The Malaysian Budget and Business Hotel Association (MyBHA) said it would enhance the country’s hotel industry in the eyes of tourists.
Apart from that, they added, it could eliminate price competition between the budget hotels and the four and five-star establishments.
MyBHA president Sri Ganesh Michiel said the rates charged by budget and business hotels now are almost the same as those of the four and five star hotels.
“If we raise our rates now, the tourists would prefer to check into those hotels,” he told Bernama.
He was commenting on a statement by Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) secretary-general Megat Shahrul Azman Abas that four and five star hotels should begin to accept the US dollar like it is being done in other countries.
Ganesh said it would automatically reduce the price war between the two classes of hotels.
He proposed that the government implements the two-pricing system to differentiate the rates for domestic tourists and those for foreign visitors.
He said it would help the country’s hotel sector remain competitive with those of their regional peers and that would help to generate income for them.
“The government should take the initiative to resolve the threat that the hotel industry faces now. It can introduce a new law to regulate online travel agencies and enforce the Short Term Residential Accommodation guidelines to ensure the survival of the hotel industry,” he said.
Ganesh said the government could create a mechanism such as an online travel portal dedicated to Malaysians only for hotel reservations at special rates.
“When we have our own portals that are regulated by the government and the law, we can get more accurate statistics compared to relying on foreign portals,” he added.
Ganesh said a similar mechanism had been used by countries such as China, which created two different travel portals for domestic tourists and foreign tourists.
Malaysian Hotel Owners Association executive director Shaharuddin M. Saaid said the proposal by MAH would raise the confidence of foreign tourists in the hotel industry in Malaysia, as well as increase the income of the hotel operators.
“The ringgit rates in Malaysia for four and five star hotels is too low if converted to the US dollar. For the same class hotel rooms in New York or Singapore, the rate is at least US$400. In Malaysia, it is less than US$100. It does not reflect the status of a five -star hotel,” he said.
Shaharuddin said the increase in income for hotel operators would also benefit hotel workers and this would indirectly help to improve the quality of their service.
“If we can get a higher income, we will be able to offer better salary to employees and also provide the necessary training to improve the quality of service,” he said.
Homestay operator, Mastura Malak, 32 said it would attract more foreign tourists, but expressed the hope that hotel operators would not take advantage by raising the rates, including for local tourists.
“With the economic uncertainty, it would be better if the current rate is maintained,” said the woman who runs homestays in Temerloh and Desaru.