In the current context, each scale of accommodation facility (CSLT) has a different customer segment. However, CSLT (1-3 star hotels) in the province have been facing many difficulties and challenges in terms of customer sources, human resources, level of digital transformation application,... in the face of new development trends.
According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, one of the competitive advantages of Thanh Hoa province compared to other localities in the region is the large system of tourist accommodation, meeting the needs of tourists in all segments. Specifically, by the end of 2022, the whole province has 1,000 hotels and motels, with 45,000 rooms; more than 350 apartments, tourist villas and 192 homestays. Of which, there are 76 1-star hotels, 89 2-star hotels, 39 3-star hotels, 15 4-star hotels and 4 5-star hotels. However, the number of small and medium-sized tourist accommodation in the province accounts for the majority.
Faced with the context of tourism development in the new situation, the immediate requirement for accommodation business activities is the application of information technology. While 4-5 star hotels have promoted the application of technology in management, service provision, and the establishment of smart tourism ecosystems, most small and medium-sized hotels have not really proactively entered the "playground" of technology, creating attractiveness for tourists. Even many small and medium-sized hotels in the province still rely on traditional customer partners.
Chairman of the 3-5 star hotel club in Sam Son City, Nguyen Van Thai, commented: “In fact, investing in tourism-serving hotels requires a huge amount of capital, even on a small and medium scale, while the ability to recover capital is slow. On the other hand, it is necessary to regularly repair, maintain, and invest in new equipment to attract customers. Therefore, the application of technology in management and business activities in small and medium-sized hotels is still very limited. The main reason is the lack of human resources and finance. Meanwhile, developing tourism in the new situation, customers always want hotels to apply technology in promotion, innovate the way of booking, checking in, paying... to create convenience when using the service".
Understanding the importance of improving service quality and customer convenience, according to Mr. Nguyen Van Thai, it is not easy for small and medium-sized hotels to invest in this. The reason is that investing in hotel technology is a long-term investment, requiring businesses to have great financial potential, invest time and effort, from ideation to implementation. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized hotels in Sam Son City in particular, and in the province in general, are still greatly affected by seasonal factors.
Along with the issue of digital transformation, some hotel owners said that the tourism service industry always requires innovation. Not to mention, after more than 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the infrastructure has seriously degraded, while bank interest rates have increased and banks have tightened lending... leading to a lack of investment budget for repair and replacement. On the other hand, in addition to the "framework" of management personnel, the workforce almost has to be newly recruited, leading to somewhat limited quality.
Formerly the owner of Hai Yen Hotel in Hai Tien Eco-tourism Area (Hoang Hoa), Mr. Pham Van Lam said: “We signed a contract to lease a hotel from an investor in Hanoi, a 3-star facility. However, during the 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism was closed and opened, with few visitors. When tourism reopened, there was no revolving capital, while the trend of customers was quality service, high standards, reasonable prices... with a hotel of our size, it was very difficult to access customers from large travel agencies. Although the investor shared some of the difficulties, with the monthly bank interest payments, plus personnel costs and repairs, maintenance, investment in facilities... we decided to stop and switch to another investment direction."
According to Mr. Pham Van Lam, in fact, at Hai Tien Marine Ecotourism Area, most of the accommodation facilities are leased by investors in Hanoi. However, facing the pressure of customer sources and maintenance costs, some facilities have terminated their contracts and returned them to the investors.
According to records at coastal tourist areas such as Sam Son, from the beginning of May until now, on weekends, 3-5 star hotels always have stable room occupancy rates of 80-100%, while some small-scale hotels are still struggling with the "problem" of attracting guests, with occupancy rates only reaching 45-60%. Although there are times when some 1-3 star hotels reach 100% occupancy, it is not stable. In particular, at key coastal tourist areas of the province, to ensure the safety of people and property at hotels, the authorities require strict implementation of fire prevention and fighting conditions. According to regulations, for CSLT, the fire prevention and fighting system must include items such as underground water tanks, high-pressure pumps, generators, automatic fire alarm and fire fighting systems... Meanwhile, through inspections by functional forces since the beginning of 2023, most small and medium-sized CSLT in Sam Son City have not met fire prevention and fighting requirements.
Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial Tourism Association Tran Dinh Son said: “Developing tourism in the new situation has posed a number of issues for small and medium-sized accommodation establishments in the operation process such as: digital transformation; ensuring fire prevention and fighting; human resources... Grasping this situation, the Provincial Tourism Association has regularly organized tourism professional courses; accompanied businesses to find practical and effective solutions. In particular, supporting and guiding small and medium-sized accommodation establishments to focus on improving the quality of tourism services; promoting the development of tourism stimulus programs; enhancing survey activities, expanding connection and cooperation opportunities between accommodation establishments and travel businesses inside and outside the province”.
According to some tourism experts, with the characteristics of small and medium-sized hotels, it is not necessary to invest in too luxurious things, but it is necessary to ensure customer service standards. And one of the most important factors is the quality of human resources. It is necessary to ensure that the reception staff can perform check-in and check-out procedures well, and handle customer requests quickly and professionally. For the room service staff, they need to be well-trained and clean rooms properly, because cleanliness is the first criterion when customers evaluate a hotel. In addition, hotels should also expand online marketing channels, focus on promotion and use hotel management software... These things do not cost too much or require high requirements, but will bring clear results in the operation process.
Article and photos: Hoai Anh
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