Amid a recovering economy and an influx of Chinese tourists, Taiwan’s hotel industry is booming, with another five-star hotel set to open its doors on Sunday.
Located in the bustling Taipei Railway Station district, Palais de Chine Hotel (君品酒店) expects to see occupancy rates as high as 70 percent by the end of the year, marketing communications specialist Emilie Hsu (許瀚云) told the Taipei Times yesterday.
The hotel, with its French-themed design, spans 13 floors and is part of a property consisting of the Q square shopping mall (京站時尚廣場), a top-class residence, a gym and a cinema complex.
“We would put the hotel in the same class as the Sheraton Taipei [台北喜來登] and the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel [晶華酒店],” Hsu said, citing its counter check-in rates, which start at NT$11,000 (US$333) excluding taxes.
The hotel is joining tour agencies and travel Web sites to offer better-value packages as part of its strategy to boost occupancy rates, she said.
L’Hotel de Chine Group (雲朗觀光) — the owner of Palais de Chine — has four other hotel brands under its belt: Maison de Chine (兆品酒店), Chateau de Chine (翰品酒店), Fleur de Chine (雲品酒店) and Chinatrust Hotels (中信旅館系統).
The opening of Palais de Chine is among a series of hotels set to open in Taiwan as ties between Taipei and Beijing have warmed and more Chinese tourists are allowed to enter the country.
Formosa International Hotels Corp (FIHC, 晶華國際酒店集團), Taiwan’s biggest listed hotel operator, which runs Grand Formosa Regent, has plans to set up the Silks Place (晶英酒店) in 2013 in the Xinyi District.
W-Hotel, backed by Uni-President Group (統一集團), as well as Le Meridian Taipei (台北寒舍艾美酒店), with investor Shin Kong Group (新光集團), are set to open by the end of the year.
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) is reportedly planning to bring the renowned Four Seasons Hotel to the Xinyi neighborhood, too.
In the middle of last month, FIHC beat 20 other global hotel operators by acquiring the Regent luxury hotel business for an estimated US$56 million.
The move paves the way for FIHC’s global expansion and marks Taiwan’s first hotel operator to own an international hotel brand.
The acquisition includes the ownership of the global Regent brand and all associated intellectual property, hotel management and lease contracts for 17 hotel properties in operation and under development, as well as the Regent Seven Seas Cruises license.
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