Ascott's Citadines to open in Vietnam, Malaysia and UAE

Singapore

THE Ascott Limited on Monday said it has secured contracts to manage its first Citadines Apart'hotels in Vietnam, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 2018. This comes as the Citadines Apart'hotels portfolio of service residences has more than doubled in size from the time of full acquisition in 2004, the Ascott said in a statement.

The 200-unit Citadines Regency Saigon is slated to open in 2018 in Ho Chi Minh City's District 3, which is near several foreign embassies and the District 1 Central Business District area, where tourist hotspots such as the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral and War Remnants Museum are located.

The 253-unit Citadines Waterfront Kota Kinabalu, also to open in three years, is a 10-minute drive from the Kota Kinabalu International Airport. This Malaysian city is an industrial and commercial centre of Sabah, Malaysia's second largest state and the country's largest producer of palm oil and cocoa, the Ascott noted.

Over in the UAE, the 81-unit Citadines Culture Village Dubai will open in 2017 within Culture Village. The retail district, still under construction, is to feature luxury hotels, upscale restaurants, rare-book shops and art and craft galleries.

The Ascott had started out in 2004 with 5,100 apartment units in 18 European cities in its Citadines portfolio; it now has more than 12,000 units in 81 properties and 52 cities across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Gulf, it said.

Ascott's chief executive officer Lee Chee Koon said: "With the fast-growing middle class and the rise of low-cost air travel, we are seeing more independent travellers who enjoy the flexibility to choose the services according to their lifestyles."