End of Hilton contract revives question of HPL's plan for its hotel on Orchard Road

Kalpana Rashiwala

Published Mon, Jul 27, 2020 · 09:50 PM

IN April, OUE Commercial Reit announced that it had appointed global hotel chain Hilton to manage the iconic Mandarin Orchard Singapore. This will become Hilton's flagship hotel in Singapore and its largest in the Asia-Pacific.

More important, however, was the pronouncement that when the hotel opens its doors in early 2022 as Hilton Singapore Orchard after a S$90 million revamp, it will be the only Hilton hotel along Orchard Road.

The timing was probably deliberate. According to the grapevine, Hilton's management contract with Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) for the Hilton Singapore hotel - also on Orchard Road, about 800 metres away - ends in late 2021.

Hilton has been managing the hotel since its opening in 1970. When the contract ends in December next year, it will bring to an end the long-running love-hate relationship between HPL boss Ong Beng Seng and Hilton. In 1988, HPL had tried to termi…