SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - City Developments Limited's (CDL) subsidiary Millennium & Copthorne Hotels announced on Thursday (Dec 3) that its hotels in Singapore and London have had a jump in bookings for staycations and its restaurants on robust domestic demand ahead of the year-end festive season and Chinese New Year next year.

Singapore hotels under M&C recorded bookings for 31,480 room nights from August to November, up nearly sevenfold from 4,698 room nights in the four months prior.

M&C owns or operates over 2,000 hotel rooms in Singapore, including Orchard Hotel Singapore, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Copthorne King's Hotel, M Social Singapore, M Hotel and Studio M.

"Across major cities, we are seeing a clear trend of travellers choosing to holiday within their home countries as air travel is likely to remain restricted through 2021 due to the pandemic," said Lee Richards, M&C's vice-president (operations) for South-east Asia. "Our hotels worldwide are responding to this trend in domestic demand with digital marketing strategies and promotions."

M&C operates 66 hotels in Asia, Europe and the UK, the US and New Zealand under the Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR) global brands, while 79 other properties are under franchise and management contracts. It has an inventory of over 40,000 rooms and operations in 29 countries.

Online bookings for its Singapore hotels rose from 2,198 bookings in July to 10,566 in November. Meanwhile, dine-in revenue at restaurants in M&C hotels in Singapore has recovered between 20 and 50 per cent since the Phase 2 reopening on June 19.

A similar trend is also playing out at M&C hotels in Europe, it said.