Jakarta Hotels Turn to Entertainment In Bid for 100% New Year’s Eve Occupancy

The Jakarta Globe, Irvan Tisnabudi

Staff in Santa Claus suits at the Hotel Nikko in Jakarta on Christmas Day. City hotels are gearing up for New Year’s Eve. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)

Jakarta’s elite hotels are looking to boost revenue from increased occupancy rates and added special entertainment over the New Year holiday.

Hotel Mulia in South Jakarta and Hotel Indonesia Kempinski in Central Jakarta are just two hotels that will provide entertainment on New Year’s Eve in addition to expecting higher occupancy rates.

Hotel Mulia has booked pop star Tata Young from Thailand, and Indonesian pop star Melly Goeslaw, for separate venues at the hotel. Tickets for Tata cost Rp 400,000 ($43), while tickets to see Melly are going for Rp 1.4 million.

“Hotel Mulia has a total of 1,000 rooms, and the normal occupancy rate is about 70 percent, but we are targeting a New Year’s rate of at least 90 percent, if not 100,” said hotel spokesman Adeza Hamzah.

The cheapest New Year’s package the hotel is offering is $300 for two nights, he said.

Meanwhile, Hotel Indonesia Kempinski, which normally has an 80 percent occupancy rate, is expecting to be completely booked on New Year’s Eve.

“We are confident that we’ll achieve a 100 percent occupancy rate this New Year’s Eve, with an increased tariff of about 40 percent,” said Hanny Gunawan, the hotel’s communications director.

Kempinski charges $190 per night for its most basic room during the low season, but will raise rates to $280 on New Year’s Eve.

Located at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, the hotel is also preparing a musical feast, featuring Idol Divo — made up of two alumnae of the Indonesian Idol reality show, Kamaya and Suci — with a ticket price of Rp 2.5 million ($262). Around 350 people are expected to attend the concert.

“We are also preparing other events at our other ballrooms,” Hanny said.

Other hotels will be using different tactics to lure New Year’s revellers.

The Aryaduta Suites Hotel, located in the Semanggi area, will take advantage of the fact that more than 70 percent of its 300 rooms are three-bedroom suites.

“New Year’s Eve should bring us good fortune. Hopefully we’ll be able to attract families with our more homey rooms. We realized that many hotel visitors on previous New Year’s Eves were, in fact, families,” said Aryaduta Suites Hotel general manager Erwin Bernhard.

Aryaduta is also targeting a 100 percent occupancy rate on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

“Our year-long occupancy rate is about 70 percent,” Erwin said.

But according to Krisnadi, the chairman of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI), many hotels will not reach their targeted occupancy rate of 100 percent during the holiday.

“Many representatives of hotels in Jakarta say they will achieve a 100 percent occupancy rate during the New Year, but many of them have failed to do so in the past. Well-known hotels have been known to have an occupancy rate of around 60 to 80 percent on normal days, and this will increase during the New Year holiday to about 70-90 percent,” he said.

Krisnadi said many hotels faced the risk of disappointing occupancy rates if they failed to provide entertainment on New Year’s Eve.

“Even a hotel which has been a solid performer faces the dangers of having their occupancy rate plunging to 20 to 30 percent due to lack of entertainment offered to the public,” he said.

According to Arie Fatah, head of tourism services at the Jakarta City Government’s Tourism Office, 40 percent of events held on New Year’s Eve will be at hotels.

“The second-most popular venue for this year’s events are bars, and nightclubs come a close third, with both of them the chosen venue for about 10 percent of the events.”

As of Wednesday, the tourism office had registered 132 events, with 39 held in hotels, 13 in bars, and 11 in night clubs.

“This number could change significantly within the next couple of days, as many choose to register their events at the last minute,” Arie said.

The last day of the year also means increasing hotel tariffs, and many people blame the hotels for getting greedy come high season by increasing their room tariffs, said Krisnadi.

But he also urged the public to understand that hotel management faced an rising burden during the high seasons, with increased taxes, which could go up by as much as 15 percent.