Apartment blocks to become hotels

Apartment blocks to become hotels

JAKARTA (JP): Four money-losing apartment complexes in Jakarta
are to be converted into hotels in a bid to make them more
profitable, according to an official of the Ministry of Tourism,
Post and Telecommunications.

Acep Hidayat, the ministry's director of tourism and
accommodation development, told Antara over the weekend that the
conversion of the four apartment buildings into hotels would be
carried out in accordance with Ministerial Decree No.94/1987
concerning hotel classification.

One of the apartment complexes to be converted is Le Crystal
in South Jakarta, Acep said.

"This conversion will affect the hotel industry, which is
already suffering from an oversupply of hotel rooms. Moreover, a
number of new hotel projects are currently still being built," he
said.

Data at Acep's office show that there are 69 hotels in Jakarta
with a total of 12,428 rooms. Occupancy rates average between 60
and 70 percent.

In connection with the conversion plan, Acep urged executives
in the banking industry to thoroughly study credit allocations
for the development of new apartments, saying that a failure to
do so would be detrimental to many parties, including the hotel
industry, the property sector and the banks themselves. (hhr)