Ten new projects for S’pore-based firm before Olympics
SERVICE apartment operator Frasers Hospitality announced the opening of 10 new projects yesterday in China — five of which will be up and running before the Beijing Olympics next year.
Currently, Frasers — the hospitality arm of Fraser and Neave — operates two properties in Shenzhen. The 10 newlyannounced service residences will be in Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Of these, one property situated in the capital’s Central Business District, was acquired by Frasers from Chinese conglomerate Cosco Holdings in June for US$130 million ($197 million). It is now valued at $260 million.
Called Frasers Suites Beijing, the 23-storey building, featuring 357 luxury serviced residences, will open in April next year. Frasers will operate the nine other properties under management contracts. These include the Fraser Residence CBD East owned by global private equity firm Carlyle, slated to open November this year.
Frasers said it has been receiving 25 to 30 queries about apartment stays during the Olympics next year, even before the buildings are completed.
Beyond the Olympics, Frasers is bullish about China’s potential in attracting business executives on medium-to-longterm business projects to its serviced apartments.
“The trends in business are really pointing to the need for serviced apartments,” said Frasers CEO Choe Peng Sum. “And this is in line with world trends because many businesses fly in their taskforce or corporate start-up teams to major cities to start up the business, stay for up months, and when the job is done, the teams are flown out.”
With just 10 per cent of hotel rooms in the world being serviced apartments, Mr Choe said there is room for growth.
“Many people who travel actually prefer serviced apartments — bigger living places, your own kitchen, but with hotel services … You wake up, you make your own coffee but you are sitting in the living room versus sitting in the bedroom,” he added. “It makes a lot of difference to a lot of people who travel a lot.”
Fraser’s 19 properties worldwide enjoy an average occupancy rate of 90 per cent. In Singapore, its serviced apartments generally have a threemonth waitlist.
This augurs well for the Singapore-based property company’s foray into China, as it sets its sights on operating 4,000 serviced residences in over a dozen cities across the country by 2010. The company said it is also looking into entering the secondary business cities such as Wuhan, Chongqing and Shenyang.
Fraser’s announcement yesterday follows hot on the heels of the opening of its first service residences in Sydney last month. Including the 10 projects in China, the company plans to open a total of 23 properties worldwide in the next 18 months.
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