demand, we can see the strong recovery of international tourism activities in some localities, including HCM City and Hanoi,” he said.

Ignacio Martin from Melia Hotels International commented that the development potential is great in Vietnam, especially for luxury hotels.

Vietnam has to compete fiercely with other regional countries. Mauro Gasparotti of Savills Hotels APAC said that more and more regional countries have resumed tourism activities such as Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.

In order to compete with rivals and cement its position on the world’s tourism map, Vietnam needs to strengthen communications and tourism promotion activities. 

Duy Anh