| SINGAPORE : It's getting tougher these days to book a hotel room in Singapore.
Room rates are rising and the problem is expected to peak in September when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank roll into town.
With no major hotels opening in the past five years and a number closing down, only 36,000 hotel rooms now remain in Singapore.
Hotel occupancy rates now average around 83 percent, compared to 70 percent last year.
And when major events come to town, the situation can become almost critical.
"It's getting really quite bad. Because not only are rooms short, the rate has gone up so high. And one day if we overdo it, I think Singapore is going to lose its appeal. We're going to lose out to neighbouring countries where they have plenty of rooms at very attractive rates," said Robert Khoo, chief executive of National Association of Travel Agents Singapore.
11,000 rooms have been pre-booked during the upcoming IMF and World Bank meetings in September. That means top business class hotels are already virtually fully booked during this period.
Even at normal times, inbound tour operators are working harder to find rooms for their customers.
"Two years ago, there was no question. If there was a reservation, we'll process it and it'll only take two minutes to do. These days, we often have to call around three or four hotels and we've had to turn away some business during peak times," said Darren Tan, GM of World Express.
Room rates have risen by more than 30 percent over the two years, and now typically cost $400 a night for standard good-class accommodation.
To ease things, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is working to attract investors.
Upcoming developments include the St. Regis Hotel, Airport Hotel and more on Sentosa Island. Another idea is to get the Housing Development Board (HDB) involved.
"Firstly, we're hoping that the government will open up more sites for the building of new hotels, at least to entice people to come in and build hotels here. The second alternative is to see whether there are any quick fix solutions that they can think of, for example certain HDB blocks that are already vacated because they are 1-room flats. And if these are at reasonably suitable locations, then maybe someone is keen to take over and convert them into short term hotels with 10 to 20 year lease before they are torn down," said Khoo.
If the STB is to achieve its target of 17 million visitors by 2015, Singapore will need about twice the number of rooms it has now.
- CNA /ls
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