Data provided by the Da Nang Statistics Office showed arrivals at accommodation establishments in the city in the first seven months of 2022 were estimated at 1.88 million, 83% more than in the same period last year.

During the 7-month period, the average number of overnight stays per guest was estimated at 2.5 days. In detail, the average length of stay per overnight international tourist were estimated at 2.4 days while the figure per domestic guest were 2.5 days. However, the city will see a significant decrease in domestic tourist arrivals after the summer is over. Hence, Da Nang’s hotels, especially 1 to 3-star hotels, must seek ways to attract new guests.

Employees in the hospitality and tourism industry play a vital role in making a difference in accommodation establishments. Photo: THU HA

Da Nang is now home to more than 1,100 one to three-star establishments (including hotels, serviced apartments and villas, plus homestays. Till date, a combined total of more than 800 tourist establishments in the city have reopened their doors, acccording to the municipal Department of Tourism.

Digital transformation in accommodation establishments to attract guests

Mr. Tran Duc Thong, the Manager of the Draco Hotel & Suites located in An Thuong 2, Ngu Hanh Son District said that 1 to 3-star hotels are very attractive to domestic tourists in the peak summer season as they offer a balance between affordability and amenities. However, these hotels will gradually empty after the summer is over. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, international tourists originated from Europe and other parts of the world made up for the shortfall in hotel guests during low season. However, these establishments are facing challenges as the city is witnessing a low number of international tourist arrivals in the context of COVID-19.

Therefore, Mr. Thong highlighted the need for these accommodation establishments to make them more inviting to domestic and international tourists in an attempt to ensure a stable source of guests for them. Although the Draco Hotel & Suites has just been put into operation, its occupancy rate reached about 70% in July and is estimated to hit around 50% in August.

He remarked that the Draco Hotel & Suites has diversified its facilities, including gym, spa, swimming pool, bar, pub in addition to offering combo packages with day tours or hotel services instead of just selling hotel rooms in efforts to attract guests. The intention is to offer more options to guests to choose to suit their tastes with high priority given to putting the customer first.

While the pandemic has changed the hotel guest experience in many ways, it's also reinforced some growing trends that travellers are asking for during COVID-19. Self-service options and new technologies are among those trends. Hence, digital solutions are the key to success of accommodation establishments in attracting guests. Mr Thong said that the Draco Hotel & Suites now accepts online payments from customers for all its services.

Mrs Nguyen Thi My Trinh, the Executive Director of the Golden Sea Hotel situated on Pham Van Dong Street, Son Tra District, highlighted the vital role of hotel staff in increasing the attractiveness of their establishments as the dedication and thoughtfulness of hotel staff will help their establishments to gain customer trust.

In recent years, the Golden Sea Hotel has targeted Meeting, Incentive, Convention, Exhibition (MICE) Tourism Market instead of simply receiving normal tourists.

Increase brand value for sustainable development

Mr. Tran Duc Thong stressed the need for one to three-star establishments to build customer trust naturally, and increase their brand value as well as boost their cooperation and create close linkages between them for mutual development and sustainable development.

Mr Nguyen Duc Quynh, the Chairman of the Da Nang Hotel Association pointed out difficulties facing one to three-star hotels after the tourism sector has recovered from the COVID-19 crisis as four to five star hotels offered great deals on their products and services through their own marketing channels in a bid to attract domestic tourists while international travel remains low. There is now greater pressure on 1 to 3-star hotels to share guest source from domestic tourism market.

Mr Quynh underlined the stress for 1 to 3-star hotels to reach guests from direct flights between Da Nang and other destinations nationwide as well as those from road transportation services. In addition, the heed should be paid to target budget travellers from such foreign countries as India, Thailand and Malaysia to ensure stable growth for these establishments in the coming time.

Mr Nguyen Xuan Binh, the Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Tourism remarked that the recovery of the city’s tourism sector has helped spur growth of tourist accommodation establishments, including 1 to 3-star hotels. Since May 2022, the occupancy rates of 1 to 3-star establishments have reached more than 50% while the figures of many seaside hotels have touched 80 to 90% on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays.

Apart from a number of well-prepared tourist accommodation establishments in terms of facilities, personnel and services, a number of small-scale establishments are encountering difficulties and challenges after a two-year coronavirus closure due to a lack of investment capital to upgrade their facilities to meet the needs and tastes of tourists. Furthermore, seaside establishments see higher number of guests than those located far from the beach or in the city’s centre. Some establishments cannot afford to recruit skilled employees.

Given the situation, the municipal Department of Tourism has opened more than 17 training training courses to improve professional skills and customer service skills for hotel staff since late March in efforts to help tourist accommodation establishments to ensure their skilled employees to serve guests. In addition, accommodation establishments can visit the website at daotaodulichdanang.com to register for such training courses. They can access online recruitment platforms like Vietnamworks, Hoteljobs, Facebook to recruit their full-time and seasonal employees.

In the near future, the municipal Department of Tourism will launch campaigns to encourage experienced tourism workers to return to work. Besides, the importance will be attached to coordinating with training institutions and associations to organize training and retraining classes for hotel workers in an attempt to ensure sufficient supply of human resources for accommodation establishments to match each stage of the recovery of the tourism industry. The heed will be paid to provide support for tourist accommodation establishments to effectively implement the city’s Tourism Code of Conduct and professional standards for tourist accommodation services.

Reporting by THU HA – Translating by H.L