| Starwood Hotels and Resorts has announced the opening
of the Sheraton Dameisha Resort, the first internationally branded beach
resort along the eastern coast of Shenzhen, China. The resort which is located
30 kilometres from the heart of Shenzhen's Central Business District, offers
368 guestrooms and 22 villas with seaviews and four-fixture bathrooms, a
500-metre beachfront and other resort facilities. The Sheraton Dameisha
Resort, Starwood's third hotel in Shenzhen, is expected to attract guests
from the MICE, leisure and FIT segments. |
| The Oberoi Group has announced its intention to
invest approximately US$148 million to develop three deluxe hotels in India's
Mumbai, Goa and Madhya Pradesh cities. Expected to be completed between
2008 and 2011, the proposed hotels will supply an additional 1,500 rooms
to India's hotel market. The group is also planning to build luxury airport
hotels near in Bangalore and Hyderabad and several other hotels outside
India, including Cambodia and the Maldives. |
| Marriott Hotels and Resorts, recognising the Philippines
as a business and leisure destination attracting tourists from Asia, America
and Europe, is on the lookout for partners to develop new hotels. The Cebu
province is one of such business and resort destination in the Philippines
which is being considered for a new Marriott hotel, with its rapid economic
growth driven by tourism and information technology-related industries and
fast developing into an emerging venue for meetings, incentives, conventions
and exhibitions (MICE). There are also opportunities for Marriott's Courtyard
and Ritz Carlton brands to be brought into the country, however, the Philippines
is expected to further develop its infrastructure such as its airport facilities
and improve signage in prime tourist destinations before such high-end hotel
brands would be introduced. |
| Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur, which turned one on
1 July 2007, has reported that it recorded a gross operating profit (GOP)
within the first month of its opening. This performance is above the expectations
of a typical hotel in Malaysia, which usually take three months to a year
to record a GOP. It is also understood that the hotel is also performing
above the four-star hotel average GOP of 35% of total revenues and is within
schedule to meet its 12- to 15-year breakeven target. The hotel is expected
to achieve an average room rate of about US$87 and an average occupancy
of 70% at the end of 2007, with 60% of its guests from the business and
FIT segments, 25% from MICE and 15% from the leisure segment. |
| The 19-year old, iconic Sea World Resort is currently
undergoing a long-awaited US$2.2 million refurbishment project with Glenzeil
the Builder and Alan Griffith Architects leading the renovations. With works
expected to complete at the end of August 2007, the 405-room resort will
feature a new lobby showcasing the property's view over the Southport Broadwater,
guestrooms with new colour schemes, furnishings, decor and flat-screen television
sets and modern tiling, marine life featured walls, colour scheme, art,
furniture and lighting in the public areas. |
| Hong Kong is in urgent need of new exhibition and
convention facilities to fend off growing competition from nearby cities
like Macau and Guangzhou, which are also aiming to be major MICE destinations
in the region. This comes in the wake of the anticipated opening of the
Venetian Macau on the Cotai Strip in Macau, which will provide more than
a million square feet of MICE space. Macau's new MICE facilities is expected
to bring in business travellers who generally spend more on accommodation
and food and beverages than regular tourists. According to industry experts,
Hong Kong is unlikely to be affected in the near term due to current limited
international flights into Macau. However, the government is encouraged
by local industry players to consider improving Hong Kong's MICE facilities
in preparation for any long-term threat, especially when its exhibition
venues are usually fully booked in peak seasons. |
