Dafam to operate 40 hotels by 2015

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New local hotel chain player Dafam Hotel Management, plans to operate a total of 40 hotels ranging from two-star hotels to villas and resorts by 2015, in hopes of tapping into the growing demand in the business and leisure market.

Dafam managing director Andhy Irawan said the hotels would be opened not only in major and small cities in Indonesia like Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan and Luwuk, Central Sulawesi, but also in Malaysia and Singapore.

“We plan on expanding our business in Malaysia and Singapore because we want to be a strong player in both the domestic and international market,” Andhy told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

“Currently, we have a few new hotels under construction including the Avani Resort and Spa in Bali, set to open next year.”

For the past two years, the company has operated seven hotels including: two-star diamond Vio Hotels and Marlin Hotels, three-star Dafam Hotels and four-star Grand Dafam Hotels.

The hotels are located in major and small cities across Java such as Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Pekalongan, and Cilacap. Andhy claimed each hotel to have a 75 percent- 90 percent occupancy rate.

“With the expansion, we will also introduce our five star brand, The Royal Dafam,” he said.

Dafam is offering a unique concept for each hotel, in addition to providing free Internet service and on-site restaurants, even in their two-star hotels.

Dafam Hotel in Semarang is designed with the Victorian-era in mind, he said.

In addition, the company’s corporate public relations manager Ninik Haryanti claims its two-star hotels provides better service for the Meetings, Incentive Conventions, and Exhibitions (MICE) market, when compared to other two-star hotels.

“The meeting room at Marlin Hotel Pekalongan is able to accommodate about 200 people, while Vio Hotel Pasteur in Bandung can accommodate up to 150 people,” Ninik said.

Competition in Indonesia’s hospitality industry is getting fierce. Adding to the competition,tour companies like Panorama and car rental company Cipaganti have also begun to enter the hotel market.

The Panorama Group have announced that they will operate more than 25 hotels ranging from two-star to four-star hotels over the next two years.

Its two-star hotel, The BnB in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, is set to open on Dec. 24.

Meanwhile, Cipaganti, through its subsidiary PT Cipaganti Inti Development, will open 11 hotels across Indonesia by the end of 2015.

The company is set to finish the construction on the 129-room Cipaganti Legian Hotel in Bali this year.

The latest data from the Central Statistics Agency showed that in the first seven months of 2012, Bali recorded the highest star-hotel room occupancy rate at 62.28 percent, followed by East Kalimantan and Jakarta at 62.01 percent and 58.81 percent, respectively. According to the data, five-star hotels recorded the highest occupancy rate in July at 57.65 percent, followed by four-star and three-star hotels, at 54.16 percent and 52.13 percent.