Thursday, February 5, 2009

New hotel lets you dictate room rates

PAY what you want - this is what Ibis Singapore is telling guests who want to stay at the hotel on Bencoolen Street.

Room rates at the hotel - billed as the first international economy hotel in the Republic - normally start at $138.

But as part of a promotional campaign ahead of its opening on Feb 12, guests can log onto the website, www.paywhatyouwant.com.sg, to put in the price that they want to pay, for a limited time each day.

Marketing director Hiro Inoue said the move is a response to the global financial crisis, but is also the best way to measure what the market is willing to pay.

He said bids in the region of $70 to $80 had been posted.

The promotion is limited to the 538-room Ibis Singapore for now, but could be launched to include the chain’s other hotels around the world.

Ibis is part of French hotel and business services group Accor.

More visitors have opted to stay home in the face of the recession.

Tourism arrivals in December fell to 888,000, down by about 7 per cent from the same month a year earlier, the Singapore Tourism Board said on Tuesday.

For the full year, visitor arrivals fell 1.6 per cent to about 10.1 million - the first full-year decline since the 2003 Sars outbreak.

The number of travellers to Singapore dropped in six out of the top 10 markets compared to 2007.

Source: Straits Times - 5 Feb 2009

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