Quarantine services send HCMC hotel room rents soaring

The increase is attributed to providing meals and medical testing services, and despite the high charges, these hotels recorded an occupancy of up to 80 percent in the third quarter, according to a report by real estate consultancy Savills.

The hotels are limiting rooms on offer for safety reasons, and more facilities like these may be needed if international flights increase, the report said.

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to dampen figures for the rest of the hotel market.

Average occupancy fell 49 percentage points year-on-year to 12 percent, while room rates fell 34 percent year-on-year.

Total supply fell 13 percent year-on-year to 14,100 rooms in 98 hotels. One new 5-star hotel was launched and 16 hotels re-opened in the third quarter.

The Savills report forecast that supply growth will remain slow in the fourth quarter. Two new 5-star projects supplying over 380 rooms are set to delay their opening until next year.

Uncertainty persists over the reopening of 500 temporarily closed rooms, it said.

By 2023, approximately 3,500 rooms from 17 new projects are expected to enter the market, 75 percent of them in District 1.

In the first nine months, revenues from lodging and food in HCMC fell nearly 40 percent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office.