Major five-star hotels still in the red

JAKARTA (JP): Most of Indonesia's five-star hotel operators remained in the red in the first quarter of this year despite improved financial performances.

Carmelito Regalado, Aryaduta Hotel's corporate secretary, said that business was improving but the revenue growth was still too small to offset the higher than expected losses resulting from the depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar.

During the January to March period, Aryaduta suffered a loss of Rp 9 billion despite a significant increase in the company's total revenues to Rp 27 billion.

"The high cost of foreign exchange losses and loan interest expense has eaten up a larger part of the income," Carmelito was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

Carmalito said that the business, which started to experience an improvement last year, continued to show a strong recovery during the three-month period.

Aryaduta's revenue rose by 38 percent to Rp 96.9 billion last year from Rp 70.2 billion in the previous year, thanks a to a higher occupancy rate coupled with a room rate increase.

Aryaduta's occupancy rate rose to 42.5 percent last year, as compared to 29.6 percent in 1999.

Other star-rated hotel operators, such as PT Plaza Indonesia Realty, PT Sahid Jaya Hotel, PT Jakarta Setiabudi International and PT Pudjiadi & Sons, also reported losses despite significant increases in income.

PT Plaza Indonesia Realty, operator of the Grand Hyatt Hotel which booked Rp 26 billion during the January to March period, suffered a net loss of Rp 11 billion.

PT Pudjiadi & Sons, operator of Hotel Jayakarta in Central Jakarta, reported a net loss of Rp 14 billion despite its success in generating Rp 13 billion in revenue.

PT Jakarta Setiabudi International, which runs a hotel in Ancol, North Jakarta, also became the victim of the rupiah's sharp fall against the U.S. dollar.

During the three-month period, the company suffered a loss of about Rp 55 billion, despite having managed to raise revenue of about Rp 99 billion.

PT Sahid Jaya Hotel perpetuated the trend with a net loss of Rp 48 billion after generating only Rp 15 billion in income as of March this year. (03)