Hotel
Go Online to Chase Wet Season's Fewer Tourists
With
the tourist season about to end, hotels and guest houses will soon
be fighting over the fewer visitors who come to Cambodia during the
rainy months.
This
prompted Angkor Temple Hotel last month to get on the Internet at
asia-hotels.com. So far, the Siem Reap property has made one booking
through the site, said manager Setkao Philip.
"That's
a good way to get bookings," he said. "And its very
flexible. You can change the rates for low and high seasons" at
the site.
Phnom
Penh's New York Hotel also got on the Internet earlier this month,
though "no one has booked through Internet yet," manager
Kim Veng Tan said.
"The
main thing is to get the message [across] that you're there,"
said Nigel Summers, director of Horwath Asia Pacific, a Hong Kong-based
management consulting firm. The Internet is an effective way to do
so, he said.
Visitors
to Cambodia come from all countries and all market segments, and
usually have one attribute in common, he said.
"The
type of travelers Cambodia attracts are more sophisticated than the
mass market," Summers said, adding that they tend to research
destinations on the Web and use it for reservations.
Summers
and Noah Shepherd, managing director for the Web design and
marketing outfit ETC Asia Co Ltd, based in Phuket, Thailand, were
speakers at Internet workshops held in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
The
workshops were organized by the Mekong Project Development Facility
(MPDF), which is managed by the private sector arm of the World
Bank, to show Cambodian small hotel and guest house owners how to
use the Internet for business.
Large
hotels have international ties and the resources to market
themselves. Small properties "lack the tools" to do so,
said Don Boring, MPDF program officer.
Workshop
speakers explained the options available to hoteliers, from having
an e-mail address and signing in with an online booking service to
appearing at a tourism Web site or having one's own Web site, Boring
said.
Many
participants had never considered this technology as a way to do
business. "Some were unaware that foreigners use e-mail every
day," Boring said.
Their
attitude towards e-mail and the Internet were fairly typical,
Summers said. "Across the region, the awareness [of the Web] is
relatively limited, even in the case of large hotel. In the whole
region, the Internet still accounts for a small amount or the
bookings under 3 percent."
When
small hotels and guest houses are family owned, Shepherd said,
"there will be younger members of the family who will encourage
the older generation to get involved" online.
You
Sobha, who coordinated the workshop for MPDF, said that reactions in
Phnom Penh differed from those in Siem Reap.
Though
in both cities, she said, "they did not understand the whole
concept of having a Web site and how it works," Phnom Penh
hoteliers were hesitant to use the technology, while in Siem Reap,
"they just did it ...they felt they really need it."
Some
participants did not think they require the exposure. Moeun
Sereyvuthy believed that with 16 rooms, her family's Dara Guest
House in Siem Reap is too small to be fisted on the Internet.
"I
have many examples of small guest houses who have done very well
from being promoted on the Internet," Shepherd said.
"There is an example of a small guest house in Vientiane that,
after being listed on the visit laos.com' Web site, received 40
direct bookings from people that [the owner] would have never had
before, together with dozens of walk-in customers who said they saw
his property on the Web site."
The
Internet workshops in Phnom Penh and in Siem Reap, which were
attended by about 65 participants, included sessions to familiarize
hotel and guest house representatives with Web sites and the
Internet booking process.
Since
the workshops concluded two months ago, "about five or six
[hotels and/or guest houses] got registered on the Bigpond online
directory," said Chan Kosal, Web master for Telstra Bigpond.
Phorn
Sara, owner of Eclipse Guest House a 15 room property in Siem Reap
said that he plans to use e-mail and the Internet. "I also plan
to buy four to 10 computers to offer Internet service," he
said.
In
Phnom Penh, the owners of Vimean Suor Hotel are considering getting
on an Internet site, according to manager Luk Sophal. "I think
the Internet is very important," he said. "My hotel could
advertise overseas."
Boring
said that one goal of the MPDF workshop was for Cambodian-owned
property representatives to meet, giving them the opportunity to
discuss their particular needs.
MPDF
is a program designed to support the development and growth of small
and medium-size business.
By
Ana Nov and Michelle Vachon
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