Landis Inn Chuhu (竹湖暐順麗緻文旅) aims to boost its occupancy rate by 10 percent this year as the hotel near Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) is looking to benefit from capital repatriation from Taiwanese firms based in China.
The seventh outlet of local hotel chain Landis Hospitality Group (麗緻餐旅集團) last year achieved an occupancy rate of 60 percent with an average daily room rate of NT$3,300, allowing it to break even two years after its launch, communication official Emily Huang (黃詩琪) said last month.
“We saw stable growth in revenue while our peers struggled in an increasingly crowded field with a stagnating number of tourists,” she said.
Huang attributed the facility’s success to a business model that takes advantage of its convenient location near the science park, the high-speed rail’s Hsinchu Station, National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University.
The complex sits on a plot of land owned by state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), with Wei Shun Construction Co (暐順建設) winning a 50-year leasehold right to develop a mixed-use building.
The Hsinchu-based developer turned the lower floors into 288 rental suites and the upper floors into 173 hotel rooms, Huang said.
The more affordable suites have proved popular, with almost full occupancy on the back of demand from technology firms and university faculties, Huang said, adding that a technology firm leases 30 rooms on an annual basis to provide accommodation for its engineers from abroad and other parts of Taiwan, she said.
Landis Inn Chuhu has also benefitted from an affluent population of 200,000 in the vicinity, where there are few star-grade lodging facilities, namely Ambassador Hotel Hsinchu (新竹國賓大飯店), Hotel Indigo Hsinchu Science Park (新竹英迪格酒店) and Sheraton Hsinchu Hotel (新竹豐邑喜來登大飯店).
The Landis brand, with its strong dining appeal, has lent support to its restaurants Sheng Hsiang Lo (聖香樓) and Versailles (凡爾賽), making them a popular venue for corporate and university gatherings, Huang said, adding that the two restaurants and banquet rooms generate about 40 percent of total revenue.
Wei Shun recently copied the business model to create a mixed-use tower right next to the high-speed rail’s Hsinchu Station, but limited its role to a landlord, Huang said.
The complex features retail stores, restaurants, offices and hotel rooms.
Although the economy is expected to slow this year, Landis Inn Chuhu is looking to gain customers by taking advantage of Taiwanese firms that are moving back from China to avoid extra tariff burdens, Huang said.
“We might be even busier this year,” Huang said.
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