Officials at high-end hotels said they will lower room rates to offset the loss of business travelers by attracting tourists. At mid-level hotels, managers said they intend to raise their room rates because they expect to be swarmed by guests, a Shanghai Daily survey has found.

China has three weeklong holidays - for Spring Festival, Labor Day and National Day. During the October 1-7 National Day holiday last year, the city had 3.2 tourists from home and abroad, said Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission officials.

At the five-star JC Mandarin on Nanjing Road W., the room rate will be slashed as much as 60 percent, to 618 yuan (US$74.45) a night for a standard room. At the five-star Portman Ritz-Carlton across the street, the price for a standard room will plummet 53 percent to 1,180 yuan for Chinese nationals and expatriates with residence cards. The Grand Hyatt Shanghai, another five-star hotel, will lower the price of its standard rooms by 45 percent to US$178.

"Business travelers normally make up at least 50 percent of the customers in local five-star hotels," said Barbara Xu of the Grand Hyatt. "But the number of business travelers falls sharply during holidays."

The occupancy rate at five-star hotels fell below 85 percent during last year's National Day holiday.

Mid-level hotels with a standard room rate of around 500 yuan plan to raise their rates or at least maintain their current levels.

At the New Asia Star, an economy hotel chain, room rates will climb from 148 yuan to 168 yuan for the upcoming holidays.

"Non-business travelers are always the target custom-ers of mid-level hotels, and the weeklong holidays are opportunities to generate additional revenues," said the JC Mandarin's Hu Ye. "It is not surprising that they may even raise their room rates."

Shanghai's economy hotels have seen business boom this summer, said Yang Fan of the city tourism commission.

Student travelers from other parts of China kept economy hotels nearly filled in July and August, Yang said.

(Shanghai Daily September 9, 2002)