STR reported China hotel RevPAR for the week ended 10/15. Hotel RevPAR in China was down -35.5% year over year while down -52.5% when up against the same week in 2019. Absolute occupancy for the week in 2022 was 46.2%. That compares with 65% during the comparable week in 2021.
Hyatt Hotels announced the opening of Hyatt Centric Kota Kinabalu, marking the debut of the lifestyle brand in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. The 222-room hotel is centrally located in the heart of the city’s dining and entertainment district. The 23-story hotel features modern guestrooms with balconies, 16 suites and is crowned with an infinity pool, duplex restaurant and bar on the rooftop, offering sweeping views overlooking Signal Hill, the islands at Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park and the South China Sea. The hotel is located in close proximity to the Sabah International Convention Centre, a sports complex and a university. Amenities include the ON22 restaurant and ON23 bar, rooftop double-edged infinity swimming pool and 3,154 square feet of versatile function space.
Absolute Hotel Services Group announced the first Absolute Collection property in Vietnam with the signing of Lamia Bao Loc Resort, a member of Absolute Collection, located in Loc Chau in Lam Dong Province in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam. Absolute Hotel Services signed the management agreement with owner Eras Da Lat Investment Joint Stock Company. The resort is expected to open in 2025. The 100-room hotel is a 4-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City. It will include a signature restaurant, a swimming pool and a fully-equipped gym. Absolute said they plan to add more properties to their Absolute Collection portfolio in Vietnam before the end of 2022 to join those in Thailand and Indonesia.
A new hotel, to be integrated with the Darwin Convention Centre, will be built at the Darwin Waterfront in Darwin City NT in Australia. The Northern Territory Government will call for Expressions of Interest in the coming weeks from the private sector to develop the Darwin Convention Centre Hotel. The Territory Government and Darwin Waterfront Corporation have appointed commercial real estate and investor specialists CBRE Hotels to run the international campaign to attract an experienced investor, developer and operator for the project. The hotel is expected to offer between 200 and 250 rooms and provide new, upscale accommodation options for corporate and leisure visitors, located directly adjacent to the Convention Centre. The hotel is part of the first stage in the redesigned Darwin Waterfront Masterplan which will redevelop the Waterfront into one of Australia’s leading integrated tourism and lifestyle destinations through a world-class surf park, snorkeling lagoon, new temperature-controlled pools and additional food and beverage offerings.
ITC Hotels announced the signing of a Welcomhotel in Jabalpur under a management contract with A.R. V. Hotels Private Limited. Welcomhotel Jabalpur will offer 124 rooms, more than 15,000 square feet of banquet space along with two restaurants, a swimming pool, spa and a fitness center. The hotel will be located at Sagra, just 6 km away from Bhedaghat and 24 km from Jabalpur Airport.
ITC’s Fortune Hotels brand announced the opening of Fortune Park Katra, its second property in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The hotel is nestled on the slopes of the Trikuta mountains, located 850 meters from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Railway Station. The hotel includes well-appointed guest rooms, an elegant atrium lobby and the sprawling open greens. The new Fortune Park Katra also includes Rainbow, a fully vegetarian all-day diner, inspired by the seven colors of the rainbow.
The integrated casino resorts that were approved in Japan have been delayed many years, so many that only two consortiums/locations made it to the final bidding, from an initial pool of interested parties of like 30. An MP from the Japan Innovation Party suggested in the country’s parliament that it could be a bit difficult for the government to give approval in autumn or winter 2022 regarding the main location, Osaka’s bid. That could delay the Osaka bid by one to three years if the government approval is delayed. It wasn’t expected to open until 2030 so does it really matter if it is a year or two years more? It isn’t like residents in Osaka or Japan want these casinos anyway. MGM and Orix are the ones expected to be approved for this Integrated Casino Resort, to be built at a cost of more than US$7 billion. Nagasaki is the other location that is expected to be approved for an integrated casino resort that will be about half the size and cost of the Osaka one.
La Vie Hotels & Resorts confirmed they have restructured their business and established an umbrella brand, La Vie Hospitality Group, which will house all of the group’s diverse business units. The end-to-end innovative hospitality solutions partner will work across multiple disciplines including Education, Asset Management, Procurement, Building Management, Hospitality Services and Hotels & Resorts. The new La Vie Hospitality Group will have six business units including La Vie Hotels & Resorts, Leadwell Asset Management, La Vie Hospitality Services, Marion Building Management, Paro Procurement Group and Alliance College. La Vie Hospitality Group recently entered into a joint venture with the latter, a hospitality training school originally founded in South Australia.
Sarthak Kapur has been appointed as the new Business Development Manager at The Clarks Hotels & Resorts in the Philippines. Kapur is said to have more than seven years of experience in hospitality management. His last assignment was with Indian Hotels Company Limited in the capacity of Assistant Manager, Business Development.
Planned Dubai hotels will account for 76% of new keys adding to the UAE’s existing 200,000 rooms. Knight Frank said the total investment in the UAE’s hospitality sector is valued at US$32 billion. The UAE’s hotel development pipeline is expected to experience a 25% growth jump by 2030 as more global travelers continue to book cheap flights and make their way to the gulf country. Dubai is expected to get 76% of all new rooms coming to the emirate. 70% of the planned rooms will be in the four and five star categories. The proportion of international hotel operators in the UAE will rise from 56% to 60% as a result of this growth. Hilton Hotels will add the most rooms overall with close to 5,000 new keys expected by the end of the decade, up 43% from today. The UAE will see the Accor Group cementing itself as one of the UAE’s major hotel room operators by 2030, managing nearly 25,000 rooms. Knight Frank said that while the UAE’s Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah are currently leading the region in terms of hotel performance, a major shift in the tourism landscape is expected as the Saudi government looks to implement its Saudi Vision 2023 framework.
