MALACCA, Malaysia—One year after taking ownership of The Majestic Malacca, YTL Hotels & Properties Sdn Bhd is breaking even, despite the current economic slowdown.
“People will always travel, and Malaysia offers better value for money,” said hotel manager Panch Ratnavale.
Opened in January, YTL’s first-classic hotel offers accommodation with personalized service and a chance to discover Malacca’s unique heritage brought about by the Dutch and Portuguese occupation of the area.
Malacca, which is in the south of Malaysia, is easily accessible from the capital city Kuala Lumpur as well as neighboring Singapore. YTL aims to make full use of its strategic location to bring in the dollars.
“The meetings market is a very lucrative sector and we are aggressively tapping into it to bring in the returns to the hotel,” Ratnavale added. “We are targeting the corporate sectors and multi-international markets who want to have their meetings and conferences outside of their areas.
“Malacca and neighboring Muar in the state of Johor have a large industrial market in electronics and furniture, while Singapore and Kuala Lumpur have many oil and gas companies and the financial industry sectors.”
The colonial building, once the private mansion of a businessman, was sold to a new owner who converted it into a hotel he called The Majestic Malacca. It was left vacant for about 10 years before the YTL acquisition. YTL retained the name after giving the building nearly US$10-million renovation under architect/designer Zaidan Tahir from GSD Architect/Zale Design Sdn Bhd. Work started in December 2006.
The Majestic Malacca offers a similar level of service and amenities as the other YTL flagship properties, including Tanjong Jara Resort, Cameron Highlands Resort and Pangkor Laut Resort. However, each property has its own concept and identity, which Ratnavale said “personifies the services it targets to popularize.”
“YTL emphasizes on the culture and tradition of each property. That in itself creates the experience for guests,” he added.
With the renovations, YTL is able to sell the property as a high-end product, a stark contrast from its past when it operated as a backpackers’ haven and home for coliseum food among the locals. The Majestic Malacca is the only luxury boutique hotel in the state catering to the niche market.
The property is also enjoying increasing demand from the Japanese market as well as travelers from the Asia Pacific countries. Its biggest market is from Asia’s corporate sector.
“We are clientele-based, and we have representatives in UK, Japan, Europe and Australia to market YTL’s properties,” Ratnavale said. “Our agents know the quality of YTL’s product, which makes it easier to come up with new products and sell them. We are strong properties, and the agents are happy to sell them.”
With the city of Malacca being added to UNESCO’s World Heritage cultural list this year, there is bigger hope for business expansion with The Majestic Malacca, which is also listed as a heritage building.
“This will give us more publicity worldwide, especially in Europe and other countries where people appreciate heritage buildings and culture. We are also tying up with UNESCO’s heritage locations to boost the interest in our property,” he said.
Rebirth of a building
Due to the dilapidated state of The Majestic Malacca when YTL acquired it, architect Zaidan Tahir had to start from scratch to identify the building’s original structure, knocking down walls and extending extensions built in the past.
“Initially, we could not even identify the symmetrical structure that is signature to all (Malacca) Straits Settlement’s architecture,” Tahir said.
A least 95 percent of the building’s core structure was retained, which includes the roof and the floor tiles in the lobby and entrance. The original rooms were torn down to make way for the restaurant on the upper floor and the library on the ground floor. Whatever could be salvaged from the staff-quarter in the back portion of the hotel was used to repair other areas of the building. Extensive works had to be carried out on the upper floor to strengthen the structure due to the wear and tear of past years with new wooden floorboards replacing the old.
Brass, teak wood fittings, leather furniture, and traditional four-poster beds in deep, bold colors in shades of reds and browns are among the main themes used in the hotel’s décor to identify its old-world-charm concept.
To accommodate guests, a second building was constructed at the back portion of the main hotel block. This 10-storey building houses the 54 guestrooms, meeting space and the Spa Village, the only one of its kind that uses the healing heritage of the Baba Nyonya, a unique culture of early Chinese immigrants combined with traditional Malay customs.
Character is key at The Majestic Malacca, and it is hard to ignore the little details added into the interior designing that give the hotel its extra edge.
“When designing the hotel, I limit myself by using less expensive material but always bearing in mind to use the same layout and rhythm throughout both buildings to ensure the smooth transition between the two,” Tahir said.
Although the hotel still has room for expansion with the availability of ready land within its vicinity, it is putting plans on hold for at least four to five years.
“A lot will depend on how much growth the state will undergo in the next couple of years, as well as how the property is doing in the market. And, we hope to see these results in the second quarter of 2009,” said Ratnavale.
As The Majestic Malacca makes its way into the global market, YTL’s second Majestic Hotel is already in the making. YTL has acquired the historical Majestic Hotel in Kuala Lumpur and will begin development soon. Work is expected to be completed in 2010, and this will be YTL’s second classic hotel after The Majestic Malacca. The theme and concept for The Majestic Kuala Lumpur has yet to be established, but it will be a bigger hotel with at least 200 rooms and a grand ballroom.
YTL is currently working closely with the Malacca state government to restore the country’s historical buildings, and this might draw YTL to develop similar hotel projects nationwide and even abroad.
“However, we can’t expand too fast due to the human resource factor. We need to train staff and prepare them well as the work is challenging,” Ratnavale said.
“We are still pumping in money for marketing and public relations work for The Majestic Malacca, but we have to do this for at least the first year of the hotel’s operation. We hope to see the rewards next year.”