“Quarantine hotels” being used for arrivals from overseas undergoing mandatory 14-day self-isolation have experienced an upsurge in room reservations as students studying overseas have started returning to Taiwan for the summer.
Occupancy rates at quarantine hotels this month are at about 55 percent nationwide, while they are at about 70 percent in Taipei, Tourism Bureau data showed.
The Central Epidemic Command Center requires arrivals from overseas to self-isolate for 14 days due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the Tourism Bureau has encouraged hotels to provide this service for Taiwanese returnees and foreign visitors.
About 150 hotels and lodging houses with a total of about 9,500 rooms began accommodating people self-isolating in March, with the occupancy rate rising from about 30 percent in April to about 55 percent this month.
Ministry of Transportation and Communications officials said that the occupancy rate for hotels in Taipei is about 70 percent, higher than other cities and counties, because it is easier for those returning to reserve rooms online in the capital.
Hotels in New Taipei City and elsewhere only accept reservations by telephone or online links, officials said, and many people feel that this is inconvenient and they choose to reserve a hotel in the capital instead.
Information and transparency about quarantine hotels varies widely, with the Taipei City Government providing an online list of 35 hotels, while other city governments do not have such a list.
Employees at Just Sleep Taipei Linsen Hotel (捷絲旅林森館) said that room reservations picked up as more Taiwanese started returning from overseas last month, while Taiwanese studying overseas started to return this month.
They expect the occupancy rate to go up to 95 percent be the end of this month, as it was at more than 80 percent in May and last month.
Hanns House (瀚寓酒店) in Taipei was the first hotel to advertise a self-isolation service.
“At the start, we had large numbers of overseas students returning to Taiwan,” hotel employees said. “We were full for most of March and since then have maintained a 50 percent occupancy rate.”
“After the regulations for business visitors entering Taiwan were loosened last month, and now that students are returning for the summer, we now have an occupancy rate of about 90 percent,” they said.
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