Hyatt to open up to 11 hotels in Asia

Singapore

THE Hyatt group plans to open up to eleven hotels across its different brands in the region this year, with the majority of these in China.

"Our growth is spread out amongst China and the rest of Asia. It's exciting times in terms of the opportunity that is out there," said David Udell, group president (Asia Pacific) for Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, adding that the group is looking at tertiary cities in China, in addition to primary and secondary ones. This is because some brands might be more appropriate for primary cities, while others might do better in secondary and tertiary ones, he pointed out.

In China, it will open its Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place brands this year as well as its Hyatt House, which offers facilities suited to long-stay guests. These will be in cities such as Wuxi, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The group could end up opening between seven and 11 hotels this year, depending on completion, as a number are slated to open in December 2015.

In Japan, where four of its major brands are already present in Tokyo, the Hyatt group is in talks for a number of different projects. There is a great enthusiasm in the market for hospitality, especially given the upcoming Olympics in 2020, he told BT. This year, it will launch the Hyatt Regency brand in Okinawa.

At present, the group has about 68 properties in the Asia Pacific across its brands. Earlier this month, it launched its Park Hyatt Sanya resort in Hainan as well as a Hyatt hotel in Manila.

"There's still opportunity for growth (in the region). From the company's perspective, it's quite a key area of emphasis," he highlighted. He went on to add: "Indonesia is very exciting because of some of the things that are happening there economically." In the case of Indonesia, it will also look at secondary and tertiary cities.

Going forward, other cities with upcoming projects include Jakarta, Bangkok, Bali and Seoul.

In Singapore, the group has landed a contract to operate a hotel under its Andaz brand come 2017, making it the first Andaz in South-east Asia. To be located in the Ophir-Rochor area, the hotel is part of the DUO mixed development which is backed by Temasek and Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah. The luxury boutique hotel, with over 340 rooms, will cater to both the leisure and business travel segments. The Andaz brand, which suits the culturally vibrant surrounding areas, will be positioned as a home away from home for guests.

Meanwhile, in what was a relatively flat year for the local hotel industry, the existing Grand Hyatt Singapore in Scotts Road did well last year and kept pace with the market despite undergoing renovations, said Mr Udell, though he declined to disclose figures.

"(For) Singapore, we think the fundamentals are really solid," he added.