Hotel occupancy picks up in F1 season – but race may play smaller-than-expected role

AS SINGAPORE’S roads empty to make way for Formula 1 (F1) festivities, hotels along the track have filled up fast, with room rates also up.

Yet across the island, occupancy rates are slightly lower for the race weekend itself – suggesting that this week’s strong hotel performance may be driven by a general tourism recovery more than the Singapore Grand Prix per se.

About a month ago, islandwide hotel occupancies on the books for the F1 week – defined here as Sep 18 to 23 – hit about 50 per cent, according to data from hotel industry research firm STR. They have continued to climb, reaching approximately 70 per cent two weeks ago and almost 90 per cent this week. 

Across the race week, hotel occupancy on the books exceeds 2023 levels; for the mid-week, it also meets pre-Covid 2019 levels.

“Most of our guests are returnees, and rooms are booked up to a year ahead with some categories of rooms selling out way beforehand,” said Cinn Tan, chief commercial and marketing officer of Pan Pacific Hotels Group (PPHG). “Due to this demand, which is reflected islandwide, dynamic pricing kicks in and rates are typically more than double the usual weekend rates.”

At PPHG’s Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay, rooms start from S$1,700 a night during the race weekend; at Pan Pacific Singapore, they begin at S$1,500. These mark a significant increase from 2023, noted Tan.

Similarly, Fairmont Singapore and Swissotel The Stamford are close to full occupancy, said managing director William J Haandrikman. “Our occupancy for the F1 race weekend is surpassing both last year’s and 2019’s, showing an increase of about 10 per cent.”

A race-weekend night at Swissotel The Stamford starts at S$1,200, and exceeds S$10,000 for the most expensive suite.

Both hotel groups began receiving bookings close to a year ago, as soon as this year’s F1 dates were announced.

Tan noted a “rapid acceleration in bookings” three to six months before the race, with last-minute reservations “still streaming in”.

For Fairmont Singapore and Swissotel The Stamford, most bookings were made 30 to 60 days before the race weekend, “coinciding with the announcement of the full entertainment and events line-up”.

Gino Tan, country general manager of The Fullerton Hotels and Resorts, also noted a slight increase in last-minute bookings, as the F1 entertainment line-up was announced later than usual this year.

The Fullerton Hotel Singapore and The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore have limited room availability, with trackside-view rooms fully booked.

The Singapore hotels under Hilton, the global hotel partner of the McLaren F1 team, are “running at near full capacity” over the F1 weekend.

Other travel businesses are also seeing strong demand. 

Travel agency The Traveller DMC had about 1,000 guests booking its F1 packages – including accommodation, airport transfers and tickets this year and in 2023, up from about 850 such guests in 2019.

Trip.com data shows an almost 60 per cent increase in bookings for all products in Singapore for Sep 16 to 22, compared with last year’s race week.

Inbound flight reservations for the week spiked by almost 90 per cent compared with the period last year.

Hotel searches on travel platform Expedia were 53 per cent higher for Sep 18 to 24, compared with the 2023 race week. Average daily rates during this week are also higher by about S$435 or 46 per cent when compared with the rates in August.

Tourism generally improving

Yet the effect of the race weekend might be overstated.

“In comparison to a non-race weekend, occupancy is only slightly higher,” noted Haandrikman.

Across Singapore, occupancy on the books for the Wednesday (Sep 18) of the F1 week was 88 per cent, up from the actual occupancy of 82 per cent in 2023 and the same as in 2019, according to STR data.

This rises to 89 per cent on Thursday and Friday, and then slips over the weekend, to 87 per cent on Saturday and 84 per cent on Sunday. 

Occupancy in the Marina Bay area is the highest, but also follows that day-to-day trend, the firm’s data showed. 

“If it was all about race nights being back to 2019 levels, it should arguably affect the weekend more, when the actual race happens,” said Jesper Palmqvist, STR’s regional vice-president, Asia-Pacific. Still, occupancy during the F1 weekend this year is higher than in 2023, which is a step in the right direction, he added.

As current figures are for business on the books – and booking windows in Singapore are now “shorter than ever” – last-minute reservations could also boost this year’s numbers, he explained.

Regular crowd

As for where the F1 crowd is coming from, industry players said the trend is largely unchanged from previous years. 

Though China has been Singapore’s top source of visitors in the year to date, it is not usually a substantial source of F1 tourism.

This year, PPHG’s race-week guests mostly come from Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, consistent with previous years.

Based on flight searches on Expedia, the top five inbound markets this week are the US, Australia, the UK, Japan and Hong Kong.

Hotels are stepping up to serve the F1 crowd specifically. Fairmont Singapore and Swissotel The Stamford are offering housekeeping services at night – when guests are out for the races – instead of in the day, while The Fullerton Hotels and Resorts have merchandise sales.

For the first time, an after-party is being held on the 72nd floor of Swissotel The Stamford, with trackside views and global DJs.

This year’s race is happening just days before the first witnesses in former transport minister S Iswaran’s graft trial take the stand on Sep 24.

Iswaran is alleged to have accepted gifts from hotelier Ong Beng Seng, who is widely credited for bringing the F1 race to Singapore.