Damage from the week-long shutdown of the two airports continues to hurt hoteliers, especially with a plunge in occupancy rates at five-star hotels during the peak season. The Christmas and New Year period may be a last chance for these hotels to claw back reservations and many are staging unprecedented campaigns to attract guests, mainly in the local market.

But if the outlook remains poor the next year is expected to see layoffs in the hotel industry. Many hotels are already reducing working hours and offering their staff unpaid leave.

In the middle of this month, the occupancy rate of hotels in Bangkok averaged only 20-25%, compared with 60% in the same period last year.

This has prompted many hotels, particularly in the five-star segment, to launch aggressive promotion campaigns in the holiday period.

Charles Morris, the Peninsula's general manager, said major promotions would attract large numbers of local tourists.

He said the fundamentals of the hotel market had been strong early this year until political turmoil triggered a 30% decline in room occupancy. He compared the current situation to that in the Sars epidemic _ although it lasted only two or three months while the end of political strife is harder to predict.

He said the Peninsula had responded to the current crisis with unprecedented offers for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve: a buffet gala dinner for two people plus one-night's stay, breakfast and discounts for spa and treatment at 10,688 baht and 20,688 per room per night, respectively.

In a normal year, he said, the buffet alone would be around 6,000 baht per person at Christmas and 15,000 baht at New Year's Eve.

The hotel is also introducing a special package with breakfast, dinner and a spa discount at 6,200 baht per room per night, compared with a normal rate of more than 12,000 baht.

Mr Morris added that bookings for the special Christmas and New Year's Eve packages were already running at 50% and 60%, respectively.

The Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers has introduced a discount of 20% for all restaurants, which it hopes will raise advance bookings to 60-70%. To save costs, it has temporarily closed one restaurant and plans to close another from Dec 20-23.

Centara Hotels & Resorts has launched ''Happy Holiday'', a buy-one-get-one-free package, and a 25% discount on food and beverage bills and spas at the hotels. Like other operators in the tourism industry, the hotel is targeting local guests with its discounts.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand recently forecast 100 billion baht in lost revenue this festive season due to the shutdown of the two airports.

Bangkok Post
Published: 22/12/2008 at 12:00 AM