“Hot price! Discounts up to 35 per cent! Last minute – 10 per cent discount.” These are the main messages on websites of Croatian hotels in recent days. Many of them offer discounts and last-minute deals with the reduction of prices between 10 and 35 per cent not just for the preseason period, but for the main season as well, reports Jutarnji List on May 20, 2019.
The largest hotel providers – Valamar Riviera, Plava Laguna, Liburnia Riviera, Bluesun – have all offered special prices as early as May, while last year they did it only at the start of the main season in late June, when it became clear that the years of double-digit tourism growth are behind us.
The hotel companies did not want to comment on the situation with this year’s booking, but sources from the tourism industry say there is no reason to panic since hotels are actually demonstrating that they know how to manage their revenues.
“It is wrong to compare this year’s price policy with last year’s because the situation is significantly different. I believe that most hotel owners constantly follow booking trends because that is the only way to define the right price at the right time. They are helped by the technology that enables day-to-day tracking of competitors’ prices. Depending on booking trends, they can manage prices through sales channels,” said consultant Sanja Čižmar.
However, lowering prices is contrary to the messages sent by tourism minister Gari Cappelli from the largest tourism fair in Berlin in March. At the time, he said that hotel companies should not listen to tour operators which demanded significantly lower prices, with the excuse that this is the only way to compete against aggressive Turkish hoteliers, whose accommodation prices are far below the average European rates.
One well-informed source from the tourism sector says that the average price per person on the Adriatic is 61 euro per day, while in Turkey it is 51 euro. The lowest average price can be found in Tunisia (38 euro).
“It can be said that this price reduction has come too late, especially since our competition reduced the prices a lot earlier,” said the source. “Early booking failed this year because a large number of travellers who booked their holidays early last year felt cheated. They paid for their rooms at the beginning of the year, but then hoteliers abruptly lowered their prices in June due to poor booking. They are therefore more cautious with early bookings this year, aware that waiting can save them money.”
Sanja Čižmar agrees that the main battle will be fought for the main season, the two summer months when prices are highest. Still, hotels which have invested and modernized their offer should not have any problems. “Experience shows that the best hotels are the ones which fill their capacity first, and they generally have the highest occupancy rates,” said Čižmar.
Translated from Jutarnji List (reported by Dora Koretić).
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