More international hotel brands are to enter the local market this year, as they say there is room for growth, especially for high-end facilities targeting international business travelers and conference needs.
Cathay Hospitality Management Co (國泰商旅), an affiliate of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), has teamed up with Marriott International Inc to launch the Courtyard by Marriott Taipei Downtown (台北國泰萬怡酒店) next quarter.
“We maintain a positive view about the industry in the long run, despite the ongoing transition,” Cathay Hospitality Management marketing and communications official Kitty Ku (顧浩齡) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
The hotel is to be an example of urban renewal that allows partial floors of the mixed-use building to be turned into guestrooms, restaurants and banquet facilities, while the rest is to be set aside for office space, Ku said.
Cathay Hospitality, which runs five outlets in Taiwan under the Madison Taipei (台北慕軒) and Hotel Cozzi (和逸) brands, has invited Marriott International to manage a sixth property to take advantage of its vast global membership network, she said.
Courtyard Taipei Downtown is to feature 227 guestrooms on the 14th to 20th floors on Minsheng E Road, Sec 3. Its proximity to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is expected to make it a first choice among foreign business travelers, as well as for corporate meetings, conferences and other gatherings, Ku said.
The hotel is seeking to achieve an occupancy rate of 60 percent in its first year of operations, with daily room rates of NT$5,500 (US$179).
Cathay Hospitality is to open another property in Taoyuan in 2020 after halting expansion for the past two-and-a-half years, she said.
The company on Wednesday acquired decoration equipment from affiliated Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) for NT$475.15 million, a deal that would give the hospitality arm more independence regarding remodeling decisions.
In New Taipei City, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc is setting up a hotel with 398 rooms that is due to open by the end of October, with the US hotel chain upbeat about rejoining the local market after a 14-year hiatus.
Hilton Taipei Sinban is to be the first upscale facility run by an international hotel brand in the central business district of New Taipei City, a company communications official said.
Hilton Sinban is targeting international travelers who desire a change from existing establishments when they conduct business in Taipei, the official said, adding that room rates would be higher than at other hotels in New Taipei City.
Meanwhile, Huang Hsiang Construction Co (皇翔建設) has joined the trend of expanding into the hospitality industry and cutting dependence on property development to cope with a sluggish housing market.
Renaissance Taipei Shihlin Hotel (台北士林萬麗酒店), another brand under Marriott International, launched soft operations on Wednesday, company officials said.
The 104-guestroom facility is Huang Hsiang’s (皇翔建設) first foray into the hotel business after winning the superfice rights to a plot of land in Shihlin District (士林) from the Taipei City Government in 2012.
The property aims to attract both business and leisure travelers in light of its proximity to the Shilin Residence, the National Palace Museum and Shilin Night Market, the official said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six