Welcome to your new hotel, uh, home

[SINGAPORE] It used to be that you would stay in a lovely luxury hotel and wish you could have the same experience at home. Now, if you have the budget, you can buy an apartment literally built by your favourite Aman or Park Hyatt, as branded residences rise in popularity among the high-net-worth crowd.

Pre-2020, hotel-affiliated projects – which offered residences on the same site as the hotel – dominated the sector at 86 per cent. Today, 30 per cent of developments are standalone branded residences and mixed-use developments. The branded residence market in Asia is now worth US$26.6 billion, with 68,000 upscale and luxury units that can cost as much as US$40 million for a quadplex in the exclusive Porsche Design Tower in Bangkok.

Looking to buy your next holiday residence? BT Lifestyle looks at how changing values make branded residences more appealing than conventional luxury developments, and why hotels and brands are taking this trend seriously.

Elsewhere, the Singapore International Festival of Arts is back. But beyond just celebrating SG60, the festival turns contemplative, examining the complexities of the modern Singaporean identity now. Find out what the festival has planned for local arts lovers.

And in Dining, we head to Spain via Sentosa, as we check out the new Sugarra, a fine-dining Basque-inspired restaurant at Resorts World Sentosa. For all this and more, don’t miss BT Lifestyle this week.