In the quarter under review, no new hotel opened after the completion of the St. Regis Bali Resort in 3Q2008. However, the renova¬tion of a hotel in Tuban (near the Kuta area) was accelerated to meet the scheduled comple¬tion date of February 2009. An old hotel, Bali Hai, was taken over by the Palma Group and, after major refurbishment, will be renamed Holiday Inn Resort Baruna (Intercontinental Hotel Group), a 4-star hotel with 195 rooms.
The global crisis has in some cases resulted in the inevitable cancellation of travel ar¬rangements by tourists from Europe or the US. However, despite seeing a drop in both AOR and ARR, Bali’s hotel market in general remained relatively stable. This was probably due to domestic guests taking year-end vaca¬tions in the holiday season and to foreign guests who had booked their visits long before the financial crisis occurred.
Given the possible travel cancellations, the Bali Hotel Association suggested that its members retain bookings by shifting them to other periods in the following year when the global financial turmoil has eased. Potential pending hotel bookings may come from cor¬porate clients or companies that are badly affected by the business slowdown.
The overall occupancy rate in Bali in 4Q2008 was below expectations. In the seven destina¬tion areas in Bali, none recorded an AOR of above 80%. In general, the AOR for the quar¬ter dropped by around 1% compared to the previous quarter. Seminyak was the only area to register a positive trend, albeit a moderate one. The Ubud area continued to capture the highest AOR this quarter, at 79.2% but, again, this figure was lower than in 3Q2008, when it was 80.5%.
Tourist areas in Bali recorded different trends in ARR. Areas such as Nusa Dua, Tanjung Benoa and Seminyak saw positive ARRs QoQ. However, hotels in other areas, such as Sanur, Kuta, Jimbaran and Ubud, registered a downward trend in ARR. Both the rise and the fall in the ARR were relatively stable and this trend was quite unusual in Bali, particu¬larly during the peak season.
After recording a climb in the previous quar¬ter, hotels in Nusa Dua saw a downturn trend from 77.7% in 3Q2008 to 76.7% in 4Q2008. The peak season in Bali did not boost oc¬cupancy levels, in particular in the Nusa Dua area, which is known as the preferred location for conventions. All hotel categories, from 3- to 5-star properties, registered a drop in AOR. The Westin Resort Hotel continued to show a steady performance and recorded the highest occupancy level in the Nusa Dua area.
An ARR increase from US$109.88 to US$111.99 was recorded in the quarter under review for all hotel categories in the Nusa Dua area. Once again, the Amanusa boutique ho¬tel had the highest ARR at above US$300.
Hotels in Tanjung Benoa reported a moderate drop in the occupancy level in all categories. Despite dropping by less than 1% on average, the peak season was apparently unable to lift the AOR for this area, which was recorded at 78.4%, down from 79.4% in the previous quarter. Four hotels in this area had an AOR of above 80%, with Grand Mirage continuing to lead the pack.
An upward trend in the ARR was noted in this quarter in the Tanjung Benoa area, i.e. from US$79.41 to US$81.13. All hotel cat¬egories registered an increase in ARR, but a significant climb was achieved by 4-star ho¬tels, i.e. from US$68.87 to US$75.49. In the Tanjung Benoa area, three 5-star hotels had the highest ARR of above US$100.
The AOR in Sanur dropped slightly from 75.8% to 75.6% in the quarter under review. A positive trend was achieved by 5-star ho¬tels, with the AOR moving upward to 71.3% from 70.0%. Only three hotels in Sanur achieved an AOR of over 80%, i.e. Tanjung Sari (a 3-star hotel), and Pavillions and Puri Santrian (4-star properties).
The overall ARR in hotels in Sanur was simi¬lar in all hotel categories. In the quarter under review, 3-, 4- and 5-star hotels recorded ARRs of US$54.96, US$59.77 and US$58.04, re¬spectively. These figures did not, however, lift the overall ARR for Sanur in the quarter, which dropped from US$58.99 to US$57.52.
The AOR for hotels in Kuta was relatively steady, seeing only a slight decrease QoQ from 76.7% to 76.0%. All hotel categories registered a downward trend in occupancy, but 5-star hotels experienced the largest drop, from 74.3% to 71.9%. Looking at the respective hotels’ AOR figures for the past six months, occupancy levels were relatively steady, with no major volatility.
All hotel categories in Kuta showed a slightly different trend in terms of ARR. The 3-star hotel category experienced a fall in ARR from US$64.02 to US$60.29, while 5-star hotels saw only a slight drop from US$82.93 to US$82.31. Meanwhile, the 4-star hotel category recorded an upward trend from US$66.59 to US$68.74. Similar to the previ¬ous quarter, four hotels achieved the highest ARR of above US$100.
The 3-star hotels in Jimbaran achieved the highest AOR, far beyond the 4- and 5-star categories. Nevertheless, their AOR dropped from 86.5% in 3Q2008 to 84.5 in the last quarter of the year. Similarly, the occupancy level for 4- and 5-star hotels slowed down, causing the overall AOR of hotels in Jimba¬ran to fall from 78.8% to 76.7% in the quarter under review.
From the graph above, it is clear that there are large gaps among star-rated hotels. However, none of the categories saw a positive trend QoQ. The AOR for all hotels dropped from US$151.69 to US$150.04, although the ARR for the past six months was stable. The high ARR for 5-star hotels in Jimbaran was fueled by three hotels, i.e. the Four Seasons Resort, The Ritz-Carlton and the Bvlgari Hotel & Resort.
Seminyak was the only tourist area in Bali that registered a rise in AOR, albeit a small one, up from 70.4% to 70.9%. Only 3-star hotels saw a slight drop in occupancy levels, while the other categories noted an increase in occupancy, in particular the 5-star hotels.
Similarly, ARR levels in Seminyak went up quite significantly from US$124.82 in 3Q2008 to US$134.61 in the quarter under review. Only 5-star hotels recorded a rise in ARR, fueled largely by The Oberoi Bali, which recorded a significant increase in ARR.
The occupancy level in Ubud had been high¬er, but, in 4Q2008, the area was also affected by the global financial downturn, which resulted in a fall in hotel enquiries. However, overall, the AOR in Ubud hotels was rela¬tively stable and dropped only to 79.2% from 80.5% in the previous quarter. The drop was almost equal in all hotel categories.
Ubud maintained its image as an exclusive resort area in Bali, but, in 4Q2008, the ARR fell somewhat to US$197.75 from US$208.12 in the previous quarter. Quite a few hotels in Ubud offer very high room rates, with 20 ho¬tels having an ARR ranging from US$100 to as high as US$500 (achieved by Amandari).
Source: http://www.colliers.com/Markets/Indonesia/
