Recent TRG blog posts

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) including Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline have greatly benefited the hospitality industry, providing a proven conduit for filling up rooms that would have otherwise stayed vacant. However this value has its drawbacks as more customers solely use these channels to book hotels.

HCM City – April 18^th 2013 – A record number of guests turned up for TRG’s seminar entitled “Office of the CFO for Hospitality: A new way of working to maximise profits” on April 16^th at New World Hotel.

During the economic downturn, many families decided that the prudent thing was to downsize their lives by purchasing smaller homes and vehicles, but most importantly, by simplifying their lives. Similarly, hotel companies also downsized, frequently letting staff go, which created additional pressure on remaining staff to hold the company and its underlying technology together.

In our last two blog entries on top hotel industry trends (part 1, part 2), we outlined a number of factors that are shaping how the hospitality sector operates. Hoteliers in Vietnam are advised to “be alert to new opportunities during tough economic times by changing their business strategies and researching the market” ^(*) . We believe four areas should be tackled to tremendously improve the Vietnamese hotel sector’s performance.

(Ho Chi Minh) – TRG Event – 8:00am, 16 April, 2013 at New World Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

According to Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the total number of international tourists in 2012 reached 6,847,678, representing a 13.86% growth year on year. This year, the Vietnamese tourism industry “planned to welcome 7.2 million international visitors and 35 million domestic passengers, and is targeting a total revenue of VND190 trillion (equivalent to US$9.5 billion).” Not too long ago, we discussed some competitive criteria necessary for hospitality businesses to stay ahead in the game. Now we will zoom in on the hotel industry and take a closer look at trends in Vietnam and around the world.

“We are operating in an era of unprecedented change”, says Mr. Jerome Destors, Director, Hotel IT, Amadeus.

Hospitality businesses in Vietnam to serve over 6 million tourists

Statistics from Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) have revealed a 14% annual growth in international visitors to the country. In November alone, around 656,000 tourists visited Vietnam, bringing the total amount of international arrivals in the first 11 months of 2012 to 6,035,901^(*). The question now is, are hospitality businesses up for the game?