T

he country'€™s hospitality industry is projected to enjoy strong growth next year as the upcoming presidential and legislative elections will further boost demand for accommodation and meeting, incentives, convention and exhibition (MICE) provision.

Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) chairwoman Wiryanti Sukamdani said that hotels in Indonesia would see early reservations of their meeting rooms, convention halls and guest rooms from the first quarter of 2014.

'€œReservations will be made earlier and there is a possibility that the rooms will be booked for quite a long period of time due to the high demand,'€ Wiryanti told The Jakarta Post recently.

She predicted that a number of hotels would see 100 percent meeting-room occupancy rates several weeks before the elections.

'€œA lot of people will be moving from one city to another next year and hotels will be the industry that harvests the growth,'€ she said.

She also said the high demand for accommodation would result in around 16,000 new guest rooms entering the market in 2014, increasing the nation'€™s total inventory of star-hotel rooms to 171,000 by December next year.

Separately, Vivi Herlambang, marketing communication manager of the largest local chain, Santika Hotels and Resorts, said the firm would add meeting rooms in its existing properties in addition to opening 16 new properties, from the budget Amaris to upscale Santika Premiere, across the archipelago.

'€œWe will have a large ballroom in Bali and expand some of our meeting rooms because we want to be the strongest MICE player. Almost every year, we expand a number of our meeting rooms, particularly in MICE destinations like Bali and Jakarta,'€ Vivi told the Post, adding that the ballroom would be opened in its upcoming Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center Hotel.

Other domestic chains that will expand their MICE facilities to cater for the increasing market demand are Discovery Hotels and Resorts, and Tauzia Hotel Management.

Discovery Hotels and Resorts communication and media relations manager Fransiska Kansil said Discovery was set to alter the existing Singosari room in its five-star accommodation, the Borobudur Hotel Jakarta, to become a meeting room.

'€œWe also plan to modify another room on the fourth floor of the hotel as we see higher demand for meeting and conferences every year,'€ Fransiska said.

Apart from the Borobudur, she said that Discovery would launch its new four-star accommodation, Discovery Hotel and Convention Ancol in North Jakarta, in the first half of 2014 to cater to the MICE demand.

The 257-room hotel will have a grand ballroom able to accommodate 2,000 people and another six meeting rooms.

Discovery currently has seven hotels in the country'€™s major and growing MICE destinations: Jakarta, Bali, West Java, Riau and South Kalimantan, and expects to operate 20 hotels by the end of 2015.

Meanwhile, Tauzia spokeswoman Yani Sinulingga said that the company was adding meeting facilities to its existing four-star Harris Sunset Road in Bali and large meeting rooms, measuring between 1,000 to 2,000 square meters, in Harris Bekasi (West Java), Harris Surabaya (East Java) and Harris Cokroaminoto (Bali) that will be opened next year.

'€œWe will also provide regular meeting rooms below 1,000 square meter in the upcoming Harris Hotels and the small meeting rooms between 100 to 150 square meter in [budget brand] POP! Hotels,'€ Yani said.

Tauzia aims to open 20 new properties in 2014 across Java, Bali and East Kalimantan: nine Harris Hotels, nine POP! Hotels and two 2 Préférence Hotels, luxury accommodation brand.