16 - 22 August 2001

Positive outlook for hotels during August

by David Kelleher

In spite of a slow start in August, hotel operators are seeing a shift in business as the number of late bookings increases.
Contacted by The Malta Business Weekly, the President of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, Anthony Chircop said that as in previous years business in the first few days of the month was slow to pick up.
“Over the past few years, business during this month has been relativ-ely slow to pick up. However business is doing fine,” Mr Chircop said.
He added that feedback being received by the association showed that hotels are slowly gaining ground after the first few days and the number of late bookings was on the increase.
“Demand for the later part of the month is also very healthy. Overall performance should improve and figures are expected to be similar to those for the same period last year,” Mr Chircop said.
He added that in a telephone survey carried out by the MHRA, a number of hotels said there was a possibility that there might be a slight drop in occupancy levels, although he was confident that business would pick up by the end of the month.
With regards to five-star hotels, Mr Chircop said they were doing fine with high occupancy levels and good rates. Asked whether he believed there had been a shift from three-star hotels to five-star hotels, the MHRA President said this was not the case.
“The success being registered by the five-star hotels is due to their extremely effective marketing and promotional campaigns. Their popularity has increased and they have not been lowering their rates. On the contrary, five-star room rates are quite healthy,” he said.
Last week, The Malta Business Weekly reported that business in Gozo was not doing well and occupancy levels were healthy only because of the number of Maltese tourists visiting Gozo.
Mr Chircop said that operators in Gozo were worried that business was on the decline, however feedback received over the past few days showed that bookings had increased and demand for hotel rooms in Gozo had improved.
“It is true that some operators in Gozo were worried but things seem to be settling down now,” Mr Chircop added.
The Malta Business Weekly has also learnt that a number of tourists have complained about the service in certain well-known and established restaurants in the St Julian’s/ Paceville area.
This newspaper is informed that a group of Italians were treated badly by one of the waiters and their complaints ignored by the manager. With most restaurants experiencing an upswing in business during the past weeks, many are forced to recruit staff at the last minute and in most cases they are not properly trained. The result, The Malta Business Weekly was told, is that customers will not return to that restaurant and only give it bad publicity. “Some waiters give you the impression that you owe them a favour for being there and not because they should provide a service,” one restaurant-goer said. “Having fancy names on the menu and flashy decor means nothing if the staff are rude and unfriendly. Product quality counts as much as value for money,” he added.