US hotel operator Hilton Worldwide Holdings is next month to launch its third property in the nation, Hotel Resonance Taipei (台北時代寓所), despite the COVID-19 pandemic that has diminished international travel.
Hotel Resonance Taipei is a joint venture between Tapestry Collection by Hilton and Tainan-based Prince Housing and Development Corp (太子建設) to cater to technology-savvy business and leisure travelers.
Located on Taipei’s Linsen S Road near the MRT Shandao Temple Station, the hotel — which features 175 guestrooms, a Starbucks cafe, a wellness spa and other amenities — is available for reservations from NT$3,360 (US$116.62) per night ahead of its opening.
Photo: CNA
The property sits on a 1,091 ping (3,607m2) lot, the superficies rights of which Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) won for NT$2.61 billion in April 2013 and later leased it to Prince Housing and Development.
Hotel Resonance Taipei is Prince Housing and Development’s second lodging facility after W Hotel in Taipei’s prime Xinyi District (信義).
It is the first hotel under the Tapestry brand in the Asia-Pacific region, reflecting confidence on the part of the US hotelier about the region’s tourism market.
Hotel executives declined to speculate on occupancy and room rates for the first year after the opening, but said they hoped that independent tourists would account for 90 percent of its customers after the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The convenient location, just one stop from the Taipei Main Station, Michelin-star restaurants and popular tourist attractions, would lend support to its business, hotel executives said.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them