Hotels become quarantine facilities to survive Covid

Some 10 percent of hotels in big cities are used exclusively for quarantining Covid-19 patients and those who were in close contact with patients, according to Savills.

They include 25 in HCMC with more than 3,000 rooms, mostly in Districts 1 and Tan Binh, 20 with 1,600 rooms in Hanoi and 34 with 3,000 rooms in Da Nang.

The fourth wave of the Covid pandemic led to the lowest occupancy rates in a decade and a drop in room rents.

Average occupancy rates at 3-5-star hotels in Hanoi regularly topped 74 percent in the decade before the pandemic.

In 2020, it fell to 30 percent, and the average room rent to $81 from $113.

In the first half of this year, they declined further to 25 percent and $72.

In HCMC, the rate this year has been only 18 percent due to stringent social distancing regulations, and the rent fell to $69.

The switch as medical isolation areas has thrown all of them a lifeline.