Swissotel similarly said its trackside rooms are almost sold out. With the pandemic over, people are excited this year, said its managing director William Haandrikman.
“They want to hear the engines and the nice thing is for us, we have balconies. You can open the windows, you can listen and so you’re really into the (race). We expect a busy, busy, busy weekend,” he said.
Both hotels said that they started getting bookings as soon as the last race ended.
Pan Pacific Hotel, located on the circuit’s Turn Six, has also reported strong interest, with more than half its rooms taken up. A check on travel websites by CNA showed rooms going for more than S$1,000 a night for the race weekend.
PREPARING FOR THE CROWD
The Fullerton and Swissotel said their staff are ready for the crowd.
“It is not the only weekend that our hotel is so busy. We do have a lot of conferences (so) it means our staff is trained to manage big crowds,” said Mr Haandrikman.
“Our team is trained to manage the crowd, to manage fans, especially with Formula One, we’ll have a lot of fans in the lobby, outside,” he added.
At the Fullerton, the race weekend will likely mean all hands on deck with everyone, including management members, rolling up their sleeves, just like last year.
While it remains unknown for now who will finish on the podium come race day in September, observers said Singapore’s tourism industry has already emerged the winner, with the race contributing more than S$1.5 billion in incremental tourism receipts since its debut here in 2008.
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