Hotels enjoy high occupancy rate over long weekend

JAKARTA (JP): Several hotels in the capital benefited from the long weekend, with the Buddhist holiday Waisak on Monday, as shown by an increase in their occupancy rates of up to 30 percent.

Horison Hotel in North Jakarta, which is located near Ancol beach and Ancol Fantasy Land Amusement Park, had an 89 percent occupancy rate during the weekend.

"Usually on weekends, the occupancy rate is 75 percent. But it increased from Saturday to Monday," the hotel's reservation officer Sandra Oktavia told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Monday.

Horison is a four-star hotel with a capacity of 440 rooms.

Most of the guests, Sandra said, were families who came from Jakarta or other cities.

"There are also many foreigners, but they were mostly long- staying guests," she added.

Meanwhile, four-star Mercure Hotel on Jl. Hayam Wuruk, Central Jakarta, also saw a 20 percent increase, up from its usual occupancy rate of 60 percent on the weekend.

"On weekdays, we only have around 20 percent occupancy rate," duty manager Reza Kurniawan told the Post.

"Besides guests who were enjoying their long weekend, there were also a group of athletes from the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti)," he added without elaborating.

Pelti will start its World Youth Cup on Saturday.

According to Reza most of the guests were Jakarta residents.

Enjoying a similar increase to Horison and Mercure, Ibis Kemayoran in Central Jakarta had almost 90 percent occupancy during the weekend.

"Most guests checked in on Friday night and left on Monday," said Yudi, a reservation officer at the three-star hotel.

However, the increase apparently did not occur at five-star hotels.

Hotel Mulia in Senayan, South Jakarta, for example did not see any significant increase in the number of the guests staying over the weekend.

"There was an increase, but very nominal. You see, our hotel is a business hotel, so it's usually booked for business people," said Rini, a receptionist.

A similar situation was noted at Hilton Hotel and Shangri-La Hotel in Central Jakarta as there was no significant increase in the number of guests.

The capital itself on Monday was unusually quiet until afternoon; the major thoroughfares looked a lot less crowded than usual.

Along Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta to Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta, where traffic jams are a daily occurrence, there were only several cars seen passing by.

Similar conditions could also be seen around Kramat and the National Monument in Central Jakarta, and also around Blok M and Kebayoran Baru in South Jakarta. Shopping arcade Plaza Senayan was also less crowded than usual.

Areas in which Chinese-Indonesians live and run their businesses, such as in Kota, Central Jakarta, and Mangga Dua in North Jakarta, were also quiet as many shops were closed because the owners were celebrating the Buddhist holiday of Waisak.

Crowds were seen only in amusement parks like the Ancol Fantasy Land and Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta.(hdn)