Tourists flock to see 'unprecedentedly beautiful' plum blossoms, Moc Chau hotel 'falls'

Ms. Hoang Thu Trang (a travel agent in Hanoi) said that for nearly a month now, the demand for hotel and motel bookings in Moc Chau has increased sharply. Many people who do not book in advance find it difficult to get the room they want, and some even have to return home.

"Everywhere has announced a price increase of about 10-20% for the weekend, but there are still many customers asking. Many places have to refuse because customers book too close to the date, so the hotel cannot accommodate. At this time, customers who want to book a room must contact at least 1 week in advance to hope for a room. This situation occurs at all accommodation locations from large to small in Moc Chau. The reason is that there are too many customers flocking to see the plum blossoms, which are said to be the most beautiful in many years," said Ms. Trang.

According to Ms. Trang, because it was so difficult to find a room, her agency switched to selling tours to Moc Chau for the day, serving tourists with the purpose of taking photos with plum blossoms. Each tour departing from Hanoi will cost about 700,000 - 900,000 VND/person, depending on the accompanying services. " Currently, this tour is quite popular because everyone knows about the "sold out" situation of hotels in Moc Chau ," Ms. Trang said.

The number of tourists flocking to Moc Chau to see plum blossoms has increased dramatically. (Illustration: Vietnamnet)

According to Ms. Trang, the price of accommodation in Moc Chau is currently fluctuating from 300,000 - 500,000 VND/room/night for motels and homestays and about 800,000 - 1.5 million VND/room/night for hotels of 3 stars or higher. "Many of my guests, although unable to book a hotel, still try to go to Moc Chau because they are afraid that the plum blossoms are about to fade. As a result, they have to accept staying in a place of poor quality, even having to sleep in a tent or in a car ," Ms. Trang added.

Through the hotline of Muong Thanh Moc Chau hotel, the consultant said that all the weekend days of the month are currently full because many tourists have booked a month in advance. " We are full until the end of February, only a few rooms left on some days of the week ", Muong Thanh Moc Chau staff informed.

Tourists flock to see plum blossoms in Moc Chau, causing many hotels to be fully booked. (Illustration photo)

Similarly, all 15 rooms at Moc Chau EcoGarden have been booked, with only one room left on February 17 until the end of the month. "Due to the large number of visitors to Moc Chau, all of our rooms are fully booked early. This month, there is only one room left on Monday night ," said a staff member at Moc Chau EcoGarden.

Meanwhile, having just returned from Moc Chau, Ms. Luong Le Thu (Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi) said that because she was afraid of not having a hotel room, she and her family planned to go see plum blossoms on a weekday. However, when she was lucky enough to escape the situation of "no room available", she encountered traffic jams and congestion when all the roads were congested with people.

"Even though it was a weekday, it was still very crowded. You had to move slowly everywhere and finding a suitable hotel was not easy," said Ms. Thu.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Huy (Dong Da district) had to change his plan and return home the same day because he could not find a place to stay. "Because my girlfriend loves taking pictures with plum blossoms, I planned to go to Moc Chau on the weekend. Before the departure date, we contacted many hotels and accommodation facilities but were informed that there were no rooms available. However, thinking that when we got there, there would be places to invite us or we could stay temporarily at homestays, we still set off. When we arrived, although it took a long time to find a room, we were unsuccessful and had to return to Hanoi that night. Because we were so tired, we stopped to rest in Mai Chau ( Hoa Binh ) ," said Mr. Huy.

According to Mr. Huy, on weekends, the number of people and vehicles going to Moc Chau is very large, he often encounters traffic jams on small roads or near rest stops along the way. "This makes the travel time much longer, making us tired," Mr. Huy said.

Long line of cars going to Moc Chau. (Photo: Pham Duc)

According to a survey, on social networking forums about Moc Chau tourism, many people shared their experiences of not being able to book hotel rooms when going to see plum blossoms these days. In particular, due to the sudden increase in demand for accommodation, many people use their own homes to operate resort services.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh, who regularly posts on social media looking for people to rent rooms in Moc Chau, said that her family has a 3-story house that is not used often in the center of town, so she has been renting it out to guests these days at a price of 200,000 VND/person/night. With 5 bedrooms, she can earn about 2 million VND per day.

"Because it is a house, the services are not as complete as those of accommodation facilities. However, there are still many people looking to rent, my house is often full of guests on weekends ," said Ms. Anh.

According to Ms. Anh, because plum blossoms only bloom for about a month, many people take advantage of the opportunity to see the flowers right after Tet, causing the demand for rooms to increase sharply. In the remaining months, the number of visitors to Moc Chau is not too crowded and there will certainly not be a "room shortage" situation like the current situation.

Thanh Lam

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/du-khach-do-xo-ngam-hoa-man-dep-chua-tung-thay-khach-san-moc-chau-that-thu-ar925729.html