Will greed cook the goose for Singapore?
SINGAPORE – A prominent Australian travel wholesaler was reflecting this week on why he won’t be taking any of his large incentive groups to the Singapore F1 Grand Prix next year.
Quite simply, he blames greed on the part of the Lion City’s hotels.
“Rates have gone way beyond what most large corporate groups can afford,” he told Travelmole. “A $400 room today will be $1200 during the Grand Prix,” he said.
“And when I complain to the hotels, they tell me, ‘There’s not much we can do because the government is taking 30 percent of the room rate’.”
In her weekly column in this Travelmole newswire, Yeoh Siew Hoon also has something to say about Singapore hotels.
“Rates are soaring to stratospheric levels,“ she writes. “I got rate quotations from a four-star hotel which went from S$340 to $480 to $800 in a week – for the same room type.
“I fear these wild fluctuations – which sent my heart into palpitations – could soon lead to bar room brawls and street fights between customers/travel agents/event organisers and hoteliers.
“It’s not just that rates are soaring that is the problem; it’s that it’s happening at a time when service levels are dropping off.
“Taxi drivers misbehaving badly, sloppy service in restaurants, patchy service in hotels – the customer experience isn’t getting better; yet rates are rising.”
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