A hotel market report by real estate consultant Savills says the accommodation service business has been rescued in the second quarter after the fourth Covid-19 outbreak began in Vietnam. Strict distancing measures increased demand for hotels for quarantine purposes.

While the pandemic caused 17 hotels in HCMC to suspend operations in the second quarter, about 28 reopened and half of these were used as paid centralized quarantine locations. The demand for quarantining in hotels has come from both incoming visitors and domestic customers and it is still increasing, the report says.

Most of the hotels used for quarantining are in Districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and Tan Binh. This has led to a 3 percent increase in hotel room rates in HCMC compared to the previous quarter, reaching $69 a room per night.

In Hanoi, 10 hotels in the 3-5 star category were selected as quarantine locations in the second quarter. The demand generated during the new wave caused average hotel rates in the capital to reach $77 a room per night, up 1 percent from the previous quarter.

By the end of the second quarter, the total number of hotels for quarantine in the two major cities increased to 25, providing more than 3,000 rooms.

According to Savills, by the end of 2023, HCMC will have another 2,500 hotel rooms, 70 percent of which will come from big brands.

In Hanoi this year, three more hotel projects will be completed, adding about 500 rooms to the market. By 2030, Hanoi is expected to have about 2,600 more rooms from 14 projects, the report says.