Kee Tai Properties Co (基泰建設) has inked a pact with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) to operate a new hotel near Taipei Railway Station as the Taipei-based developer seeks to expand into the hospitality business and diversify its income sources.
The hotel would have 183 guestrooms on the fifth to 23rd floors of a mixed-use building on Zhongxiao W Road under the Even Hotel brand, which targets fitness-savvy travelers, Chinese-language media reported this week.
Even Hotel Taipei Main Station would be the group’s 13th property in Taiwan and could open in the third quarter of next year.
The British hospitality company said it is expanding its reach in the local market on belief that demand for foreign luxury hotel brands remains healthy.
It plans to open its first boutique hotel, Kimpton Daan Hotel, near Pacific Sogo Department Store’s (太平洋崇光百貨) most profitable branch on Zhongxiao E Road by the end of this year, IGH said.
In September, the group opened a new property in Hsinchu under the Hotel Indigo brand, and more are in the pipeline, it said.
IHG attributed its optimism to stable growth in demand for business hotel rooms.
Even Hotel aims to set itself apart from rivals by providing for travelers who seek more healthy options away from home, so all guestrooms are to have health equipment and restaurants are to serve healthy food, local media reported.
In the third quarter, Kee Tai posted a net loss attributable to the parent company of NT$55.91 million (US$1.81 million), compared with a net income of NT$57.18 million a year earlier, as the local property market is still struggling to recover from unfavorable policies introduced in recent years.
In the first three quarters, the company reported net income of NT$482,000, down from NT$25.57 million in the same period last year, company data showed.
The company’s revenue reached NT$11.24 million last month, an increase of 3.18 percent from a year earlier. Cumulative revenue in the first 10 months totaled NT$118.54 million, down 57.4 percent from NT$278.27 million a year earlier, data showed.
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