JOHOR BARU – Despite overcast skies and the looming monsoon season, hotels in the state are expecting a large number of guests taking up rooms for Nov 5 nomination day.
Most hoteliers said hotels are expected to see a surge in room occupancy from nomination until Nov 19 polling day.
Lotus Desaru Beach Resort & Spa chief executive officer Indra Gandhi Rengasamy Pillai said room booking for both nomination day and election day is picking up and the hotel is confident that occupancy would hit at least 70 per cent for both weekends.
"A number of political parties have indicated their interest to book some rooms and we expect the number to increase ," she said.
Since both the election day and nomination day fall on weekends, it's a bonus to have Singaporeans to throng the resort.
Thistle Hotel Johor Baru is already gearing up for nomination day as they expect a boom in room booking.
"Already there have been individual bookings for nomination day," said its general manager Robert Lee.
He said the hotel has allocated a number of rooms for the mix market segment, coming from Singapore for leisure, as well as for GE15.
The hotel, he said, received a number of bookings and expects the number to rise with multiple political group inquiring for one or two weeks.
"As nomination day gets closer, we may see some walk-ins as that is usually the case," he said.
"This is because party workers, election staff, campaigners and voters will be on the ground. And don't forget Malaysian voters from Singapore," said Lee.
Sand and Sandals Desaru Beach resort anticipates the GE15 will bring a boom to room booking.
"Already we have received calls for room booking for the eve of nomination day," said Lily Lim, director of operations and revenue.
She expects the number to increase by tomorrow.
"My staff are on standby for this two big days and since it's a weekend I foresee an even larger crowd coming in from Singapore," she said.
She pointed out that her staff have been alerted and all leaves have been frozen in view of GE15.
"We are looking at 80-90 per cent of room occupancy for nomination day and election day which fall on Saturday," she said.
She sees an uptick in room reservation and will leave no stone unturned to ensure the guests are given the best.
New York Hotel general manager Tan Ai Lee says her hotel has seen a steady stream of enquiries for the upcoming GE15.
Tan agrees that as the day gets closer to nomination day, more reservations will start coming in.
"As we are located in the heart of Johor Baru city there will be many walk-ins, even on nomination day," she said.
"We are ready and just waiting for the two big days," she added.
