WORKATIONS with a study component are now a new market being tapped by a number of hotels and resorts, to beef up their occupancy amid Covid-19.
In an online press conference on Wednesday, Hotel Sales and Marketing Association Inc. (HSMA) Chairman Margie Munsayac said guests are now looking for staycations that give their children time to study and play as well. “That’s why the hotels are actually assuring [guests] a very stable Wi-Fi connection even on weekdays. The children can study anywhere as long as you have a very strong Wi-Fi… and it has been proven that the children have greater productivity in their online classes.”
She said this Work + Study + Play hotel stays is a trend not only in the Philippines, but also in other countries where children now attend online learning classes.
While many hotels in the National Capital Region are able to survive somehow by accepting as guests overseas Filipino workers, returning overseas Filipinos, medical frontliners and business-process outsourcing employees, Munsayac said properties in the provinces have not been as lucky. At the Maribago Bluewater Resorts Group, where she is vice president for sales and marketing, for instance, they posted a drop in revenues by as much as 80 percent since March.
“Social events like weddings and birthdays” are now helping prop up hotel revenues, as community quarantine guidelines allow only 30 to 50 percent guests capacity, she added.
According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), tourism receipts fell by 71.5 percent to P81.05 billion from January to July 2020.
To help kickstart domestic tourism and raise revenues of the hospitality sector, HSMA is holding its September Online Sale (SOS), where guests can book their hotel stay as much as 70-percent off on published rates, said HSMA president Christine Anne U. Ibarreta (Golden Phoenix).
Prospective guests can book their stays via HSMA’s website (www.hsma.org.ph) from September 15 to 30, 2020, from a choice of 89 hotels and resorts in eight featured destinations: Manila, Pasay, Makati/Bonifacio Global City, the Ortigas Business Center, Quezon City, Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Boracay, the Visayas and Palawan/Mindanao.
“We have no illusions that life will be the same—if and when restrictions are lifted. But the public’s patronage and advanced bookings from the sale gives us hope that things will get better. It will also enable us to plan ahead in terms of manpower and other operational requirements so that we will be able to hit the ground running when the pandemic is over,” she said.
Among the major participating hotel chains in SOS, are the Discovery Group, Shangri-La Group, Crimson Resorts and Q Hotels, El Nido Resorts and Seda Hotels, Dusit Thani Group, Maribago Resorts, SM Hotels and Resorts, Savoy Hotels, among others.
“Some of the promos are valid for up to a year—and even more — while the others even have no expiration on their validity,” according to HSMA spokesperson Pearl Maclang. “For travelers, the SOS is both a limited time offer that can help them save on their next trip, and a chance to help the Philippines’s tourism industry bounce back from Covid-19.” Some establishments may include the usual blackout dates or holidays among their offers, while others may not.
For his part, HSMA Vice President Benjie Martinez (Bayleaf) projects recovery in their sector to start “by the middle of 2021. We believe that we will see the opening of domestic travel corridors by October, and more by December, so come summer of 2021, we can expect the hospitality sector to be in a fairly better situation.”
A recent study by the DOT and Asian Institute of Management showed respondents prefer going to the beach (69 percent), road trips (54 percent), and staycations as top travel activities, while 42 percent were “highly unlikely to purchase travel deals or promotions during this time,” owing to budget and safety concerns.
(See, “Poll: Pinoys to trim travel budgets with lower wages,” in the BusinessMirror, June 30, 2020.)