THE proposal for hotel room rates in Malaysia to be charged in the United States currency will be able to reduce price competition between budget hotels and four and five-star hotels, said the Malaysian Budget & Business Hotel Association (MyBHA).
Its president Dr Sri Ganesh Michiel said that its proposal would also indirectly enhance the country’s hotel industry in the eyes of foreign tourists.
“We as budget hotel operators agree with the statement by the Malaysian Hotel Association (MAH) because it will automatically reduce the ‘price war’ between budget hotels and four- and five-star hotels,” he told Bernama.
“Right now, we have to compete with these hotels because the price is more or less the same. We cannot increase the price because if it is increased, tourists will prefer to stay in those hotels.”
Ganesh was responding to MAH secretary-general Datuk Megat Shahrul Azman Abas’s earlier statement on the association’s intention to charge room rates in USD – a practice that is common in other countries in the region.
To make this happen, Ganesh further proposed that the Government implement a two-price system approach for hotel accommodation to differentiate the payment rate between Malaysians and foreign tourists.
He pointed out that the mechanism in question, if implemented, would help the country’s hotel sector to remain competitive with regional countries while helping to generate income.
“The government should take the initiative to resolve the threats facing the hotel industry, such as formulating a law to regulate online travel agencies (OTA) and enforce the Short Term Residential Accommodation (STRA) guidelines to ensure the survival of the hotel industry,” he remarked.
He also suggested that among the things that the Government should do was to create a mechanism or a system such as an online travel portal that is special for Malaysians only for matters such as hotel reservation at special rates.
“When we have our own portals that are regulated by the Government and the law, we can get more accurate statistics compared to relying on foreign portals,” he commented.
Ganesh noted that similar mechanism had been used by foreign countries like China, which created two different travel portals for domestic tourists and foreign tourists.
“In China, there is the Ctrip which can only be used by their people. For foreign tourists, they have to use Trip.com. The price between these two portals is very different,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Hotel Owners Association (MAHO) executive director Shaharuddin M. Saaid said the proposal by MAH would increase confidence of foreign tourists towards the hotel industry in Malaysia, as well as increase the income of the hotel operators.
“The price of hotel rooms in Malaysia for four- and five-star hotels in Ringgit Malaysia (RM) is too low if converted to USD,” he was reported as saying by the news agency.
“For the same class hotel rooms in New York or Singapore, the price is at least US$400. In Malaysia, it is less than US$100. It does not reflect the status of a five-star hotel.
“So we have to adjust the price so that it reflects that price of a five-star hotel and are on par with five-star hotels abroad,” he said.
Shaharuddin also noted that the increase in income for hotel operators would also benefit hotel workers and this would indirectly help to improve the quality of their service.
“If we can get a higher income, we will be able to offer better salary to employees and also provide the necessary training to improve the quality of services,” he remarked. – July 13, 2022
Main photo credit: The Economic Times
