InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) yesterday launched a boutique facility in Taipei, saying that there is still healthy demand for international hotel brands, despite increasing competition.
Kimpton Daan Hotel, the first property under the Kimpton brand in Asia, reflects the group’s confidence in Taiwan and the region, where the hospitality industry is gaining steam, Kimpton Daan general manager Mathew Lim (林原衛) told reporters.
“IHG, with its vast, loyal membership, has supplied more than 60 percent of clientele since the facility’s soft opening on March 1,” Lim said.
Lim aims to achieve an occupancy rate of 50 percent in the first year of operations and raise it by 10 percent in the second year.
With daily room rates ranging from NT$7,000 to NT$8,000, the hotel’s 129 guest rooms would prove competitive and attractive to fashion-savvy travelers from around the world, as they are more accessible than the W Hotel in the city’s Xinyi District (信義), Lim said.
The convenient location near Pacific Sogo Department Store’s (太平洋崇光百貨) Zhongxiao E Road branch would help Kimpton Daan gain rapid popularity among travelers who desire to explore Taipei, he said.
The hotel occupies an entire 14-story building on a government-owned plot of land, on which local developer Radium Life Tech Co (日勝生) won the right to build luxury apartments, but failed to find buyers for years.
The lack of permanent ownership made those apartments unattractive and unfavorable for mortgage lending.
Kimpton Daan expects food and beverage to generate 40 percent of its annual revenue, with help from British chef James Sharman, who was once praised by the New York Times as a top talent, Lim said.
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