JP\/18\/HOTELS<\/p>\n
Hotels change marketing strategy in anticipation of tourist boom<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Bandung<\/p>\n
Thanks to the opening of the Cikampek-Purwakarta-Padalarang
\nexpressway, better known as the Cipularang toll road, the car
\njourney from Jakarta to Bandung has been reduced from four hours
\nto just two.<\/p>\n
This means busier days for the marketing staffers and public
\nrelations officers of star-rated hotels in Bandung because
\ndomestic tourists from Jakarta are now going more to Bandung, but
\nnot only on weekends.<\/p>\n
Ratri, a public relations officer of Preanger Hotel in Jl.
\nAsia Afrika, said that the marketing strategy of hotels in
\nBandung had to be modified to respond to the changing stay
\npatterns on the part of Jakarta visitors.<\/p>\n
At present, she said, more meetings were being held in Bandung
\nby businesspeople or companies from Jakarta. Meanwhile, local
\ntourists are less interested in staying in the hotels because the
\nrelatively short trip between Jakarta and Bandung makes it easier
\nto come and go without the need for an overnight stay.<\/p>\n
Since the toll road extension, which covers a distance of over
\n41 kilometers, was open to the public on April 26, 2005, there
\nhas been a jump in the number of visitors from Jakarta coming to
\nBandung for shopping or dining.<\/p>\n
Over 400,000 tourists come to Bandung every week, most on
\nweekends. They shop and dine in the city or sometimes spend a day
\nor two at a hotel.<\/p>\n
In the first few days after the toll road was open to the
\npublic, the occupancy rate of hotels in Bandung dropped by 20
\npercent to 30 percent because visitors from Jakarta did not spend
\na night in Bandung. About 50 regular Preanger customers from
\nJakarta, who usually stay at the hotel for two to three days, now
\ncame to Bandung and returned to Jakarta on the same day, Ratri
\nadded.<\/p>\n
\"To attract visitors, we have, since July, offered our 6-to-6
\npackage at Rp 288,000. This means visitors may have a standard
\nroom from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. at this rate. Therefore, they can
\nhave a rest and refresh themselves before returning to Jakarta,\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Ristina Setyawan, public relations officer of
\nPanghegar Hotel in Jl. Merdeka, said that a drop in the occupancy
\nrate had forced her hotel to redouble its efforts to maintain the
\nloyalty of its customers. Every weekend, for example, Panghegar
\noffers a variety of surprises like door prizes or gifts, to
\nfamilies staying at the hotel.<\/p>\n
\"To encourage them to stay in our hotel for a longer period,
\nwe have also made available additional facilities such as an
\nindoor tennis court and spa. We also allow a 20 percent discount
\non weekdays,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Apart from changing their promotional strategy, some hotels,
\npreviously claiming to be family hotels, have now declared
\nthemselves to be business hotels. Dwi Tania Purwanti, public
\nrelations officer of Homann Hotel, said that her hotel had
\nfollowed this trend because many businesspeople, government
\nofficials and staff from state-owned enterprises opted to hold
\ntheir meetings and training seminars in Bandung.<\/p>\n
\"Of course, to survive, we must be able to \"read\" the wishes
\nof our customers. Therefore, we are preparing meeting packages of
\nhourly or half-daily duration in addition to the conventional
\npackage of a minimum of two days (including a stay in the
\nhotel),\" she said.<\/p>\n
Recently, she added, the hotel had received, almost every day,
\nreservations for meetings.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Ratri went on, the Preanger had, since July this
\nyear, offered brief meetings packages. They have even converted
\ntheir mini restaurant into a brief meeting venue for a maximum of
\n10 people in response to an increased demand for such meetings.<\/p>\n
\"If you ask me whether Preanger is a family hotel or a
\nbusiness one, I can tell you that ours is a business hotel on
\nweekdays but a family hotel on weekends,\" Ratri said, smiling.<\/p>\n
Thanks to their new marketing tricks, the occupancy rate of
\nhotels in Bandung had risen. Since late August, for example, the
\nrate has been more than 70 percent, rising to more than 90
\npercent at weekends.<\/p>\n
Still, Dwi said, hotels had to remain flexible in their
\nmarketing strategy as the competition was getting stiffer all the
\ntime. More than 100 hotels exist in Bandung with a total of over
\n6,600 rooms, while several new hotels are currently under
\nconstruction.<\/p>\n
Given the activities of hotels in Bandung in anticipation of a
\ntourist boom, chairman of the West Java chapter of the Indonesian
\nHotels and Restaurants Association (IHRA) HS Hermawan indicated
\nhis deep concern, instead, for IHRA members in Puncak, Bogor,
\nCianjur and Purwakarta, as they were all losing customers fast.<\/p>\n
\"They have lost over 40 percent of their customers. Many
\nhotels and restaurants in Purwakarta are up for sale now. In
\nPuncak, a famous hotel is open only once a week because there are
\nhardly any visitors,\" he noted.<\/p>\n
Therefore, Hermawan urged, all stakeholders in the tourism
\nsector should pay attention to any negative impact caused by the
\nopening of the Cipularang toll road. The West Java provincial
\nadministration, he said, must immediately take wise steps to
\nensure that tourists will flock not only to Bandung, so that
\nthere would be economic equity in all regions.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp18hotels-1447899208",
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