Read the latest news from around the Asia Pacific region.
Hong Kong’s Swire Hotels Amplifies Expansion Plans With $12 Billion Fund
Through it’s parent company’s $12 billion fund, Swire Hotels is planning a global expansion of several of its brands, including The House Collective, writes HNN contributor Selena Oh.
The House Collective brand portfolio currently includes four hotels in China and Hong Kong. Swire Hotels Managing Director Dean Winter said each property has unique architectural and cultural traits particular to its location. Swire's other brand, East, has three hotels in Beijing, Hong Kong and Miami that are categorized as “business hotels with lifestyle elements.”
Though Lagging, Hotel Performance Recovery Improves in China
During third-quarter earnings calls, executives at publicly traded hotel brands and real estate investment trusts spoke about performance of their hotels in the Asia-Pacific region and how ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in Greater China are slowing the recovery, reports HNN’s Bryan Wroten.
Leeny Oberg, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Marriott International, said revenue per available room at the company's hotels in Greater China and the Asia-Pacific region is still lagging behind 2019 levels.
“Greater China improved the most in the quarter, with RevPAR 23% below 2019, 30 percentage points better than a quarter ago. However, the recovery there remains uneven given China’s renewed commitment to its strict zero‐COVID policy. The good news is that we continue to see that when a market re‐opens for domestic travel after a lockdown, lodging demand rebounds very quickly,” she said.
Trinity Sticks with Big-Box Hotels, Looks to New Markets
Trinity Investments President and CEO Sean Hehir told HNN’s Sean McCracken that the pandemic caused him to reconsider the company’s focus on hotels catering to corporate and large group meetings. Now, though, that strategy appears to be paying off, and the company is looking to expand its footprint.
The investment firm had previously owned properties around the Pacific Rim but no longer has investments in Japan, something Hehir wants to change. The company also sees opportunities in Europe and Mexico.
India-Based Hospitality Chain Oyo Lays Off 600 Employees
Softbank-backed Oyo Hotels & Homes is laying off 600 of its employees, reports HNN’s Dana Miller. The India-based hotel chain will hire another 250, but it’s not clear what positions those new hires would take.
Though Oyo did not respond to Hotel News Now’s request for comment, Oyo CEO Ritesh Agarwal said in the statement obtained by Reuters, "We will be doing all that we can to ensure that most of the people we are having to let go are gainfully employed."
Deals, Developments, People on the Move
- Japan’s Hoshino Resort Resort REIT Investment Corp. acquired the 163-room Comfort Hotel Takamatsu for 2.05 billion Japanese yen ($15 million).
- Singapore-based GIC Real Estate and Netherland-based APG Management formed Archer Hotel Capital to acquire the Royal St. Honoré Hotel in Paris for 87 million euro ($91.4 million).
- Redhill Hospitality acquired the 33-room Best Western Henry Parkes Motel for 4 million Australian dollars ($2.7 million).
- Marriott International will debut its St. Regis brand in Australia with the 185-key St. Regis Gold Coast Resort, set to open in 2025 as part of the 1.7-billion Australian dollar mixed-use development La Pelago Project on the Gold Coast.
- Singapore-based Indies Capital Partners acquired a 60% stake in PT Swiss-Belhotel International Indonesia and PT Zest Hotels International Indonesia from Indonesia-based Ciputra Group.
- IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Six Senses brand will open its first open property in Australia — an 82-room hotel within the Dandenong Ranges expected to open by mid-2025.
- Hong Kong’s Langham Hospitality Group launched its new upper-midscale brand Ying’nFlo.