HPL ropes in IHG to rebrand Hilton hotel as voco Orchard Singapore

Singapore

THE 51-year-old Hilton Singapore, a landmark Orchard Road hotel belonging to Hotel Properties Limited (HPL), will be rebranded as a fairly new brand under IHG Hotels & Resorts.

The 423-room voco Orchard Singapore will open its doors in January next year.

voco, a premium brand in the IHG stable, was launched in 2018. It quickly reached the milestone of 50 signed hotels (some of which have opened), in more than 20 countries, "marking IHG's fastest global expansion", the hotel chain said.

The Singapore property will be the first voco hotel to open in South-east Asia. Existing voco hotels in the Asia-Pacific region are in places such as Australia and China; more openings are set for Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, New Zealand and Saipan.

HPL Hotels & Resorts chairman, Stephen Lau, said: "voco was the ideal choice for this location as it's extremely popular with leisure and business travellers, and will fit perfectly in such a prime shopping and entertainment area."

IHG already manages four of HPL's hotels in the Maldives and Vanuatu.

Said Mr Lau: "We are delighted to expand our trusted partnership with IHG and we believe voco will bring renewed interest to the hotel and allow us to transition smoothly through the rebranding process."

The hotel will undergo a staggered renovation even while it continues to operate.

The general configuration of the hotel will remain the same. The voco Orchard Singapore will retain the existing 423 rooms and 12 meeting rooms across more than 1,750 square metres, said IHG's vice-president of development for South-east Asia and Korea, Serena Lim. She declined to say how much the refurbishment would cost, but added that the voco brand allows easy conversion from other brands.

She could not give updates on the existing retail and F&B outlets in the hotel. The two-level Hilton Singapore Shopping Gallery is home to a string of upmarket brands such as Cartier, Giorgio Armani, Patek Philippe and Rolex. F&B outlets in the hotel include Iggy's, il Cielo, Opus Bar & Grill and Sky Bar.

"We are planning to open voco Orchard Singapore to a range of travellers, both domestic guests (staycationers) and those travelling from overseas depending on border restrictions," she said.

IHG could not provide indicative rooms rates for the new hotel.

The four hotels that IHG now manages for HPL are Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives, InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort, Six Senses Laamu (in the Maldives), and Holiday Inn Resort Vanuatu.

The voco Orchard Singapore will be IHG's 12th hotel and seventh brand here, joining Regent, InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express.

The Business Times previously reported that Hilton's management contract with HPL for the Hilton Singapore hotel ends in December this year. Hilton has been managing the hotel since its opening in 1970.

In April last year, OUE Commercial Reit announced that it had appointed Hilton to manage Mandarin Orchard Singapore.

When the hotel opens its doors in early 2022 as Hilton Singapore Orchard after a revamp, it will be the only Hilton hotel along Orchard Road.

IHG is targeting to have 200 voco hotels in leading urban and leisure locations around the world within 10 years.

The maiden all-suites voco property has been signed in Doha in Qatar; the first new-build voco hotel has opened for business in Edinburgh, Scotland, with another, in Nanjing in China, preparing to welcome guests later this year.