Relax - RWS hotels booked solid till March

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RWS hotels booked solid till March

By Lee U-Wen, The Business Times | Tue, Jan 26 2010

Every room during the Chinese New Year festive period snapped up.

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[top photo: Hard Rock Hotel at Resorts World Sentosa]

SINGAPORE - Thinking of staying at one of the newly opened hotels at Singapore's first integrated resort (IR) anytime soon?

If you haven't booked a room at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) by now, you will likely have to wait until March at the earliest before you can take a vacation there. The IR revealed on its Facebook fan page last Friday that its four newly opened hotels 'have reached maximum capacity' until the end of April. Then, in an update posted on Saturday, it said that it had 'managed to free up some rooms' in the months of March and April.

This past weekend (Jan 23-24), RWS saw occupancy rates at its four hotels soar to over 90 per cent, said Robin Goh, assistant director for communications, adding that both the Festive Hotel and the Hard Rock Hotel Singapore reported full houses.

RWS expects to be operating at full or near-full capacity during weekends for the foreseeable future. Already, every room during a nine-day period spanning the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday from Feb 13 to Feb 21 has been snapped up by both Singaporeans and overseas guests eager to be among the first in the world to stay at the IR.

Last Wednesday, RWS celebrated the soft opening of four of its six hotels - Festive Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel Singapore, Hotel Michael and the by-invitation-only Crockfords Tower. This was the first of several phased openings at the $6.59 billion development on the island.

Collectively, the four hotels offer 1,350 rooms and 10 restaurants. The other two hotels - Equarius Hotel and Spa Villas - will add another 500 rooms when they are launched as part of the second phase later this year.

When the IR's call centre first opened its hotline on Jan 11, the first three days alone saw some 5,000 room nights booked. RWS said last week that it expects six out of every 10 visitors to be from overseas, and of these, a quarter will come from China.

But there could be some hope yet for latecomers, said Mr Goh. 'As per industry practice, travel agents have what is known as 'agent allotments' of rooms. Hence, guests might be lucky to snag a room if there are some rooms still available under individual travel agents.'

His advice: Book rooms fast before demand surges as more attractions and entertainment options, including the casino and the Universal Studios Singapore theme park, open over the next few months.

Rack rates start from $400 a night for Festive Hotel, $450 for Hard Rock Hotel and $500 for Hotel Michael.

This article was first published in The Business Times.

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