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Jun 13, 2018 / 19:27

Vietnam’s hotel market attracts 79 foreign operators

The number of foreign-invested projects in Vietnam`s hotel market increased from 30 worldwide leading brands in 2010 to a total of 79 by the end of last year, according to Savills Hotels.

Vietnam has been witnessing strong growth of international hotels brands and foreign hospitality management companies in recent years. According to Savills Hotels, a particularly large increase has been observed in 2018 with recent announcements of Mandarin Oriental and Movenpick in Ho Chi Minh City, Best Western Premier in Quang Binh and Long Hai.
 
Sonasea Condotel Villas & Resort invested by CEO Group in Phu Quoc.
Sonasea Condotel Villas & Resort invested by CEO Group in Phu Quoc.
Compared to a few years ago, the number of projects that can appeal to international operators is much greater due to better quality, more international design concern, improved trust on foreign management companies and increased need for creating competitive advantages, according to Mauro Gasparotti, Director of Savills Hotels Asia Pacific.
“We observed a large increase of interest from operators in the country in the past three years, following the expansion of the hospitality market,” said Mauro Gasparotti.
“Vietnamese developers are still new to hospitality products, but with a large amount of supply coming, there will be a fast learning for some of them and more quality asset are expected to be underway,” he added.
Over the last two years, Vietnam has seen a rapid growth in the condotel market. According to Savills Hotels, condotels make up nearly 25% of the total supply of hotels currently and will account for around 65% of the total supply at main tourism markets by 2020.
Savills points out that condotel is actually much more complicated than a pure hotel. It possesses features of both residence and hotel. It requires, therefore, a higher support in terms of management.
However, several projects in Vietnam have not considered the implications on management for the condotel. This will lead to poorly planned products that will look like an attractive residence or condominium but they will be problematic to be managed as a hotel or a resort with several shortfalls in terms of back of houses, facilities and front of houses.
Most condotels are managed by the developers and some of them do not have experience in hotel management. However, there are few projects which have begun to integrate a brand and engage management company.
Vietnam welcomed a total of more than 6.7 million foreign tourists in the first five months of 2018, an increase of 27.6% compared to the previous year, according to General Statistics Office (GSO).