Siem Reap Luxury Hotel is Shutting Up Shop in Cut-Throat Market

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Siem Reap Luxury Hotel is Shutting Up Shop in Cut-Throat Market

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Luxury Siem Reap Hotel Shuts Down Amid City’s Tourism Woes
Khun Vand/ Wed Jan 1, 2020 6:57 pm

A luxury Siem Reap hotel has shut down amid a downturn in tourists, with management saying the city’s hospitality businesses are locked in a battle to cut prices “to the point of death” in a dire market.

The four-star Apsara Angkor Resort announced it indefinitely suspended its operations starting this month, citing serious financial losses over the past two years amid a struggling industry, according to an undated statement obtained on Wednesday.

General manager Nuon Teviphea told VOD that nearly 200 employees would be affected by the closure of the hotel, which had been in operation for 18 years.

“There aren’t enough guests, and all the hotels started to drop their prices,” Teviphea said. “It’s gone to the point of death, and there are no profits.”

“We are just waiting to let all the remaining guests check out, then we will close the doors.”

According to Tourism Ministry statistics, the total number of foreign visitors to Siem Reap fell 13 percent year-on-year for the first nine months of 2019. Visitors to the city’s Angkor Archaeological Park dropped 14 percent for the first 11 months of the year, the park’s state-run operator, Angkor Enterprise, reported last month.

Tourism Ministry spokesman Top Sopheak said the downturn in Siem Reap tourists was part of a global trend, though limited tourism sites, a lack of direct flights and infrastructure also contributed.
https://vodenglish.news/luxury-siem-rea ... rism-woes/
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BR549
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Re: Siem Reap Luxury Hotel is Shutting Up Shop in Cut-Throat Market

Post by BR549 »

This beautiful hotel is one of many leading from the airport along national road 6 to Charles de Gaulle which takes you to the main entrance to Angkor Wat.
I pass it frequently and it is not alone when it comes to closing. Siem Reap has even more being built on 6 even though it has been announced there was a new airport coming 40km out.
I was a Chef in large hotels for part of my career and it takes a lot to operate..mainly it needs revenue from occupancy. I learned that my food service division was small potatoes even if I was doing parties for 1,000 people or multiple events for 200+ and my restaurants, bar and room service were all running efficiently. The rooms division was the money maker.
These hotels are empty..
Like the old Intercontinental in PP they are bleeding to death.
There is so much competition in Siem Reap.
Hundreds of choices of lovely places, luxury hotels, boutiques, guesthouses, and places like I rent ...I have rented a 1 bedroom luxury apartment part of a 3 plex for the past year. The owner built it with a small hotel in mind. It is only 5 minutes from Angkor Wat. He was forced to change it to apartments to have guaranteed income.
These big luxury hotels just cannot survive.
Perhaps, it is a bygone era. I prefer a small hotel.
I worked for almost 10 years in hotels with over 300 guestrooms and massive banquet halls. I love a little boutique place.
Like the article states, the competition was impossible to survive in. The rates were so low.
In 2017, I visited Siem Reap for the firsts time in the rainy season. I stayed at a luxurious smaller hotel near the complex. I booked their best suite and paid $60ish a night. It claimed it was a $200/night room during the tourist season.
I told my wife that people come to Siem Reap 1 time and cross it off their bucket list. It is not like some tropical beach people may come back to several years. I have gone to the Angkor Wat complex 12 times. But, I think a 3 day pass is plenty for most.
Raising the 1 day pass to $37 was like a self inflicted wound. The planned Aquarium seems like a pipe dream to me.
The huge Macau outfit that was negotiating for a huge tract of land has put that on hold.
I can only imagine the preasure to allow casinos in Siem Reap.
I, for one, hope and pray they never allow casinos in Temple City..
My lease is almost up. My landlord must sell his 3 room folly. I was planning on moving. Unlike Kampot where my options were so limited I rented a place I ended up hating; Siem Reap has a multitude of very reasonable dwellings.
I will pass by this beautiful hotel in a few weeks when I get back to Siem Reap. I think it is one of many along this corridor that are going to fold.
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Re: Siem Reap Luxury Hotel is Shutting Up Shop in Cut-Throat Market

Post by pczz »

Stupid people paid stupid prices for land and now its coming back tobite. Same will happen to condos as well. the wheel goes round. First the gold rush, then the property crash, and people learn nothing, so it happens again and again every time. Find ne warea, overdevelop, sell quick to a sucker who is blinded by dollar signs
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Re: Siem Reap Luxury Hotel is Shutting Up Shop in Cut-Throat Market

Post by phuketrichard »

BR549 wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2020 8:42 pm This beautiful hotel is one of many leading from the airport along national road 6 to Charles de Gaulle which takes you to the main entrance to Angkor Wat.
I pass it frequently and it is not alone when it comes to closing. Siem Reap has even more being built on 6 even though it has been announced there was a new airport coming 40km out.
I was a Chef in large hotels for part of my career and it takes a lot to operate..mainly it needs revenue from occupancy. I learned that my food service division was small potatoes even if I was doing parties for 1,000 people or multiple events for 200+ and my restaurants, bar and room service were all running efficiently. The rooms division was the money maker.
These hotels are empty..
Like the old Intercontinental in PP they are bleeding to death.
There is so much competition in Siem Reap.
Hundreds of choices of lovely places, luxury hotels, boutiques, guesthouses, and places like I rent ...I have rented a 1 bedroom luxury apartment part of a 3 plex for the past year. The owner built it with a small hotel in mind. It is only 5 minutes from Angkor Wat. He was forced to change it to apartments to have guaranteed income.
These big luxury hotels just cannot survive.
Perhaps, it is a bygone era. I prefer a small hotel.
I worked for almost 10 years in hotels with over 300 guestrooms and massive banquet halls. I love a little boutique place.
Like the article states, the competition was impossible to survive in. The rates were so low.
In 2017, I visited Siem Reap for the firsts time in the rainy season. I stayed at a luxurious smaller hotel near the complex. I booked their best suite and paid $60ish a night. It claimed it was a $200/night room during the tourist season.
I told my wife that people come to Siem Reap 1 time and cross it off their bucket list. It is not like some tropical beach people may come back to several years. I have gone to the Angkor Wat complex 12 times. But, I think a 3 day pass is plenty for most.
Raising the 1 day pass to $37 was like a self inflicted wound. The planned Aquarium seems like a pipe dream to me.
The huge Macau outfit that was negotiating for a huge tract of land has put that on hold.
I can only imagine the preasure to allow casinos in Siem Reap.
I, for one, hope and pray they never allow casinos in Temple City..
My lease is almost up. My landlord must sell his 3 room folly. I was planning on moving. Unlike Kampot where my options were so limited I rented a place I ended up hating; Siem Reap has a multitude of very reasonable dwellings.
I will pass by this beautiful hotel in a few weeks when I get back to Siem Reap. I think it is one of many along this corridor that are going to fold.
I am confused. you post saying ur living in SR, BUT on other posts ur back in the states>

I worked for a Cambodian travel magazine back in 2008 and even than there were to many rooms in the low season, cant even imagine them breaking even with a 4 month high season nowadays. Many of the hotels were Korean, Japanese, Chinese & thai owned

Oversupply is a ball buster for hotels
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. HST
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Re: Siem Reap Luxury Hotel is Shutting Up Shop in Cut-Throat Market

Post by David Gordon »

And how is it now? I know one of my faves along that stretch changed a lot when it was purchased by a Chinese owner and catered to large groups of them. That was pre covid though.
Stay classy na
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Re: Siem Reap Luxury Hotel is Shutting Up Shop in Cut-Throat Market

Post by hanno »

Still a massive oversupply and still pretty quiet. I ran a 5-star hotel in SR from 2008 to 2015. When I left, the glory days were already well past with average rates and occupancy dropping across the board. The only sort of sales activity that most Khmer understand is dropping prices; in the end everyone suffers.
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Re: Siem Reap Luxury Hotel is Shutting Up Shop in Cut-Throat Market

Post by Username Taken »

phuketrichard wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:44 am
BR549 wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2020 8:42 pm I will pass by this beautiful hotel in a few weeks when I get back to Siem Reap. I think it is one of many along this corridor that are going to fold.
I am confused. you post saying ur living in SR, BUT on other posts ur back in the states>
Definitely confused. :facepalm:
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