Survey shows most hotels can only cover operation costs for less than 3 months

A survey by the Bank of Thailand shows that most hotels can only cover their operating costs for less than 3 months. 220 properties were surveyed between June 14 and 27. Of those, 17 are alternative state quarantine facilities, while 3 properties serve as “hospitels”. 68% of those surveyed say they only have enough liquidity to cover their operating costs for less than 3 months. And according to a Bangkok Post report, 26% only have enough liquidity for less than a month.

Despite a slight uptick in occupancy rates, there is simply not enough business and 19.5% hotels have temporarily closed during the last month. Most of those are in the south of the country, where many facilities have been closed for over a year, with 75% of them hoping to be in a position to re-open in the last quarter of the year.

Hotel occupancy in June averaged around 10%, compared to 6% in May. That rate was slightly higher in the north-east, at 13%, and lowest in the north, at 6.2%. The occupancy rate in the south was around 6.3% on average, and 13.2% in the central provinces. For July, the occupancy rate across the country is expected to be around 12%.

Meanwhile, most of Thailand’s vaccinated workers are in the south of the country, at 61.7%, primarily due to 83% of Phuket’s hotel staff being inoculated for the island’s July 1 re-opening. The situation is very different in central Thailand, where just over 21% of workers are vaccinated. That figure is even lower in the north-east at just over 16% and lower again in the north, where fewer than 16% of workers are vaccinated.

In order to ride out the latest financial challenge, hotel operators are pleading for help in the form of debt moratoriums, soft loans, and extra liquidity to pay salaries. They are also urging the government to obtain and distribute more vaccines.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post