Competition in the Xinyi District (信義) hotel industry in Taipei is set to heat up as Formosa International Hotels Corp (晶華國際酒店), Taiwan’s biggest listed hotel operator, has plans to set up a hotel in 2013 to target clientele who wish to stay in the area without burning a hole in their pocket.
“We have filed an application with the Bureau of Tourism to set up a hotel, but the project is yet to be approved by the board and we can’t comment further on it,” Ellen Chang (張筠), the company’s public relations director, said by telephone yesterday.
She said the project was still in the negotiation stage with the firm’s partners and was not a 100 percent done deal.
The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday that Formosa International Hotels would partner with Fubon Group (富邦集團) to launch its third Silks Place (晶英酒店) Hotel in Taipei’s Xinyi District.
The hotel would be located on a plot of land Fubon bought in 2008 with the intention of building a shopping, office and hotel complex, the paper said. Total investment for the Silks Place in Xinyi would be NT$2.78 billion (US$84.2 million) and it is set to welcome guests into its almost 300 rooms in 2013, it said.
If the hotel becomes a reality, Grand Hyatt Taipei (君悅飯店), currently the lone hotel in Xinyi District, would face fierce competition, the report said.
Uni-President Group’s (統一集團) W-Hotel and Le Meridian Taipei (台北寒舍艾美酒店), owned by Shin Kong Group (新光集團), are also scheduled to open in Xinyi by the end of the year. Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) also has plans to bring its renowned Four Seasons Hotel brand to the neighborhood, the daily said.
Formosa International Hotels, which operates the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei (晶華酒店), has two other hotel brands — Silks Place and Just Sleep (捷絲旅). Silks Place has two outlets — one in Yilan and one in Tainan — while there are two Just Sleep oulets in Taipei, in Ximending and on Linshen N Road.
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