Johnson Choo
Additional reporting by Daphne Chuah

EARLY-BIRD fans rushing to book a front-row hotel view of Singapore's inaugural Formula One (F1) race next year face a major roadblock.

A check with eight major hotels lining the proposed race circuit in the Marina Bay area showed that they are not taking confirmed bookings for next September and October.

The main reason: The hotels cannot yet determine their room rates, as the race dates have not been fixed.

Six hotels have blocked out the entire two months and will not be taking any bookings until rates are firmed up. Two more — the Conrad Centennial Singapore and Raffles Hotel — will accept tentative reservations pending the new rates.
 

Those that have blocked off their calendars following last Friday's F1 announcement include The Oriental Singapore, the Marina Mandarin Singapore and the Swissotel The Stamford Singapore.

The Pan Pacific Hotel — which will honour bookings already made for that period — said it would note the names of interested customers and update them when rates are available. The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore said it only takes reservations up to 11 months in advance.

But over at The Fullerton Singapore, which is also not taking any confirmed bookings, a group of customers have already put themselves on a waiting list. In response to queries, the hotel merely confirmed it had set aside "a fair number of rooms" for the F1 season.

In general, industry sources told Today that while they were happy about Singapore having been chosen to host the race, they were caught off guard by the high F1 cess of up to 30 per cent.

The Government explained last week that the additional cess would be applied on a graduated scale: Hotels with the best view of the circuit will pay the full 30 per cent, while those farther away will pay less.

Hotel operators say the cess could eat into a big portion of their profit-margins and may force them to push room rates to a new high.

During the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings last September, which saw 16,000 delegates converging here, hotels nearest to the event venue at Suntec Singapore almost doubled their standard room rates to about $440 per night.

Experts say the estimated 35,000 overseas visitors projected for the F1 event will certainly put a strain on room supply and drive up rates.

"It will really depend on how popular the F1 will be, but I don't think the number of hotels will be enough," said Mr Colin Tan, head of research and consultancy with Chesterton International.

And the impact will be much greater when the integrated resorts are completed by end-2009 or early-2010. Said Mr Tan: "Visitors will probably stay on and visit the integrated resorts. As a result of the shortage of rooms in the area, there could be a spill-over into hotels outside the CBD."

Meanwhile, news of Singapore hosting F1 gave trading on the stockmarket a boost yesterday. The ST Index rose 5 per cent to cross the psychologically-important 3,500 mark.

"Cathay Pacific benefited from the Olympics and we're going to see the same effects on Singapore Airlines and the tourism sector. This has a spill-over effect on the general economy in terms of overall confidence of the consumers and of the people, and on spending," Mr Leslie Phang, head of Investments (Asia) at the Commonwealth Private Bank, told Channel NewsAsia.