CDL Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (H-REIT)
announced it will buy Novotel Clarke Quay for approximately US$133.1 million
via the acquisition of the hotel's holding firm, Singapore Hotel Investment
Holdings Co. The acquisition of the 25-storey hotel, which is situated on
top of a six-storey shopping mall, is expected to be completed by June 2007.
H-REIT reported that the projected annualized property yield of the Novotel
Clarke Quay in 2007 is 5.5 percent compared to its current portfolio's projected
property yield of 3.9 percent. H-REIT said with this acquisition, its asset
size will grow by 20 percent to US$887.4 million, with the number of its
hotel rooms in Singapore increasing to 2,324 from 1,926. |
Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels said it has entered
into an agreement to sell a 20 percent interest in PT Ciputra Adigraha of
Indonesia for US$13.0 million. It said the sale is in line with its program
to sell non-core assets and focus its resources on developing and marketing
its principal businesses, specifically ownership and management of upmarket
hotels, commercial and residential properties in key destinations. The sales
proceeds are to be used to reduce bank borrowings and as general working
capital. |
Visitors to Halong Bay are set for more accommodation
options following an announcement in May 2007 by Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Worldwide that it has reached an agreement with Royal International Corp.
to develop two hotels in the bay. The 160-room Four Points by Sheraton hotel
is expected to open in early 2008 while the 300-room Sheraton Halong Bay
Resort is planned to open in 2010. In Vietnam, Starwood currently operates
Sheraton Saigon Hotel and Towers and Sheraton Hanoi Hotel. Starwood currently
operates 13 hotels in Thailand and in the Indochina region, with 11 more
under development in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Pattaya, Hua Hin,
Koh Samui, Angkor and now Halong Bay. |
The hotel room shortage in India is attracting
new players to set up hotels. The latest to join the bandwagon is Gurgaon-based
MDLR Group which will be opening four luxury hotels with a proposed investment
of US$246 million (excluding land price) between 2007 and 2010. The group
which has forayed into the aviation sector with MDLR Airlines, as well as
real estate and multiplexes, will be opening four hotels in Manesar, Gurgaon
(near Delhi), Shimla and Jaipur. While the Shimla property will start operations
in the first half 2007, the properties located in the national capital region
(NCR) -- the metropolitan region of New Delhi, are targeting to open before
the 2010 Commonwealth games. |
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
(VNAT) has proposed major cities and tourism centres nationwide to allocate
land for luxury hotel and resort projects. According to statistics of the
VNAT's Hotel Department, Vietnam has only 90 four and five-star hotels totalling
over 15,000 rooms, accounting for nine percent of the country's total star-rated
rooms. The shortage of hotels in Vietnam in recent years has resulted in
higher room prices. Vietnam which hosted nearly 3.6 million foreign visitors
in 2006, welcomed 1.5 million international arrivals in the first four months
of 2007, a year-on-year rise of 12.5 percent. The country has targeted about
5.5 million international arrivals and 25 million domestic visitors by 2010. |
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group will manage a new
hotel in Beijing opening in mid-2008, as announced by the group's Chief
Executive Edouard Ettedgui. Ettedgui said the Beijing hotel will feature
203 rooms and is part of the capital's China Central Television (CCTV) development
in the Chaoyang district. It is due to open just ahead of the 2008 Olympic
Games. The hotel will be the group's third property under development in
the mainland following new management contracts signed in Guangzhou and
Hainan. |