Cosmos Hotel & Resorts Group (天成飯店集團) has stood by its expansion plans in an increasingly competitive market by launching a new facility in Taichung to capitalize on tourism demand in central Taiwan.
ICASA (回行旅), the second property under the group’s Cosmos Creation (天成文旅) brand, offers 100 rooms, the group’s assistant marketing director, Blythe Chao (趙芝綺), said in an interview on Wednesday.
“Despite intensifying competition, the group pressed ahead expansion plans and is upbeat about a 70 percent occupancy for ICASA in the first year,” Chao said.
The group, which operates six hotels and one independent restaurant in Taiwan, plans to add a third Cosmos Creation outlet in Taipei and a luxury resort hotel in Hualien’s Ruisui Township (瑞穗) this year, while expanding villa facilities at Yaward Resort Taoyuan (悅華大酒店), she said.
The expansion will raise its total number of guest rooms to 1,000, she added.
Chao declined to elaborate on the third Cosmos Creation property except to say that it would have about 80 rooms.
The Cosmos Creation brand was launched in 2013 to differentiate properties through features on local culture and customized designs, such as the Sun Dialogue Hotel (繪日之丘) in Chiayi, from its urban outlets like Cosmos Taipei (台北天成大飯店) and the Taipei Garden Hotel (台北花園大酒店).
The new ICASA had its soft opening in January and its traget market is Taiwanese families and independent tourists with middle-level travel budgets, Chao said.
The new facility cost the group NT$700 million (US$23 million) and the aim is for it to generate NT$80 million in revenue this year with room rates that begin at NT$3,999, she said.
Foreign travelers account for 40 percent of the hotel’s guests, but the hotel hopes to raise that figure to 50 percent, she said.
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