Vietnamese hotels put up for sale amid tourism slump

The hotel market has been in a state of hibernation since the beginning of the year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many hotels are offered for sales. Illustrative image

The accommodation business has been stagnant as people have canceled their travel plans. Many hotels in Hanoi have closed because there are no guests.

According to the Hanoi Tourism Department, 6.13 million travelers came to Hanoi in the first seven months of the year, a 63.3 percent decrease compared with the same period last year.

Many private hotels worth hundreds of billion of dong have been put on sale.

A hotel on Hang Be street is being offered at VND69 billion. The owner of the hotel had been leasing the hotel for business for 15 years. However, his client doesn’t want to renew the leasing contract, so he decided to sell the hotel.

The hotel covers an area of 102 square meters, and comprises five stories and 16 rooms. The first floor was rented at VND70 million a month and used as a shop, while the other four stories were used as hotel rooms at VND90 million total a month.

After many years of gaining high tourism growth rates, Vietnam for the first time in H1 witnessed a sharp fall in the number of domestic and foreign travelers of 56 percent and 50 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

Atlanta Ha Noi Hotel, also a 5-star hotel, with 16 stories, covering an area of 560 square meters on Hang Chuoi street, is for sale at VND480 billion.

According to Savills, the tourism and hotel market was in a state of hibernation in the first half of the year.

After many years of gaining high tourism growth rates, Vietnam for the first time in H1 witnessed a sharp fall in the number of domestic and foreign travelers of 56 percent and 50 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

Vietnam stopped international flights in late March, which has led to a sharp decrease in the number of foreign travelers of 99 percent in Q2.

Hoteliers have been experiencing tough days. The RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) in H1 in Hanoi and HCM City dropped by 56 percent and 64 percent, respectively. The figure was 55 percent for the entire Vietnamese market.

According to Savills, the recovery of the accommodation service sector will depend on pandemic control in the world. No considerable changes are predicted for Q3.

Nguyen Trong Thuc, deputy CEO of CBRE Hotels Vietnam, said the hotel market in 2020-2021 would be in a defensive posture, with operations likely to change continuously due to the unpredictable performance of the pandemic and until a Covid-19 vaccine comes out or more effective therapies are found.

Minh Thu