Fubon Hospitality Management Co (富邦旅館), an affiliate of Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), has developed its own hotel brand, “Folio Hotel,” which is to open its first outlet in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) next quarter.
Despite ongoing economic uncertainty at home and abroad, the two-year-old hotelier is upbeat about the local tourism industry and plans to establish five hotels in the next five years under its own brand or through franchise, “manchise” — a combination of franchise and management agreement — joint ventures or other business arrangements.
“The group is to leverage its sources and support the expansion into the hospitality industry,” Fubon Hospitality chairman Alex Lee (李震華) said.
Created in June 2014, Fubon Hospitality draws its funding from Fubon Land Development Co (富邦建設) and Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital (富邦金創), the venture capital arm of Fubon Financial.
The hotelier is aiming to help revitalize idle assets under affiliated Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), the winner of several public leasehold and urban renewal project contracts.
The upcoming hotel is turning an urban renewal project near MRT’s Daan station into a middle-priced lodging facility that is to serve 57 guest rooms, a cafe and a multi-function show room that will provide the stage for local and international artists with help from its affiliate Fubon Art Foundation (富邦藝術基金), the hotelier said.
The urban renewal project can wait if the hotel proves a success, the company said, as the local property market is under pressure from price corrections after a decade of boom, while transactions have chilled.
With rooms priced between US$100 and US$200 per night, the new hotel is courting independent travelers with its simple urban design and convenient location, Fubon Hospitality said.
The strategy is to make the new hotel less vulnerable to policy uncertainty linked to cross-strait ties following the power transition in May, Fubon Hospitality said, as China reportedly aims to cut the number of tourists bound for Taiwan.
Fubon Hospitality is also in talks with international hoteliers such as Rosewood Hotels and Resorts to develop a luxury hotel on a plot of land in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where Fubon Life holds a 50-year lease contract.
The group has yet to settle cooperation details that might take the form of manchise, franchise, joint venture or other business arrangements, Lee said.
In addition, Fubon Hospitality plans to build a leisure hotel with hot spring facilities in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), a five-star hotel on Nanjing E Road and a boutique hotel at an unspecified site. The Beitou location was previously intended for urban renewal.
To accommodate the expansion plans, Fubon Hospitality said it would increase its staff by 35 this year, with more personnel to be added in the next five years.
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