For the past few years, prices of hotel rooms in Singapore has been sky rocketing. Whatever it was reported in the news extra isn’t exactly the truth. Official figures are often misleading and visitors who visit Singapore regularly on business or for leisure will know this.
For example, a room at Hotel Rendezvous was around $150 per room per night back in 2003. It rose to almost $250 in beginning 2008, hitting as high as $300 in last quarter of 2008.
What hotels in Singapore didnt realized was there is a pending downturn, in fact a huge downturn coming up. Due to the economic crisis which start hitting Singapore in the mid of third quarter and last quarter of 2008, hotels faced a sharp drop in their occupancy rates, and didn’t really smarten up till now.
Hotels are still trying to put up a strong false front, but it just could not last long. There is just not enough visitors going to Singapore. Comments like “We are still experiencing high occupancy” was seen at news late 2008. But the real fact is many hotels are experiencing extremely low occupancy rates. The exorbitant hotel rates has to come down!
True enough it did! Singapore hotels are dropping prices in order to attract more visitors. It is now much more attractive to visit Singapore! Business travellers can now save on the costs to visit their Singapore offices and counterparts. Visitors should also consider booking hotels nearby to the Central Business District or Central Shopping District instead, it would mean further savings.
Visitors to Singapore should really take advantage of the new price drops now, to avoid the hotel operators trying to jerk up the prices as the economy slowly recovers.
Source: Prices obtained from Hotels.Online Singapore. Prices quoted are in Singapore dollars.
The company behind Hard Rock Cafe, which owns around 124 Hard Rock cafes and 9 Hard Rock Hotels around the world, will open a hotel in Singapore next year.
It will be a luxurious hotel based on rock-and-roll-themed interiors. Hard Rock Hotel Singapore will be one of the six hotels at the Resorts World at Sentosa, an entertainment complex comprising casino, Universal Studios theme park, an oceanarium and 1,800 hotel rooms being built by a unit of Genting Group.
The hotel is expected to charge around S$500 per room night, for a giant room with two queen sized beds and a big screen TV. This rate is almost double of what the current average room rate for Singapore hotels.
There are many luxury hotels in Singapore currently, with the famous Raffles Hotel heading the list.
If you are visiting Singapore for the first time, or are not familiar with Singapore, chances are you will have problems choosing amongst the almost 300 Singapore hotels available.
Chances are you know which area you are visiting, say Central Business District, or near Orchard Road for example. However, Central Business District alone can be a large area, and can be quite expensive too.
Hotels.Online Singapore has come up with an innovative way of listing the hotels. You can now list the available hotels by street or road names. Singapore hotels by street names give you a list of street or roads names with hotels along it. The presented results shows a short description of the street/road, with information on the nearest MRT (train) station, and a map showing the area, all very important information for your visit.
We understand that this will be further extended to allow users to search for street names which will match the closest available street with hotel!
For example, if you are visiting the Central Business District, you can choose from a list of available Singapore hotels along Bencoolen Street, which is just minutes from Central Business District and Central Shopping District! Imagine the savings you have from the room stay and you can probably spend an extra day or two in Singapore.
Even if you are visiting Singapore on business, the trip need not cost a bomb. There are many hotels along parts of Singapore which are still “near” to the Central Business District.
Hotels along Beach Road in Singapore, for example, is only a few minutes from the Central Business District! There are also roads like Jalan Besar, Serangoon Road etc., which are all a few minutes away. Some of the hotels along these roads are going for less than S$100 per room night. Travel time from these roads to the CBD shouldn’t be more than 10 - 15mins by cab, and there are MRT (train) stations which will bring you into and from the CBD for no more than a few Singapore dollars too.
If you want further savings, consider hotels along the roads like Geylang or even Joo Chiat. For example, Happy Hotel which is a budget class hotel at the end of Geylang, and is only around 10 - 15mins from CBD, costs starts from only S$60 per room night!
There are so many Singapore hotels to choose from, and you do not need to stick to a more expensive one if you are traveling on a tight budget. Or the savings you made from the hotel room stay would mean more food, and shopping!
In the next part, we will write on the information for visitors going to Singapore for leisure. We will help you make smarter choices when booking Singapore hotels.
Selecting a Singapore hotel for your stay in Singapore couldnt be easier, all you need to do is do a little research.
If you are visiting Singapore for business like many, you can consider hotels a little outside the Central Business District in Singapore.
There are quite a few roads leading to the Central Business District in Singapore. Such roads includes Bras Basah, Jalan Besar towards Bencoolen Street, Beach Road, Victoria Street etc.
All these roads has many Singapore hotels which are priced more economically as compared to those right smack in the middle of the Central Business District like Fullerton Hotel, Swissotel Merchant Court etc., just to name a few.
There is a recently opened one Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen, which is only around S$180, and is less than 5 - 10mins from the Central Business District AND Central Shopping District (Orchard Road)! Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen is not the only one, one Bencoolen Street which Ibis Singapore is at, there are many other hotels including Bayview Hotel, Summer View Hotel, Hotel Bencoolen, Hotel Rendezvous etc.
On Victoria Street, you have choices which includes Victoria Hotel, Carlton Hotel etc.
If you learn to choose wisely, your stay in Singapore could be much more affordable. Bear in mind taxi trips from the hotel to the Central Business District should not costs you more than $15 per trip (usually less than 10mins too, depending on traffic conditions), and that is quoting on the high side! Imagine your savings!
You can find all these hotels at Hotels.Online Singapore (http://hotels.online.com.sg).
In our next part, we will discuss about which hotels you should book if you want to save even more, even if you are on business trip.
* Prices quoted are in Singapore dollars and as per Hotels.Online Singapore, accurate as at March 2009.
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Mar
Posted on 2009 under Hotels and accomodation |
Singapore is a small island, barely 700km square. That, however, doesn’t mean Singapore is a jungle. She is much more than that.
Getting around the island is easy, with a world class public transportation system in place. You can get around with the public transportation system (buses, taxis/cabs, trains) to any part of the island, at very affordable costs.
Most visitors to Singapore usually books hotels with recognized brands. Most of the time, such brands also mean they are more expensive hotels. If you are visiting Singapore, you do not need to book them, you can choose one within your budget, and yet close to where you want to visit.
Generally, visitors to Singapore will choose to book hotels in Orchard Road, Scotts Road, Central Business district etc. These hotels are by far the most expensive ones as they are in prime business and/or shopping areas.
You can consider booking hotels which are not that expensive, and yet, are not far away from the prime areas, bearing in mind it takes around 30mins by car to travel from one end of the island to the other end. So you can really save a lot of money from your hotel stay alone. Spend the money on your shopping, dining and entertainment instead!
For example, if you are visiting the Central Business District, why not consider booking a hotel in Singapore’s Chinatown instead. You can get one hotel in Chinatown (Keong Saik Hotel) for as low as S$90 per room per night! The average price of the hotels in Chinatown is around S$160 - S$180 compared to over S$220 in the central business district area.
If you are visiting the Orchard Road shopping belt, you may wish to consider booking for one around the city central, where you can get a room for only S$95 (Beach Hotel), and with an average price S$180!
Therefore, your booking for Singapore hotels need not be that expensive. You can probably extend your stay with the savings!
Singapore will host the first Asian Youth Games (AYG) from June 29 to July 7 2009. This games will be used as preparation for the hosting of the ingugural Youth Olympics Games (YOG), which will be in August 2010.
AYG will be a multi-sports event for athletes aged 14 and 17. Many Asian countries will be using this event to have test preparation for their sports juniors before the YOG 2010.
A total of nine sports will be contested during the AYG 2009, which includes track and field, bowling, beach volleyball, three-on-three basketball, sailing, shooting, football (or soccer), swimming and diving, and table tennis.
Many Asian countries are expected to take part in the AYG 2009, therefore visitors to Singapore during the period is expected to increase. The organizers are expecting a turnout of at least 1,300 top sports juniors from 45 National Olympic Councils (NOCs). This is on top of journalists, sports officials, parents, relatives and friends of participants. Visitors rate are expected to hit a significant numbers for the event.
If you are visiting Singapore during that period (or few days before or/and after the event), or will be attending the games, you should consider making your reservations for Singapore hotels right now to avoid being hit with room shortages and end up paying premium rates for the hotels in Singapore.
