Macau’s tally of visitors reached 81,798 for the seven days from August 12 to August 18 inclusive, a daily average of about 11,685. That 56% rise from the preceding week also included a single day record since the seven-day quarantine was lifted, over 17,000 visitors on Saturday, August 20. In July, visitor arrivals fell -98.8% year on year due to the Covid outbreak. In the first seven months of 2022, the number of visitor arrivals was down -26.3% year on year to 3,474,866.
According to the latest Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics, the total China hotel construction pipeline is at 3,693 projects/701,974 rooms. At the end of the second quarter, the country’s construction pipeline stands at 3,711 projects/704,101 rooms. Projects presently under construction are at 2,581 projects/470,021 rooms. Projects starting construction in the next 12 months are at 510 projects/97,607 rooms and projects in the early planning stage are at 602 projects/134,346 rooms. Chengdu leads China’s pipeline with 141 projects/28,573 rooms, followed by Shanghai with 128 projects/25,200 rooms, Guangzhou with 115 projects/25,420 rooms, Hangzhou with 101 projects/21,175 rooms, and Xi’an with 94 projects/17,169 rooms. Franchise companies topping China’s construction pipeline at Q2 are Hilton Worldwide with 685 projects/125,252 rooms, InterContinental Hotels Group with 443 projects/91,494 rooms, then Marriott International with 385 projects/102,832 rooms, Accor with 203 projects/37,478 rooms, and JinJiang Holdings with 190 projects/19,077 rooms. The leading brands in the construction pipeline for each of these companies at Q2 2022 are Hilton’s Hampton by Hilton brand with 360 projects/54,148 rooms; IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 189 projects/30,968 rooms; Marriott International’s full-service brand Marriott Hotel with 66 projects/20,147 rooms; Accor’s ibis brand with 59 projects/6,178 rooms; and JinJiang Holding’s 7 Days Inn brand with 94 projects/7,370 rooms. China’s new hotel openings in the first half of 2022 were 149 hotels/24,832 rooms with another 597 new hotels/85,627 rooms forecast to open by year-end. The LE forecast for new hotel openings in China for 2023 is for 822 new hotels with 130,529 rooms to open. In 2024, LE analysts forecast new hotel openings in China to reach 748 hotels with 138,058 rooms.
Hilton signed six new luxury hotels in Asia Pacific which will open over the next four years. The hotels include the Waldorf Astoria, Conrad and LXR brands. Waldorf Astoria Xi’an will open in 2025 in one of the tallest buildings in the Chinese city. The Waldorf Astoria Shanghai Qintan will open in 2024 in Shanghai’s new CBD – the New Bund area. The Waldorf Astoria Kuala Lumpur and Waldorf Astoria Sydney hotels are expected to open in 2023 as will an LXR Hotels & Resorts property in Bali. 2026 will see the opening of the Conrad Nagoya. This announcement brings Hilton’s pipeline of luxury hotels in the region to 20. When the hotels open, Hilton will have more than 50 luxury hotels across Asia Pacific.
Hyatt announced the opening of Hyatt Centric Juhu Mumbai. The hotel marks the entry of the Hyatt Centric brand in Maharashtra and is the 37 Hyatt hotel in India. The 60 room hotel has views of the Arabian Sea, located near Juhu beach in the heart of the city’s entertainment hub. The rooms and suites are modern-style upscale and include king and queen bed city view rooms, king bed sea view rooms, twin bedrooms, studio suites, suites and a Presidential Suite overlooking Juhu Beach. There is the Sesame restaurant and a soon to open rooftop bar as well as 2,152 square feet of event space at Saffron.
Lemon Tree Hotels announced they signed a license agreement for a 65-room hotel at Hubli, Karnataka under its Lemon Tree Hotels brand. The hotel is expected to be operational by May 2023, and shall be managed by Carnation Hotels, the management arm of Lemon Tree. The property will feature 65 well appointed rooms complemented by a restaurant, bar, spa, swimming pool, fitness center and a meeting room. This will be Lemon Tree’s seventh property in Karnataka, a state in India famous for its tourism potential.
Indian Hotels announced the debut of its first Vivanta hotel in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The Vivanta Ahmedabad SG Highway is in partnership with the Leela Group of Companies, strategically located a short driving distance from the airport. The hotel has 176 rooms and suites along with a range of culinary offerings. There is a fitness center, outdoor pool and 540 square meters of versatile banqueting space.
Indian Hotels also announced the opening of a Ginger hotel at RTO Circle, Ahmedabad. The hotel is designed around the brand’s lean luxe design and service philosophy of offering a contemporary, vibrant and seamless hospitality experience to its guests. The Ginger Ahmedabad, RTO Circle is strategically located in a key commercial hub and has 111 rooms and suites. The hotel has an all-day dining restaurant, meeting room and fitness center.
Budget hotel chain RedDoorz is aiming to add as many as 2,000 member inns to its network across Southeast Asia by the end of 2023. The Singapore-based company has more than 3,500 hotels in its network across Southeast Asia with Indonesia being its biggest market. They launched their first hotel there in 2015. RedDoorz also operates in its home base of Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines and entered Thailand last year. They have not entered Malaysia yet and do not know if they will do so in 2023 but plans to increase the number of hotels in their network to between 4,700 and 5,500 by the end of next year through expansion in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand. The company is expected to break even by October in its key markets of Indonesia and the Philippines. RedDoorz said they will continue to focus on domestic travelers to avoid risks such as a future pandemic.
Beijing Hotel NUO recently unveiled its newly renovated Elite Room Collection, a fusion of neo-Chinese style and royal aesthetics. The collection is inspired by the NUO brand concept, “Chinese, Luxury, Contemporary and Green”. The hotel is located in the heart of Beijing, next to the Forbidden City. With a strong focus on three major hospitality segments – business hotels, heritage hotels and resort hotels, the debut of Beijing Hotel NUO’s Elite Room Collection further demonstrates the charm of the NUO heritage hotels. The Elite Room Collection is located in the building that was built in 1954. The collection includes four room types, ranging from 45 to 100 square meters.
Indochina Kajima Development Company, a joint venture between Vietnam’s Indochina Capital and Japan’s Kajima Corporation, began the construction of a Wink Hotel in the northern port city of Hai Phong on August 18. The 22-story building covers some 16,000 square meters and will comprise 203 hotel rooms and 77 serviced apartments with modern designs. Indochina Kajima announced a pipeline of 20 hotels within seven years, with the first, Wink Hotel Saigon Centre, inaugurated in Ho Chi Minh City last year, and two others to be put into operation in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2023 in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang. The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho and central province of Phu Yen are also home to two Wink Hotels, expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2024. Following Hai Phong, Indochina Kajima will build more Wink hotels in Hanoi and the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.
