Landis Hospitality Group (麗緻餐旅集團), an upscale hotel and restaurant operator, is to open a new venue, Landis Inn Chuhu, in Hsinchu later this month, as it seeks to expand into the three-star hotel market, senior executives said yesterday.
Located near the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) and National Chiao Tung University, the planned inn is aimed at business travelers and university students and faculty with a daily budget of between NT$3,300 and NT$4,200.
“We aim to increase our number of customers without giving up on operating five-star facilities,” Gary Lo (羅明威), assistant general manager at the group’s business development division, told a media briefing in Hsinchu.
Landis Inn Chuhu is the group’s newest venture after Hotel ONE Taichung (台中亞緻大飯店) launched in 2006.
The inn is another example of cooperation between a property builder and a hospitality provider in turning a former residential complex into a lodging establishment, as unfavorable policies and taxes have dragged on property transactions.
The complex features 3,000 ping (9,917m2) of floor space across 14 aboveground levels and two basement floors on a plot of land owned by state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油).
Wei Shun Construction Co (暐順建設) won a 50-year lease from CPC to develop the plot and last year inked a deal with Landis to run the establishment, Lo said, adding that the builder is to keep the third to eighth floors as apartments for rent.
Landis Inn Chuhu is to have 173 guest rooms, two restaurants, a sky lounge, a fitness center and other amenities.
Landis executive assistant general manager Benjamin Huang (黃柄鈞), who was put in charge of the inn, expects occupancy rates to hit 80 percent in the first year of operations.
Food and beverage sales might generate 60 percent of total sales and guest rooms the remaining 40 percent, Huang said.
“The goal is achievable, because the group is to open branches of its popular Chinese restaurant Tien Hsiang Lo (天香樓) and French restaurant Brasserie Liz (麗緻巴賽麗) in the inn,” Huang said.
The two restaurants might help win customers and differentiate the inn from five-star competitors, such as Ambassador Hotel Group’s (國賓飯店集團) Ambassador Hotel Hsinchu and the Sheraton Hsinchu Hotel (新竹喜來登), Huang said.
Stella Chen (陳伊婷), the group’s assistant general manager who spent the past year supervising the conversion, said that while the inn is positioned as a three-star facility in pricing, it is equipped with four-star facilities and will provide five-star service.
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