After taking over Holiday Inn Asiaworld Taipei in September and renaming it Sunworld Dynasty Hotel Taipei (
"I'm quite optimistic about Taiwan's economy and environment. It doesn't matter whether Taiwan has direct links with China or not. This small island has great potential," said Chen, who built his name and wealth via Sunrider International (
Chen, who usually shies away from the press, yesterday made his first public appearance in Taipei to introduce the hotel's new management team after acquiring Sunworld Dynasty with his wife Chen Oi-lin (陳徐愛蓮), president of Sunrider.
PHOTO: JACKIE LIN, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen last year made his first transition into the hotel industry by buying three hotels in Taiwan and China for over NT$11 billion (US$330 million). He has invested an undisclosed amount in the five-star Sheraton Taipei.
Early last year, Chen took in Tianlun Dynasty Hotel (天倫王朝飯店) and Tianlun Songhe Hotel (天倫松鶴大酒店), both in Beijing, for over NT$4 billion. In May, he secured Holiday Inn Asiaworld Taipei for NT$7.04 billion after three public auctions to sell the poorly performing hotel failed.
These deals were fairly cheap considering their good locations in downtown areas, he said, adding that the firm would continue to hunt for ideal takeover targets in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan, with possibilities also extending to Japan, South Korea, Australia and South Africa.
"The reason I stepped into the hotel industry is I want to integrate my business with culture and fashion," said Chen, who graduated from the pharmacy department of Kaohsiung Medical University.
With nearly 1 million Sunrider distributors in 40 nations, Chen plans to integrate resources and express his passion for fashion and image through his hotels. He said he will display some of his thousands of Chinese art collections -- currently stored in a museum in California -- in Sunworld Dynasty after an overall refit is completed.
Located at the intersection of Dunhua N Road and Nanjing E Road near Songshan Airport, Sunworld Dynasty was founded by Asiaworld Group (亞世集團) 25 years ago to become the nation's first hotel integrated with a department store.
However, lack of maintenance in recent years made the 750-room hotel appear rundown, which caused it to lose some of its competitive edge.
Chen expected the large-scale renovation -- including the outer walls, guest rooms, restaurants, ballrooms and basement parking space -- to take three years and over NT$2 billion to complete.
"We do not plan to demolish it for reconstruction as the hotel itself has a modern design. But after the face-lift, I'm confident it'll bloom for another two to three decades," Chen said.
He expected Sunworld Dynasty to rake in annual sales of up to NT$1.5 billion, from the current NT$900 million, by upgrading it to a five-star hotel with four-star rates.
In addition, because of his close relations with Sheraton Taipei, these two hotels will refer customers when one is fully booked, he said.
Chen yesterday also introduced the hotel's new general manager, Victor Chou (
He has participated in preparation at the Brother Hotel, The Sherwood Taipei and Ta Shee Resort, as well as management at the Sheraton Taipei.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce