Star hotels provide more incentives to local residents

Rikza Abdullah, Contributor, Jakarta

Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year holidays will offer executives and other business people an opportunity to leave their usual hectic and busy life away by staying at star-rated hotels and enjoying various festivities and sensational food.

By staying at hotels, they will also allow their families to escape the inconvenience caused by the departure of their maids, gardeners and other servants, who mostly return to their villages during Idul Fitri.

People can also enjoy the discounts offered by hotels that are trying to boost their occupancy rates from local residents amid the drop in foreign tourists' arrivals following the recent Bali bombing.

Miriam Roy, public relations manager of Hotel Indonesia, said Thursday that offering special packages and incentives was essential for the country's hotels in bid to increase the their falling occupancies.

"With such incentives, we hope our occupancy rate will increase to about 80 percent during the holiday season," she said.

According to Roy, the occupancy rate at Hotel Indonesia, which operates 570 rooms, has declined to around 40 percent during this Muslim fasting month from 60 percent in the previous months.

Grace Manurung, public relations officer for the President Hotel, shared Roy's view, saying that incentives were needed to help sustain her hotel's occupancy rate at about 70 percent at the yearend.

The hotel is now operating only 180 of its 315 rooms, which are now under renovation. It is now also constructing 110 new rooms.

Tania Walla, assistant communications manager of the Shangri- La Hotel in Jakarta, said her hotel was targeting local people for its New Year celebrations and expecting its occupancy rates to reach, at least, 80 percent by the New Year's eve.

"However, we are competing with hotels in Bali, which are offering low rates and ticket fares after the Oct. 12 bombing tragedy there. A lot of local people tend to travel to Bali nowadays, but we also have majority of people who will stay in Jakarta and spend their New Year's eve in the hotels with families and friends," she said.

Taufik Rachman, director of sales for the Alila Hotels & Resorts, acknowledged that as tourist arrivals were declining after the bombing tragedy in Bali, incentives were now more important to lure domestic tourists.

"We, therefore, offer rupiah room packages with some incentives for our hotels both in Jakarta and Bali," he said.

Gina Desmeralda, assistant public relations manager at the Grand Hyatt Jakarta, said that during the Dec. 1 - Dec. 30 period, the hotel would offer a Pesona rupiah-rated room package at Rp 988,000 per night to Indonesians and expatriates holding residential permits.

For stays on New Year's Eve, guests would be subject to a charge of Rp 1.38 million (instead of the published rate of $200) at its Grand rooms, Rp 1.68 million (instead of $240) at its Grand Club rooms and Rp 3.68 million (instead of $550) at its Executive suits, she said.

She added that a surcharge of Rp 200,000 per night would be applied for rooms facing the Hotel Indonesia square.

Sri Ayuningsih, public relations manager at Hotel Sahid Jaya Jakarta, said that during the Idul Fitri holiday from Dec. 2 to Dec. 10, room rates would be discounted by up to 70 percent.

A discount of up to 52 percent was offered for overnight room rates in the period between Dec. 31, 2002 and Jan. 2, 2003, and a bigger discount for additional overnight stays, she said.

Roy said room rates for year-end stays at Hotel Indonesia would be discounted by up to 70 percent.

Discounts on rates for year-end stay at the President Hotel would even reach 85 percent, according to Manurung.

Taufik said the Alila Jakarta offered a discounted rate of Rp 468,000 (US$52) per night at each of its deluxe rooms, as compared to its published rate of $160. The discounted rate for the deluxe rooms at the Alila Ubud in Bali was set at Rp 1.1 million a night (as compared to the published rate of $240) and for the superior rooms at the Alila Manggis in Bali at Rp 680,000 (as compared to the published rate of $180).

"Besides the discounts, we are also offering other incentives, including free breakfast for two people, airport transfer and daily transportation to the offices of the guests," he said.

Gran Melia offers a discount of 12.5 percent on rates for staying between Dec. 4 and Dec. 10 and a reduction of up to 38 percent on those for staying at the year-end.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Hilton International offers a bonus of a free third-night stay at any of the Hilton International's hotels in Indonesia to guests staying for two consecutive nights in its Superior rooms in the period between Dec. 1 and Jan. 31, excluding Dec. 30 and Dec. 31.

Hana Hoed, Gran Melia's public relations manager, said the hotel's year-end guests would be admitted free-of-charge to a Spanish opera, presenting Indonesian popular singer Titi DJ and violinist Mayla Fayza, at its lobby.

"Tickets for the opera are actually offered to the public at a range between Rp 550,000 and Rp 90,000 each," she said.

Roy said that Hotel Indonesia, in entertaining its year-end guests, would organize a folk dance and offer lucky draws.

The Alila Jakarta, according to Taufik, will also entertain its year-end guests after their getting dinner at its Buzz Cafe.

The Jakarta Hilton's director of public relations and communications, Uraini Umarjadi, said that on Dec 30 and Dec. 31, restaurants at the hotel would provide guests with selections of cuisine to suit the occasion with live Latin music by renown Indonesian bands, including the Los Morenitos, the Viento Del Arena and the Forte Latino.

At Shangri-La's Lobby Lounge, singer Lusy Rahmawati and the Liquid Band would entertain the hotel's guests with legendary old tunes and today's hits, said Walla.

At Hotel Sahid Jaya, Tina's Group entertains hotel guests with traditional Javanese gamelan music throughout the month of December.