Heart of the matter

The Hoi An and Danang coastal area has 1,438 rooms in three- to five-star hotels.

Last month, Sheraton added 284 new rooms in Nha Trang and Life Resorts released 187 keys in Danang this month. Vietnam-based Fusion Hotel Management has contracted Thai-based Absolute Hotel Services to manage the 87-villa Fusion Maia Da Nang Resort and 84-key Boutique Hoi An Resort, both slated to open by the middle of this year.

These are part of more than 700 rooms expected to open this year. Another 8,000 keys are scheduled to come online in the next seven years. Several will be sporting international brands, including JW Marriott, Marriott, Hyatt Regency and Banyan Tree.

In Hue, most of the new inventory was added in the past two years, with only the Ancestor?s Resort due to open this year. 

Indochina Hotels and Resorts CEO, Baron Ah Moo, said: ?Additional hotel inventory in 2010 will help create the critical mass necessary for the Danang-Hoi An market to compete with other internationally recognised tourism destinations.

?Compared to destinations such as Phuket in Thailand, which currently has 9,968 hotel rooms (in upper categories) with more than 5,000 new keys in the planning/development phase, the Danang-Hoi An market still has considerable room for growth in terms of inventory.?

The increased inventory is a boon for existing prominent players such as the Furama Resort Danang, which will also add 134 luxury villas next year.

Executive assistant manager Nguyen Duc Quynh said: ?More openings with more international hotel brands will help attract more visitors as there would be more marketing activities to promote (Danang).?

He believed the added marketing and media hype would help bring Danang on a level footing with Hoi An and Hue, as well as strengthen its appeal as a beach holiday destination.

Trails of Indochina managing director Matt Masson expressed concerns over the inevitable shortage of manpower due to the influx of new properties. ?Existing properties will have to offer staff incentives to maintain loyalty and to retain key personnel.?

Another potential setback is the intense pressure local hotel owners and operators will come under from international hotel brands in their bid to differentiate and provide a higher quality of services and standards.

Danang Airport is getting a new US$74 million terminal. The first phase of the project will be completed next year.

The city is also getting more international flights, following the memorandum of cooperation signed last May between the Danang authorities and Vietnam Airlines (VNA). The deal resulted in VNA?s plan to operate 12 direct chartered flights from Japanese cities to Danang this year. VNA got the ball rolling with a 150-pax flight from Fukuoka in December last year.

It remains unclear though when Cam Ranh Airport in Nha Trang will get a regular international flight. The airport, which mainly caters to domestic services, welcomed its first international flight in December last year ? a 118-pax chartered service by SilkAir from Singapore.

The Nam Hai general manager Herbert Laubichler-Pichler said, in principle, the increased inventory would be very good for the region as it would create many more employment opportunities for locals. ?More importantly, the new airport will bring more air traffic to the Central Coast.?

He said that in the short term, longhaul guests would continue to travel through Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, but for regional travel, Danang would become Vietnam?s new gateway. 

?Over time, Danang will see longhaul guests from Singapore and Hong Kong bypassing Vietnam?s traditional gateways.?