In response to the increasing number of Taiwanese taking weekend breaks, cable TV system and channel operator Dafeng Media Group (大豐媒體集團) is launching a luxury hot-spring resort in Taipei in the second half of this year as it expands into the tourism market.
The group, which operates Top TV (高點電視台), last year bought the Pacific Wellness Spa & Club (太平洋溫泉會館) in Beitou District (北投) and started renovations.
Pacific Wellness was originally a subsidiary of Pacific Life Resort (太平洋生活休閒事業) and was owned by Pacific Construction Co (太平洋建設).
Following the one-year renovation plan, which will be completed later this year, the hotel was opened as the Gaia Hotel Taipei (大地北投奇岩溫泉酒店). The resort has 48 rooms, 20 hot-spring cabanas and three restaurants.
It began trial operations during the Lunar New Year holiday.
“The hotel will continue its trial operation in the coming months, before the official launch date, scheduled to be in fall or winter,” hotel general-manager Hugo Liao (廖煌智) said.
The Gaia Hotel room rates are between NT$12,000 and NT$60,000 (US$400 and US$1,980), a similar price to two other luxury hot spring resorts in the region, the Grand View Resort Beitou (北投麗禧溫泉酒店) and Radium Kagaya International Taipei (台北日勝生加賀屋), which is owned by local listed land construction firm Radium Life Tech Co (日勝生活科技).
Eyeing the rise in domestic travelers over the last few years, Liao is confident that the Gaia Hotel’s addition to the tourism market in Beitou will expand the scale of the market in the region, instead of cannibalizing sales from peers.
Grand View Resort public relations manager Chiang Ya-lin (江雅玲) shared Liao’s views, saying that over the past five years an increasing number of people, especially travelers living in the Greater Taipei area, have come to Beitou to enjoy a hot spring.
“As a hot spring area, Beitou has recently seen its popularity exceed New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來),” Chiang said.
However, for a luxury hot spring resort, Chiang said the most important lesson is to find a way to raise business in summer — traditionally the low season.
Last year, Grand View Resort’s total annual sales reached NT$274.82 million, with an average room occupancy rate of 49.56 percent during the slow season, data offered by the Tourism Bureau showed.
Both the Gaia Hotel and Grand View Resort said they aim to raise their sales from tourism, meetings, incentives, conventions, and events in the slow season to maintain business momentum.
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