October saw the highest occupancy levels in Hanoi and HCM City since the second quarter of the year.
In Hanoi, average occupancies over the past two months were up almost 35 percent as local corporate business gradually resumed, and long-term stay demand increased. The average also includes properties used as quarantine facilities.
Meanwhile, “coastal destinations started to recover in May with improving traction and growing bookings, however the second wave of COVID-19 in Da Nang badly affected the high season," said Mauro Gasparotti, Director of Savills Hotels Asia Pacific.
Nha Trang and Phu Quoc have seen higher occupancies, especially over weekends when some resorts run at low vacancies with travellers taking advantage of promotions.
Recent world developments around COVID vaccines allow light at the end of the tunnel. The country's containment of the pandemic has reaffirmed investor appeal and no doubt reassured potential travelers of just how safe Vietnam is.
"Still, the overall resort market is struggling to cross the 25 percent occupancy, apart from resorts located in drive-to destinations being 10 to 15 percentage points over the country average,” Gasparotti said.
Regarding the recent local community transmission in HCM City, he added: “We have seen an impact on hotel booking cancellations in HCM City and the south, however, the larger impact is on the MICE business, where several conferences have been put on hold or delayed due to concerns."
"Any small outbreak will cause fear to spread, however, as with previous outbreaks, the government is quickly containing the problem and hopefully the fear will be over soon. The speed with which this was dealt helped minimise economic damage while underlining how safe Vietnam is as a destination. We remain positive about the future of the industry, and especially in Vietnam,” he said.
The pandemic has made the first 11 months of 2020 challenging for Asia Pacific region hotels with the vast majority reporting poor performance or many forced into temporary closure. Occupancies and average daily rates (ADR) slumped with average room revenues down by half, according to Savills.
