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Leisure Bookings for Hotels See Decline

DUBAI - Hotels which rely on corporate events face bleak prospects in the coming months coupled with decrease in leisure bookings for 2009, according to travel industry experts.

Lama Tours Managing Partner Kulwant Singh said booking for trips to Dubai in 2009 usually began in October and November. However, the number of bookings was down by at least 20 per cent due to the global financial crisis, he added.

“Until January everything is okay due to the payments from August and September,” Singh said. “They can’t cancel or they’ll face cancellation fees. But after that, we’ve had a lot of enquiries but hardly any bookings for 2009.”

While representatives of several hotels Khaleej Times spoke to last week would not reveal their occupancy rates, spokespersons said hotels were also feeling the impact of the 12-day break spanning the National Day and Eid Al Adha celebrations.

Maria Basziszta, Marketing and Communications Manager of Park Hyatt Dubai, said that every year during Eid holidays there was a slump in earnings of hotels, which affected the occupancy levels of the hotels. She also pointed to the effect of global issues.

Gajendra Jayasinghe, Operations Manager for Conferences and Events Service of Jumeirah, said that Eid holidays traditionally meant a downturn in business, especially in events and conferences.

Most of the big hotels told Khaleej Times that they do not launch corporate promotional events to attract more guests on Eid. “We prefer to adjust our rates according to market supply and demand,” Basziszta said.

She said business hotels would not be as badly affected as leisure properties which partly relied on British tourists, who would be hit by the pound-dirham exchange rate.

However, other hotels said there were still leisure tourists to be attracted from the GCC region and, paired with the right promotions, good occupancy rates could still be achieved.

Anke Glaessing, Executive Assistant Manager of Al Murooj Rotana, said the hotel had not felt the impact of the global crisis yet, but the current trend is a much shorter booking lead.

“Clients start booking at a much shorter notice due to the additional rooms supply in Dubai. I believe that the first quarter of 2009 will be the time to measure the impact on hotel occupancy where you will find hotels in Dubai looking for business in a way they never use to do before.”

Kulwant Singh had noticed a similar trend of a shorter booking lead during the downturn but was slightly more optimistic.

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