Several tour operators have voiced their complaints against some hotels and resorts in Mui Ne, a resort hub in south-central Vietnam, as these lodging facilities turned away tourists who intended to stay there only one night.

Since the start of the summer travel season, such facilities have only received guests with a two night stay on weekends, many travel firms lamented.

Some other resorts, despite welcoming guests with one night’s stay, announced their rooms were full.

Besides, many lodging facilities required guests to reserve one or two meals to have a room.

Tran Thanh Vu, general director of Vina Group International Travel JSC, said that after receiving many groups of tourists, the firm’s sales employees contacted some resorts in Mui Ne, a famous resort town in Binh Thuan Province, to book rooms but none were available. 

Therefore, the firm failed to arrange tours for these customers, he added.

“These lodging facilities said they only accepted guests with two nights’ stay. In addition, they hinted at booking a meal for tourists to be able to get rooms," Vu said.  

“However, most of these tourists wanted to visit the place on weekends, meaning that they could only spend one night there."

The situation has existed for many years, but it has became worse following the increased number of visitors after the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay Expressway, which connects Dong Nai Province, a neighbor of Ho Chi Minh City, with Binh Thuan, was opened to traffic in late April, shortening the travel time.

Bui The Duy, a representative from Lua Viet Tours Company, said that the firm booked many rooms for this summer travel season in April to avoid the room blight and surcharge payment.

“This summer, Mui Ne gets more popular than other tourist sites such as Da Lat City in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong and Nha Trang City in Khanh Hoa Province, so the sale of tours to the tourist site in Phan Thiet City have also risen," Duy said.

“However, the requirement on one night’s or two nights’ stay might let the tourism sector in the province down."

Tran Anh Thi, manager at a resort in Mui Ne, said that some firms active in the industry in the locality were dissatisfied with these complaints.

Refusing guests with a one-night stay will ruin the value and image of tourism in Binh Thuan, Thi explained.

“Lodging facilities must welcome all guests, including those who even stay half a day,” he added.

Since the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay Expressway was put into operation, the room occupancy rate at the resort has reached 60-80 percent on weekdays, while it has been nearly full on weekends, according to Thi.

In response to the complaints about the room problem, the Binh Thuan Tourism Association said that was a revenue management tactic. Travel firms, hotels, and airlines are taking revenue management into account to optimize their turnover and profit sources.

Predicting demands as well as setting some requirements on guests and compulsory meals are also among revenue management tactics that are often applied at hotels, said the association.

The association also affirmed that not all hotels and resorts in Mui Ne are receiving only guests with a two-night stay.

Binh Thuan Province has some 600 lodging facilities with 17,500 rooms.

In May, tourist arrivals in the province climbed 20 percent year on year, according to the association.

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