Planting the Capella flag in Asia, one city at a time

THESE are exhilarating times for everyone who works at the Capella Hotel Group.

Last month, it was reported that Singapore's Kwee family had bought the ultra-luxe hospitality company from veteran hotelier and Ritz-Carlton founding president Horst Schulze.

The deal - the terms of which were not publicly disclosed - also resulted in Capella relocating its global headquarters from Atlanta, Georgia (in the United States), to Singapore.

The Kwee family owns Pontiac Land Group in Singapore, a real estate developer that has assets including the five-star Capella Singapore resort on Sentosa, which opened its doors in 2009.

After more than eight years of having just that one Capella hotel in all of Asia, the company's chief executive officer Nicholas Clayton is now busy racking up the frequent flyer miles as he oversees the brand's massive expansion across the Asia-Pacific region. In September this year, he was in Shanghai to open an urban resort comprising uni…