Jakarta Hotels flooded with guests during inundation

A number of hotels in the capital city — both budget and star-rated — enjoyed high occupancy rates over the past few days as people sought refuge from the floods, according to the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI).

PHRI deputy secretary-general Carla Parengkuan said that occupancy rates at hotels increased by up to 30 percent, with some of them seeing their rooms fully booked.

“A lot of guests whose houses were affected stayed at nearby hotels until the floodwater receded. There were also cases where a hotel affected transferred its guests to other hotels,” Carla told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

January is normally low season for the hotel industry with occupancy rates average 60 to 70 percent.

Hotels, Carla said, would likely continue to enjoy the advantage until the end of January because some guests had chosen to extend their stays until the risk of further flooding had passed.

Separately, Kompas Gramedia’s Santika Indonesia Hotels and Resorts corporate marketing communication manager Vivi Herlambang said all of its five-star to budget accommodations in Jakarta had seen more than 93 percent occupancy rates in the past week.

“We even had to turn away many walk-in guests whose houses were inundated due to the unavailability of rooms at some of our hotels. We only have a few rooms to offer at this time,” Vivi told the Post.

The domestic player operates 12 hotels in Greater Jakarta, including five-star Santika Premier in Slipi, four-star Santika Hotel BSD City, two-star Amaris Hotels at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Thamrin City, Senen, Juanda and Mangga Besar.

The occupancy rate of Amaris Hotel near Soekarno-Hatta International Airport reached 100 percent as people chose to stay at the hotel to be closer to the airport to catch their flights, she added.

“Airline passengers are wary during floods, especially when they travel a lot. They need accommodation close to the airport as they do not want to get trapped in traffic and miss their flights,” she said, adding that the hotel has 118 rooms. 

Hotel chain Archipelago International, formerly known as Aston International, also saw a surge in guests.

Archipelago International corporate marketing communication manager Febry Anindita said the number of walk-in guests increased 5 to 15 percent at each of its hotels. (Jakarta Post)

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