Australian company StayWell Hospitality Group is planning to bring its Leisure Inn and Park Regis brands to Singapore and other parts of Asia.
The company is set to launch the first Park Regis hotel in Singapore in September, and also plans to construct the first Leisure Inn hotel in the country.
The Park Regis Singapore is a 203-room four-star hotel of Park Regis Investments, where Mr. Asok Kumar Hiranandani – chairman of StayWell – is a shareholder. Park Regis Investments won the bid for a state land parcel in Merchant Road in 2007 and has invested $175 million to develop the hotel and a seven-storey office block on the site.
Room rates at the hotel, which targets business travellers, could start from $200. While negotiations to lease the office spaces are also ongoing, StayWell expects that the occupancy rate for the hotel could reach between 70 percent and 80 percent.
The Park Regis will become a “stunning investment” in the coming few years, said Mr. Hiranandani, whose confidence stems from the opening of two integrated resorts and the site’s location near Clarke Quay.
The hotel will integrate “bits of Singaporean and Australian flavours”, said Simon Wan, managing director and CEO of StayWell. The group has appointed Australian Jason Dowd as the general manager of the hotel.
“We will make sure that from the composition of the food, the composition of the wine, the television channels in the room to the staff uniforms, there will be some Australian flavour complemented by local themes,” said Mr. Wan.
The hotel has already attracted investors’ interest, said Mr. Hiranandani. “If someone gives us a management contract back for at least 15 years, we’ll be more than happy to sell the hotel . . . The intention of bringing the brand to Singapore was to take it out of Australia and expand it to Asia.”
“But I’d rather open the hotel first and get the income going. If it’s an attractive price, we’ll take the offer and buy another site,” Mr. Hiranandani added.
The Australian company hopes to follow up with a three-star Leisure Inn hotel in Singapore. The Leisure Inn and Park Regis lines will complement each other, said Mr. Wan, who added that there is a substantial demand for well-managed and well-located hotels in the three-star market.
However, the group will not rush into any deal just to establish the Leisure Inn hotel. “Because of high land costs, we have to be very careful in approaching this,” said Mr. Hiranandani.
StayWell’s portfolio includes 24 hotels, out of which 14 are owned by the group. It also plans to expand in Asia and is in talks to purchase 38 hotels in China.
Mr. Hiranandani said he has bigger plans for the group but he refused to elaborate. He only said: “We are the only unlisted hotel operator out there.”
Bobby, Mr. Hiranandani’s son who has been involved in the everyday operation of his father’s business, said: “There are many options we are looking at. A listing is somewhat possible down the road.”