invisible

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-phase-2-dining-in-work-from-home-tightened-measures-14808382

lokijuh

Beginning to wonder if the quickly imposed, short snap complete lockdowns imposed in some Australian states (3-5 days), which allow testing to catch up, are better than this gradual slow down ... I wonder which causes greater economic pain.

invisible

Both of them.

When you scared your population to the point that people are afraid to have human interactions (in my wife’s company one guy is very hesitant coming to office because his wife is convinced that he will catch Covid when going outside), when people start to think that getting HIV is better then getting Covid, when reaction on news that vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks is ‘that is a mistake CDC will discover’- all of this WILL cause economic pain because of the altered behavior.

Thomas theorem is formulated as following:

’If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences’.

JNelson113

Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble has been delayed: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/17/sing...el-bubble.html

invisible

There are bunch of memes locally about cancelled bubble with HK, like this





Plus world economic forum was cancelled.

quarryking

Must be a big blow for the hotels who would have been looking forward to the business courtesy the World Economic forum.

hdogan

They're making up for it by hosting people during the extended 3-week quarantine. Pretty much all the high-end hotels signed up for it. May not be the best room rate for them, but it's continuous near-100% occupancy with only skeleton crew (no need for any additional services other than lodging - not even housekeeping).

invisible

How they are booked for quarantine if entry for work pass, family ties and ltvp are suspended? All these Indian/Bangladeshi construction workers and maids are spending 3 weeks in Hilton?

hdogan

WEF was supposed to happen in August. By August, the borders will reopen (well, by July, as is stands), and they're probably ramping up for higher capacity to be able to absorb all the delayed arrivals from May and June. There's a reason why so many hotels have given up being open to staycationers and guests (even before WEF was cancelled), and contracted with the government until at least September. The Milelion wrote a pretty good overview: https://milelion.com/2021/05/19/whic...ly-facilities/

quarryking

Interesting info on the link you've shared. I guess its some business atleast as opposed to no business.

LoungeLizzard

Two remarks:
1. I would not call this a "border reopening", but rather a potential, very limited easing of some of the draconian restrictions.
2. About the article: It's missing the numbers. All there seems to be is a deduction that an increase from 14 days to 21 days of quarantine will lead to a 50% increase in demand for SHN capacity. But the SHN statistics which are openly available do not appear to support this at all for the moment. Last tab on the right shows a decline in SHN issued as well as people serving SHN

hdogan

Yes, right now there's a decline, because the border is virtually closed. But, most likely, as of 6th of July, the gates will reopen, and they will have to absorb everyone who was on the backburner since the 11th of May. So, they will need way more than pre-restriction ~1400-1500 entries per day. At the previous rate, that's about a 1000 new hotel rooms every day of a 21-day-window, 21000 hotel rooms occupied at any given day after 26th of July. And that's assuming they DON'T increase the quota.

All these hotels aren't making a stupid business decision to forego all profits from staycations. They opted to be full-time SHN hotels for a reason, and there's a reason why the bulk of them opted until September. Although Singapore government is not known for its transparency (except when it needs it), it's very likely that Singapore Tourism Board and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority have coordinated all this very well with the hotels.

lokijuh

I haven’t looked in any detail, but I’m betting, on the opposite side of this, most hotels on Sentosa have opted not to join SHN and keep their staycation business going, which is probably quite profitable given most seem to be charging > pre pandemic rates.

yrworldtraveler

i can imagine this new lock down affecting travellers' experience especially when dining out is not an option. imaging shopping halfway till lunch and u gotta find a place to eat your packed lunch and then resume your shopping!!!

yrworldtraveler

sorry my response is totally not about the hotels. i am just wondering how the travellers are taking it... i put myself in their shoes and i really hate it