Closing of 4-star hotel operating for more than 30 years in the center of Ho Chi Minh City

The 4-star Norfolk Hotel is located at 117 Le Thanh Ton, District 1, just a few dozen steps from Nguyen Hue walking street, next to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee building and about 100m from Ben Thanh market, and has not been open recently.

Khách sạn 4 sao hoạt động 30 năm ở trung tâm TP.HCM đóng cửa - Ảnh 1. — The hotel has been closed for months. During the pandemic, it received many groups of quarantined guests from abroad.

On the hotel's website, there is an English notice that roughly translates to "After 30 years of joint venture, Norfolk Hotel is closed and no longer serves you." When clicking on this notice, guests will be introduced to other serviced apartments in the same group.

Over the phone, an employee of this unit said that the Norfolk Hotel is currently closed and it is unknown when it will reopen due to lack of guests.

Khách sạn 4 sao hoạt động 30 năm ở trung tâm TP.HCM đóng cửa - Ảnh 2. — The hotel is "locked and bolted" with yellow plastic panels blocking the doors.

The hotel has 104 rooms, in addition to other convenient services of a 4-star hotel such as bar, gym, restaurant...

At the hotel's entrance, which is now closed, next to the 4-star sign issued by the General Department of Tourism , there is a sign stating: Norfolk Hotel was officially opened by Australian Minister of Trade and Overseas Development Neal Blewett on October 21, 1991 and is the first joint venture hotel between Vietnam and Australia.

Thus, it can be said that this is one of the first newly built hotels right after Vietnam officially opened its doors to international tourists, starting from 1990. In 1990, international visitors to Vietnam only reached 250,000, domestic visitors were about 1 million and the whole country at that time had only 4 international travel companies.

For a long time, Norfolk has been a familiar stop for international tourists when coming to Ho Chi Minh City along with neighboring state hotels.

Khách sạn 4 sao hoạt động 30 năm ở trung tâm TP.HCM đóng cửa - Ảnh 3. — A sparse group of foreign guests pass by a long-standing hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, next to a coconut carrier who has just failed in his attempt to persuade them.

Recently, due to the lack of tourists, many hotels in the center of District 1 have closed and are for sale, even though they are located in prime locations, on streets that used to attract many foreign tourists.

On online real estate trading floors, a series of hotels in District 1 are for sale. Many hotels on busy foreign tourist streets such as Ly Tu Trong, Le Thanh Ton, Bui Thi Xuan, Thai Van Lung, De Tham, Le Thi Rieng, Nguyen Thai Hoc, Thu Khoa Huan... are looking for buyers.

Khách sạn 4 sao hoạt động 30 năm ở trung tâm TP.HCM đóng cửa - Ảnh 4. — Also on Le Thanh Ton street, right next to the North gate of Ben Thanh market, a mini hotel is also closed.

Some hotels have changed their functions into rental offices, such as the 4-star Lavender Hotel at the corner of Ly Tu Trong and Truong Dinh. Before the pandemic, this hotel was quite a famous place to stay, because it was located in a "golden" location, a few dozen meters from Ben Thanh market, across the Western street and very close to the center. Other hotels on Le Lai street, opposite 23/9 park and near the Metro station have also changed their functions, becoming rental offices...

Khách sạn 4 sao hoạt động 30 năm ở trung tâm TP.HCM đóng cửa - Ảnh 5. — Another hotel in Bui Vien Western Quarter is closed, quiet and degraded.

Savills Vietnam's report on the Ho Chi Minh City hotel market in the first quarter of 2023 said: Room occupancy in Ho Chi Minh City reached 68%, up 6% over the previous quarter and the average room rate reached 1.9 million VND/room/night, up 5% over the previous quarter.

In the first quarter of 2023, international visitors to Vietnam are estimated to reach nearly 2.7 million, 29.7 times higher than the same period last year. However, the General Statistics Office said that this figure is still only 60% compared to the same period in 2019 - a year before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Khách sạn 4 sao hoạt động 30 năm ở trung tâm TP.HCM đóng cửa - Ảnh 6. — This place used to be a 4-star hotel on Ly Tu Trong street, now being converted into office for rent.

Luxury hotels are being put up for sale in droves, people are heartbroken "hoping for tourism to recover"

Norfolk is an Australian hotel brand that has invested in Vietnam since the late 80s, starting with the Norfolk Hotel in the center of Ho Chi Minh City, then developing 5-star serviced apartment projects, offices for rent... One of Norfolk's most famous projects is the 6-star resort Six Sense Con Dao.

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