NEW MEMBER FOR VIETNAM’S BEST HOTELS ALLIANCE

The Best Hotels Alliance (BHA) of Vietnam, a strategic marketing coalition of six of Vietnam’s leading international-stanrdard hotels and resorts has announced that it will add a seventh member effective July 1st, 2000 - the luxurious , 5-star Caravelle Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Best Hotels Alliance which was established in 1998 to support tourism in Vietnam during the pan-Asian economic recession, currently comprises, the luxury Hanoi Daewoo Hotel (411 rooms), the Ha Long Plaza Hotel (157 rooms), the Furama Resort Danang (200 rooms), the Ana Mandara Resort in Nha Trang (68 rooms), the Saigon Prince Hotel (198 rooms) in Ho Chi Minh City, and the Royal Garden Harbour View and Office Tower in Haiphong (127 rooms). Members of the Alliance agree that the promotion of Vietnam’s tourism industry is best served by a climate of “co-operation rather than fierce competition.”

Commenting on the Caravelle’s new association, Mr. Stephen O'Grady, General Manager said: "As a luxury hotel we are committed to contribute to the general development of tourism in Vietnam. As an independent operator, we believe the Best Hotels Alliance is the ideal organization to join as it has proven its commitment to the VNAT and its national promotion campaign "Vietnam - A Destination for the New Millenium.”

The 335 room Caravelle Hotel is located right in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City overlooking the historic Opera House, and the heart of the business, shopping and nightlife district. Following a substantial renovation completed in 1998, its spacious rooms and suites have state of the art facilities including in-room fax machines and dataports and satellite TV. Facilities include an outdoor rooftop swimming pool, one of the city’s best fitness club, and the Saigon Saigon jazz bar with al fresco terrace which is the city’s most popular meeting spot. The hotel’s restaurants, which include Asian Reflections, the leading Asian and fusion restaurant in the city, are also popular with resident expatriates as well as hotel guests.

Commenting on the new addition to the Alliance, President Mr Paul Stoll, who is also general manager of the 5-star room Furama Resort in Danang said: "Having more member hotels will give the Alliance recognition in the travel industry and allow us to effectively address the challenges of the tourism industry of Vietnam".

In Vietnam meanwhile, visitor arrival figures are increasing as a result of measures taken by VNAT and travel industry partners to strengthen the tourism development of Vietnam. This year, Vietnam is predicting over 2 million visitors with the results up to May this year already showing 860,000 arrivals.

The BHA aims to have some 16 members hotels in Vietnam in 2000 and is expanding its network into the so called Indochina countries, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and China, and the Asean distribution hubs - Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai.. “By pooling our collective resources, we are better placed to reinforce the promotional activities of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and Vietnam Airlines towards positioning Vietnam as one of the region’s major tourism destinations. Not only that, we will also be a more powerful force for lobbying the government and negotiating with international tour operators.”

The Alliance has already succeeded in stimulating dialogue between the various industry partners who have a stake in Vietnam’s tourism development, namely hotels, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Vietnam Airlines and overseas airlines, national and international distributors (tour operators).

The Alliance has been working closely with the VNAT on preparations for a major international promotional campaign “Vietnam – A Destination for the New Millennium” as well as helping to define key issues that need to be addressed in order to develop the tourism industry. These include changes to visa requirements and streamlining of immigration procedures, a review of tourism taxes and increasing the frequency of flights.

The Alliance also cooperates with the government in the area of room pricing so as to avoid the price war which has resulted from the current hotel oversupply situation. “A price war doesn’t benefit anyone and is not going to attract more tourists. None of us can win by trying to undercut each other as lower prices will only lower standards” said Mr Stoll.

Meanwhile the Alliance also offers its members excellent cross-marketing opportunities, since collectively it consists of more than 1000 rooms located in the country’s primary cities and resorts and a comprehensive network of top class accommodation and world class facilities throughout the length and breadth of the country.

The Alliance currently plans a guest recognition programme that encourages guests of one hotel to be loyal to others in the Alliance, in much the same way as other hotel group loyalty programmes.

“Vietnam has all the essential elements in place to become a major tourism destination,” said Paul Stoll, “Some of Asia’s major historical sites are located here. It is a melting pot of Buddhism, Hinduism, Brahmanism and Taoism. It has tremendous natural assets such as its climate, thousands of miles of white sand beach flanked by lush green mountains. The diving is excellent and so is the golf. Then there is the ancient culture and the warm and friendly nature of the Vietnamese people themselves. Add to this the romance of the French colonial era, an image of adventure and mystique and its undiscovered remoteness, Vietnam is undoubtedly the Asian destination of the future.”