March 15, 1996

Future Of Saigon's Floater Appears Fragile

Saigon's Floating Hotel was the place where 'men of vision' and 'foreign experts' mapped out the economic future of Vietnam. Now its demeanour -and its future - are gloomy, reports ERIC ELLIS from Ho Chi Minh City.

THERE was a time not long ago when the energy generated in the bar of the Saigon Floating Hotel could probably have powered Vietnam's national grid uninterrupted for a century.

This was the place where a thousand joint ventures were conceived in a tropical downpour of Foster's Lager, where "men of vision" and "foreign experts" mapped out the economic future for Vietnam's transforming Communist Party ... and their Swiss bank accounts.
No longer. The parade of white-shoed corporate frontiersmen, more often than not Australian and eager for ground-floor slots in Vietnam's market re-opening, has slowed to a trickle. The notorious Floater, towed up here from an environmental disaster on the Great Barrier Reef in 1990, is a pathetic shadow of its former self, its tacky cut-glass lobby chandelier as tarnished as old Saigon's reputation.

The not-so-old girl looks far more than her age and faces an unwanted and uncertain future, destined probably to be scuttled for parts or towed to an even more obscure locale where businessmen are businessmen and brown paper bags are de rigeur.

The same tiny cabin rooms that foreign businessmen and the occasional president and prime minister, used to five-star luxury, once clamoured over themselves to pay $US250 ($328) and upwards a night for, can now be had for as little as $US50. Prices have fallen so low that, shock, horror, backpackers have even been seen in the Floater.

And it still calls itself "five star". But perhaps the most eloquent statement of the Floater's fading fortunes comes from Saigon's army of street urchins, cyclo boys and the persistent postcard sellers that besieged guests at the hotel entrance.

The flow of dollar bills that did more to Vietnamese inflation than the central bank's fiscal policy has largely ceased. A couple of old diehards work the few uninformed stragglers who still choose it, but the smarts have followed the clientele to better pickings elsewhere.

Even Saigontourist, the State-owned partner of the Floater that officially organises visitors here, seems to have abandoned it.

The Communist Party-backed company now prefers to sink its resources into renovating "Namstalgia" lodgings like the Art Deco Majestic, the colonial Continental, where Graham Greene wrote the prescient Quiet American, and that temple of high kitsch, The Rex.

"Saigon tourists couldn't care less about the Floater any more," says Australian Mr Chris Dawe, who publishes the Vietnam Investment Review in partnership with Kerry Packer's Consolidated Press group.

Every city has its famous hotel and for a short time Ho Chi Minh City had the Floater, the lobby at times resembling that famous bar from the film, Star Wars.

"It was the only place in town where you could make an international phone call, or get a decent feed," says Mr John Barnes, Australian computer vendor.

"The Russians who were still here then just couldn't believe it. Of course, it was only the Westerners who could afford to stay there. The place just crawled with Australians."

It was at the Floater that foreign companies which came early to Vietnam would set up their offices - BHP and Telstra being two of those that tolerated the 24-hour drone of the hotel generator until finding digs elsewhere.

The future for the Floater is uncertain. Occupancy levels are said to be as low as 20 per cent. The hotel is still notionally owned by the infamous Japanese group EIE International which is now very much in the care of its bankers.

Now a much unloved eyesore, the Floater is in dire need of a refit no-one wants to pay for. With city authorities wanting to put a bridge through its front desk, the Floater's best hope seem to be a shift elsewhere or transformation perhaps into a leisure club for the foreigners.

General manager Mr Martin Flucks believes the hotel can still attract tourists but with the Majestic offering 20 per cent discounts, the Floater has become an anachronism. Says Chris Dawe: "It's an ugly looking thing but it was fun for a while."