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[October 11, 2006]

Five More Legendary Years

(Saigon Times Magazine Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) On October 5, Legend Hotel Saigon held a functionto mark its fifth anniversary

[QQ] HCM City now has 10 five-star hotels. Most of them are members of the worlds well-known hotel chains like New World, Renaissance or Sheraton. However, the Legend Hotel Saigon is an independent hotel under the management of Hai Thanh-Kotobuki, a 70:30 joint venture between Kotobuki Holding Co. and Hai Thanh Co.


Upgrading furniture and interior in a room, building more ballrooms and improving the quality of service and employees are main points of the plan, Kiyoshi Hosoya, chairman of Kotobuki Holding Co., said. We do not mind spending much money to do these things because we want to give the most comfort to our guests.

Three months ago, the Legend, located on Ton Duc Thang Street in HCM Citys District 1, started to upgrade its executive rooms, Lobby and Lounge with new furniture and interior decoration.

For the next five years, the management board is thinking of building new function rooms in its garden at the rear of the hotel due to strong demands from MICE (meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition). Our current Ballroom is limited in space and can accommodate only 500 people, the 91-year-old Japanese said. We still need to study its expansion.

Staff quality is also a key factor in maintaining good service for guests of the hotel. The moment our guests enter the hotel, our staff with a friendly smile will welcome them and offer their service and assistance, Hosoya said. Moreover, while employees are always asked to join training courses inside the hotel during the year, there are training programs abroad every year for supervisors so that they can learn how to better serve guests and their staffs.

Business is better

The Legend has met many difficulties during its first three years as it started from scratch. It was badly hit by SARS and bird flu epidemics. However, Hosoya said that last year the hotel did well with an occupancy rate of 70%. Up to September of this year, it is at 71% occupancy and expected to reach 73% by the year-end. This year is very good and next year will be better, he added.

The Legend, whose capital was increased to US$46.1 million from US$32.3 million, sees the last three months of this year as a peak time when the occupancy rate is expected to amount to 90% in November and 75% in October and December.

At this moment the ratio of leisure to corporate guests is 50% and 50%. We are focusing on increasing corporate guests to 70% because HCM City is a commercial center and expects higher demand for corporate guests, Hosoya said. Before the war, Saigon was the biggest commercial center after Shanghai and I hope HCM City will further develop.

It is not without reason that the Legend is honored as the Best Garden Environment in HCM City and the Best Five-Star Hotel Buffet in Town by clients and guests. The international buffet section Atrium Cafe, Japanese restaurant Yoshino and Chinese restaurant Crystal Jade are all the hotels pride in the food and beverage sector. They have greatly contributed to our success over the past five years and attracted guests to come back and stay again, Hosoya said.

Bright future

In the next five years, there will be more five-star hotels in HCM City invested by both foreign and domestic companies. This will create fiercer competition. Hosoya said that it is a very good opportunity for tourism development and the hotel welcomes more competition to improve its service and facilities.

Vietnams hotel and tourism industry is growing fast and has shown positive development over the past 10 years. However, it is still under development and needs more infrastructure development. When it is better, the hospitality is also better, he added. Hoteliers are looking forward to the future.

Hosoya said that Vietnam is still immature in terms of tourism development compared with other Asian countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, which have more hotels, resorts and tourist attractions. However, he believes that after Vietnams WTO entry, the hospitality industry will be better with contributions from the Government, foreign investors and tourists. x

Copyright 2006 The Saigon Times Magazine. Source : Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Intelligence Wire

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