HPL To Build Hard Rock Hotel In Penang

Source : The Straits Times, Oct 26, 2007

HOTEL Properties (HPL), which manages the Hard Rock brand of properties in the region, plans to build a Hard Rock Hotel in Penang, Malaysia.

Hard Rock Hotel Penang will be a luxury resort on Batu Ferringhi beach, north-west of Georgetown.

HPL will completely revamp an existing five-storey main building, add more rooms and convert one of the two beachfront bungalows into a full-service luxury spa.

Four food and beverage outlets are planned for the resort, which will include a Hard Rock Cafe, an all-day dining restaurant and a bar/lounge.

The hotel will also feature an oversized free-form pool, boasting sand islands and luxurious poolside cabanas.

'Hard Rock Hotel Penang could not be more perfect,' said Mr Stephen Lau, chairman of HPL Hotels & Resorts on Friday.

Hard Rock Hotels are located in places like Las Vegas, Orlando and Chicago, and in Bali and Pattaya in Asia.

Mr James Allen, president and chief executive of Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment, which owns Hard Rock International, said that Singapore would be a tremendous market for a Hard Rock Hotel, but it does not have anything specific to announce at this time.

'Certainly, with the international gateway that it is, we think a Hard Rock Hotel would be a tremendous success in Singapore,'

Mr Allen told The Straits Times in a phone interview.