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Monday 3 August 2009

Koh Samui Blog - golf, films and hotels

First of all congratulations to Robin and Sue at The Waterfront in Fisherman’s Village for achieving 56th place in the worldas reported by Trip Advisor Travellers Choice 2009 survey for Best Bargain hotels and 6th place in Asia! Also 9th place in Asia for Best Hidden Gems. Sala Samui Resort & Spa and Tongsai Bay made 9th and 10th respectively in the World in the Best for Romance category.

Samui is into High Season now and we must watch and see how the tourist arrivals stack up. Certainly some businesses are trying to encourage people to come to the island.

Bangkok Airways have their monthly Jazz Concerts at Park Avenue at the airport and now we have the 1st Annual Samui Film Festival – details of both are shown below.

Also this month we have the inaugural Queens Cup Golf competition at Santiburi Golf and Country Club from the 13th and the Press Release is included below.

An interesting comment from Centara Hotels reported below. It is a common assumption that in the bad times hotels must cut their rates to stay competitive and I have touched on this in previous Newsletters. Hotels certainly come out with attractive special offers on a limited basis so as to maintain their rack rates. If you read the article below Centara admit that the number of guest has fallen but they have maintained their rates and that their returns are still competitive. There have been studies within the hospitality industry, mainly aimed at city centre business hotels that confirm this, but it seems it applies just as much to resort hotels as well. It is very tempting to reduce rates in the bad times against the competitive set to increase occupancy but the study shows that this ultimately has a negative effect on the bottom line.

However you must also read between the lines. What are they not saying? Accor for instance have just announced a 9.3% drop on Revenue for the first quarter and 9% drop in sales for the second quarter. The consequences of that are reduced spending. The hotel group is cutting 2009 spending on renovating hotels by 170 million euros to 315 million, lowering support costs by 80 million this year and 45 million in 2010, and reducing operating costs by 120 million this year. Fewer guests mean fewer staff; renovation and improvements deferred which has a knock on effect to other industries. Everyone if tightening their belts and rightly so.

And property prices continue to fall! If you check our web site and look at the Hot Press Offers you will see a great number of properties with prices that have been reduced from between 15% and 50% with an average reduction of 34%. These reductions are now beginning to produce sales and, although still not many, there are a few more buyers around than there were a few weeks ago. NEW REDUCTIONS EVERY MONTH!

If you would like to receive the full monthly Newsletter, please email me at hbonning@kosamuiproperties.com or visit our web site at www.kosamuiproperties.com

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