SINGAPORE – Staycations is ringing cash registers at local hotels in the middle of the pandemic, but the hostels are in the cold.
Chan, 36, director of The Hip and Happening Group, owner of Rucksack Inn, said the war to keep her 160-bed shelter afloat as tourist arrivals dried up before this year, a difficult war.
There were 1.69 million guest arrivals in January, however, it is a network, with only 750 in April and 880 in May.
A $45 million crusade through the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Enterprise Singapore and Sentosa Development Corporation was presented last month to inspire domestic tourism, with donations from hotels, restaurants and attractions.
Some hotels that have since reopened with safe distance regulations would have been complete for stays, especially long weekends.
But the hostels don’t get a percentage of that cake, Chan said.
“This is our call for help. We think we’ve almost left ourselves to our fate.
Chan joined forces in April with two other hostel owners, David Seah and Adler Poh, to shape the Singapore Backpacker’s Hostel Alliance.
The owners of the hostels say that there is a real degradation before foreign tourism returns.
Owners have injected cash and labor to comply with protective measures to combat the Covid-19, such as ensuring more common cleaning and keeping meters 24/7.
They halved occupancy rates to meet the guidelines.
Seah, owner of The Bohemian, Chic Capsule and Little Red Dot [email protected] Backpacker, said the alliance allowed a “vulnerable” tourism industry to magnify his voice.
The alliance now has about 40 hostels managing around 50 properties, representing about 60% of the approximately 9,000 hostel beds here, he added.
The Hotel Licensing Council noted that there were hostels registered here.
But Seah said there was more because not all hostels or capsule hotels are registered on the board of directors. To his knowledge, at least 3 hostels left this period.
“If this continues, we will not stay afloat. I earn just enough to pay the rent and my employees,” said Seah, who has not received any payment since the beginning of the year and lives off his savings.
Like many other hostels, Ms. Chan’s hostel basically welcomes Malaysian staff who cannot return home due to traffic restrictions.
“Some hostels have relationships with structure companies, so when they get leads on those groups, they focus them.
“So it’s up to us to help others and locate businesses,” he says.
But the group, which lately accounts for 90% of all shelter occupants, is expected to remain for a long time as cross-border movements begin to resume slowly, Chan said.
He added: “It’s pretty scary to live month after month. We can’t plan for the future and the adjustments are so unpredictable.”
To reduce costs, he put some of his members on unpaid leave and also had to interfere to leave the toilets blank and make the beds.
Some hostels have also reduced rates by up to 70% because Malaysian staff are unwilling to pay fees of up to $50 a night, Poh, 32, said.
Most, if not all, hostel operators are small and medium-sized businesses or “the mother and circle of family owners,” poh, who runs the 40-bed Adler Inn.
They do not have the means for the activity until foreign tourism resumes, which will not happen so soon, he added.
Mr Poh noted that some shelter owners were unable to unload bank loans because they were risky in the tourism sector.
The JSS is expected to end this month.
STB’s hospitality and industry director Tan Yen Nee told the Sunday Times that in addition to measures such as JSS, he had canceled license fees and renewal fees for authorized shelters until the end of this year, and offered grants to inspire staff progression. innovation.
The alliance has called for the 50% occupancy limit to be lifted and for the government to generate transitional savings for them, such as how hotels are used as advisory centres for home stays.
But the STB has adopted a more cautious technique for places like hostels where giant teams are very likely to gather in tight spaces for long periods of time, Tan said.
“It is about reducing the threat of a resurgence of network transmissions. As a result, it will take longer for control measures to make hostels comfortable and adapt to bookings for recreational activities. We’re going to… review those measures accordingly,” he added.
While hostels would probably not contribute as much to tourism profits as giant hotels, Chan said the niche sector has helped shape the industry.
“I think we’ve added a price to respond to travelers who need to raise their dollar. Singapore loses the flavor we bring to the industry.”
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