How Indonesian Hotels Can Rise Above Low Occupancy Rates
While government campaigns, travel incentives, and infrastructure investments are all helping to reignite domestic and international travel, I believe the hospitality industry itself must take the lead in shaping its future. Indonesian hotels must evolve from being mere venues to becoming content creators, experience designers, and ecosystem builders.
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Creating Events with Their Own Intellectual Property
Hotels can no longer rely solely on conventional room sales or hope for peak seasons. The answer lies in generating consistent demand by creating and owning event concepts that are unique, scalable, and tied to their brand identity. Whether it’s a cultural festival, a culinary week, a wellness retreat, or a business summit—hotels should invest in producing recurring events with their own intellectual property (IP).
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By owning the IP, hotels are not just renting out space—they’re creating content, building loyal communities, and driving repeat traffic. A strong IP-based event can attract new audiences, generate media buzz, bring in sponsorship revenue, and create year-round visibility.
Collaboration with SMEs and Other Industries
The success of such event-based strategies depends on collaboration. Hotels must actively partner with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially those in creative industries, F&B, fashion, wellness, and digital media. These collaborations can enrich the event content, expand promotional reach, and build local economic ecosystems.
Imagine a hotel in Yogyakarta hosting a quarterly “Craft and Culture Week”, where local artisans exhibit, chefs conduct masterclasses, and musicians perform—all curated as an immersive guest experience. Or a hotel in Bandung collaborating with tech startups to host innovation bootcamps or NFT art expos. These are not fantasies—they’re practical, revenue-generating models waiting to be scaled.
Embracing Community and Co-Creation
By engaging local communities and industries, hotels can break away from their dependence on seasonal tourists and corporate bookings. This approach transforms hotels into community hubs—where locals and travelers alike come for experiences, not just accommodation.
And beyond economic logic, this is a chance to champion Indonesia’s diverse creative wealth, offering platforms for our cultural and entrepreneurial talents while revitalizing the hospitality sector from within.
A Call to Action
We must think of hotels not as isolated service providers but as part of a dynamic network of tourism, culture, business, and innovation. It’s time to shift from passive marketing to proactive experience-building.
As someone deeply involved in both tourism development and SME empowerment, I call upon hotel owners, investors, and operators: develop your own IP-driven events, collaborate with SMEs, and become creators—not just hosts.
Indonesia’s hospitality potential is too rich to be underutilized. Let’s turn our hotels into living stages of Indonesia’s creativity and commerce. ***