Forte Hotel Group (福泰飯店集團), which operates 10 hotels locally under three brands, has formed an alliance with China’s Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc (如家酒店集團) aimed at attracting greater numbers of Chinese tourists.
Home Inns — a NASDAQ-listed company that operates more than 2,200 hotels in China and Hong Kong under three brands — has 24 million registered members currently.
Under the alliance, Forte’s hotels are to be set as the preferred choice for Home Inn members when they visit Taiwan.
“We expect the cooperation to bring between another 200,000 and 300,000 Chinese tourists to Forte Hotel Group hotels in the first year,” chief executive officer Michael Liao (廖東漢) told reporters yesterday after the signing ceremony with Home Inns.
Forte Hotel may also launch themed tours for Home Inns members, Liao said, adding that there would be a focus on medical beauty and physical checkup services.
In addition to its cooperation with the Chinese company, Forte Hotel — founded 10 years ago — is set to launch by the end of this year its first hostel in Taipei’s Ximending area (西門町) to strengthen its hold on the lower-priced market.
Forte Hotel chairman Benjamin Liao (廖炳燿), who is Michael Liao’s son and in charge of launching the hostel brand, said that a hostel’s operating margin is usually not lower than a hotel’s, since a room in a hostel can accommodate more guests than one of the same size in a hotel.
Forte Hotel has set average room rates at the proposed hostel to between NT$700 and NT$1,000 per night.
In another move aimed at furthering the company’s expansion drive, Michael Liao said the group is seeking an opportunity to list on the main bourse over the next three to five years.
“Various securities firms have contacted the company to discuss the feasibility of listing on the main bourse,” Liao said.
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