From Crystal Bay Hospitality, thinking about the journey to the open sea

Invading the "territory" of the "West"

Many years ago, real estate investment and management was the "territory" of foreign corporations.

In terms of investment, foreign enterprises are the ones who invest in construction, while Vietnamese enterprises usually only contribute land use rights. However, recently, many Vietnamese enterprises have accumulated enough financial resources to invest in resort projects that can fully meet international standards in infrastructure and architecture.

As for the management and operation of 5-star resorts, most investors leave it to foreign corporations. The high-end hotel management market therefore falls into the hands of international corporations such as Accor, InterContinental, Marriott, Wyndham...

The water park is located in the Cam Ranh Riviera Beach Resort & Spa complex - a project built from listening to customers' needs.

According to statistics from Savills Consulting Company, there are currently 79 hotels and resorts nationwide operated by international brands, most of which are 5-star projects. Recently, foreign hotel management groups have continued to branch out into different product lines to "attack" lower segments.

The reason why the luxury hotel management market is dominated by foreign corporations is not only due to the “foreign-oriented” mentality, but also because most domestic investors do not have much experience in this field. Most Vietnamese enterprises only invest in and manage small-scale hotels and focus on budget customers.

When wanting to attract a larger number of guests, attack the high-end segment, and sell rooms at higher prices, 5-star resorts must target international guests. This is the strength of foreign corporations because in addition to experience, they also possess a global business and marketing system and a wide network of loyal customers.

However, the wind is changing direction. The ability of domestic enterprises to manage high-end hotels is not inferior to that of foreign corporations. FLC self-manages and operates the hotels and resorts that the Group invested in under the brand name FLC Hotels & Resorts. After a period of cooperation with international hotel management corporations, VinGroup also announced the restructuring of the Vinpearl brand, self-managing and operating its tourism real estate projects under three sub-brands: Vinpearl Luxury, Vinpearl Resorts & Hotels and Vinpearl Discovery. Crystal Bay Hospitality under Crystal Bay Group is also a typical example showing that Vietnamese enterprises can compete equally with high-end tourism real estate management brands according to international standards.

"Western" or "Eastern"?

In a flat world, the gap in management technology and service standards between domestic and foreign hotel management groups is gradually being erased. Mr. Mauro Gasparrotti - Director of Savills Hotels Asia - Pacific region commented: "With the number of projects growing rapidly, Vietnamese investors are gradually learning from practical experience and providing the market with better quality products."

The biggest challenge for Vietnamese hotel management businesses therefore lies mainly in the problem of attracting international guests. Because the brand presence is still obscure in the world due to huge marketing costs abroad.

Crystal Bay Hospitality offers a variety of entertainment activities for international visitors. Photo: PV

However, that challenge is an absolute advantage of Crystal Bay Hospitality when the business efficiency of resorts managed under this brand is always optimized thanks to the support from the tourism ecosystem, especially from the travel business segment of the parent group Crystal Bay.

Firstly,Proactive customer source is the biggest strength that ensures the success of any project managed under the Crystal Bay Hospitality brand.

International tourists to Vietnam have grown strongly in recent years, with the Russian tourist market standing out. The factor behind the rapid growth of this source of visitors is Crystal Bay. In 2018, this Group brought 360,000 people, accounting for 60% of Russian visitors to Vietnam. Thanks to proactively sourcing visitors from the parent group, Crystal Bay Hospitality easily operated its first project, Cam Ranh Riviera Beach Resort & Spa (Cam Ranh Riviera), with business efficiency leading the hotel market, reaching 90% of the operating capacity. At the end of this year, Crystal Bay Hospitality will continue to manage SunBay Park Cam Ranh to put it into operation and in the near future there will be many large-scale hotel complexes such as: SunBay Park Hotel & Resort Phan Rang, Sailing Bay Ninh Chu.

Not only that, Crystal Bay is also an important hub providing international guests to most of the major hotels in the South Central region. Based on that advantage as well as management experience from Cam Ranh Riviera, Crystal Bay Hospitality has expanded hotel management services to other businesses. Currently, Crystal Bay Hospitality is managing and operating The Sailing Bay Mui Ne resort with an average annual room occupancy rate of up to 80%.

Second, the flexibility and diversity of products is the next strength that helps Crystal Bay Hospitality differentiate itself from foreign corporations. Ms. Nguyen Thi Duyen - Director of Crystal Bay Hospitality said that the company's orientation is not only to manage 5-star hotels but also to expand into the 3-4 star hotel segment. At the same time, Crystal Bay Hospitality does not differentiate according to standards like Accor or InterContinental, but the products aim for diversity and flexibility to suit the needs and characteristics of domestic tourists and a diverse number of international tourists from different countries and ethnicities.

Market experience and the synergy from the ecosystem are the third factors that help Crystal Bay Hospitality move forward steadily and confidently on its journey to gradually penetrate the hotel management market. This strength of Crystal Bay Hospitality is further promoted in the context that most tourism real estate projects in the Vietnamese market are planned independently without paying attention to the operational factor. Therefore, products invested and operated by two different units after completion will face many difficulties in exploiting as a hotel or resort due to the lack of utilities, logistics areas or lobby services.

Personalizing experiences is also an important race that Vietnamese businesses that want to capture a piece of the market share must overcome, as Mr. Mauro Gasparrotti once commented: "International operators are constantly introducing new brands, focusing on new tourist groups such as millennials or health tourists."

Crystal Bay is also an important hub providing international guests to most of the major hotels in the South Central region.

For this race, Crystal Bay Hospitality has more opportunities to prove its capabilities. "We have many years of experience in the travel industry, so we understand even the smallest needs of each specific customer, thereby creating a difference through personalizing the experience" - Director of Crystal Bay Hospitality shared.

Most visitors staying at Cam Ranh Riviera Beach Resort & Spa or The Sailing Bay Mui Ne, when experiencing the meticulousness in every detail of operation, mistakenly think that these 5-star resorts are invested and managed by a foreign corporation. The average room occupancy rate of these projects is up to 80 - 90%, a number that even foreign hotel management corporations dream of.

The initial success of domestic hotel management brands such as Crystal Bay Hospitality, Vinpearl or FLC has brightened the dream of Vietnamese tourism brands that can reach international standards. And as shared by a representative of Crystal Bay Hospitality:"If Vietnamese tourism investment businesses join together and go in the right direction, Vietnam has all the conditions to become a high-quality resort center in Asia."