No-maid days good business for hotels
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The thought of cleaning the house, washing clothes and cooking without the assistance of domestic helpers has already brought on a headache for Elisa, a 33-year-old mother of three. That does not include taking care of her children without the help of her two nannies.
Since the nannies and domestic helpers are all going to their hometowns to celebrate the Idul Fitri holiday, which falls on Nov. 14 and Nov. 15, Elisa must think of a solution to solve her domestic problems.
"I don't want to handle all the household chores during my vacation, but I don't want to hire temporary nannies and housemaids either as I cannot trust them. It's too risky," she said.
Staying at a hotel is the most feasible solution for her, and also for other Jakartans who face the same problem.
The tradition of mudik (returning to ones hometown) will see around 2.7 million city residents leave the capital.
Working parents, whose children and households are taken care of by nannies and maids, will be left with the task of running their households alone. These people are the target of many hotels in the city as reflected in the jump in hotel reservations.
"There has been a significant increase in room reservations at our hotel during the Idul Fitri holiday," Shangri-La Hotel public relations manager Ratna Sjamsiar Idris told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
She refused to give details but only said that it could be seen from individuals making reservations instead of companies.
Raddin Hotel at Ancol Dreamland Park, one of the city's popular tourist spots, will also enjoy robust business during Idul Fitri.
"We have secured an 86 percent occupancy rate as of today," the hotel's public relations manager Ruth M. Tyas told the Post.
She said the hotel was expecting to fill its 292 rooms, four of them suites, as the celebration drew near.
"Based on our experience in the past years, many people come to our hotel just a day before Idul Fitri," she said.
Guests have reserved rooms for a week from Nov. 14 onward.
Ruth said the high reservation level was a relief for the hotel, which has been under pressure during the Ramadhan fasting month when most of the hotel's rooms remained vacant.
However, not all hotels, especially business hotels situated in the city's business districts, enjoy a windfall profit during Idul Fitri.
Public relations manager of the Gran Melia Hotel, Hanna Hoed, said that the number of guests saying at the hotel, located in Kuningan which is home to office buildings and embassies, slightly declined during the holidays.
"It has been an annual occurrence. Hotels whose most guests are businesspeople usually experience a slight decline in their occupancy rates. I think most Jakartans will go out of town for vacation," she said.
To attract more guests, hotels are giving discounts and special packages.
For Elisa, what's important is to be able to relax during the holiday with her whole family and to enjoy the hotel's facilities.