Tao Van Nghe, Chairman of HCMC Hotel Association, said that the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has decided to extend the program to offer more time for hotels to carry out activities to woo Vietnamese guests. Locals staying at such hotels will enjoy a big discount of 50% on room tariffs.

“Since the program began on September 1, results from such hotels have not been good so the organizer wanted to lengthen it for better result,” said Nghe, who also serves as General Manager of the Rex Hotel. The special program was launched by HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in cooperation with the HCMC Hotel Association.

The department had called on five-star hotels of the city to mark down room rates by half for domestic guests from September 1 to October 31, with an aim to help local guests familiarize themselves with luxury services and increase room occupancy in the hotels. Up to ten five-star hotels in HCMC have registered to join the program.

Nghe said that after two months carrying out the program, such hotels have sold just a small number of rooms to Vietnamese.

“We don’t have a final report yet but our hotel, the Majestic, has sold 60 room nights only. The results from other hotels are lower,” Nghe said.

Some participants in the program said one of the main reasons that made the program less attractive to local guests is the lack of public relation activities for the program.