Gloria Hotel Group (華泰大飯店集團) is to shut down its 50-year-old Gloria Prince Hotel (華泰王子大飯店) in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) next month to pave the way for an urban renewal project and cut losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hotel on Linsen N Road said on its Web site that it would cease operations on Oct. 11, in line with the group’s plan to maximize the property’s value.
The announcement came after several local peers, including Leofoo Hotel (六福客棧), Ambassador Hotel Taipei (台北國賓飯店), the Sherwood Taipei (西華飯店), San Want Hotel (神旺大飯店) and Imperial Hotel Taipei (台北華國大飯店), made similar moves.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Tourist hotels have been affected most heavily by border controls and quarantine requirements that have kept foreign tourists away for most of the past three years. Occupancy rates at popular properties put up decent showings on weekends and holidays, but remained soft on weekdays.
Gloria Prince, allied with Japan’s Seibu Group, has focused on serving group and individual tourists from the neighboring country. To hedge losses, it relocated its Lidiot (驢子) and Chiou Hwa (九華樓) restaurants to Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area.
The group also owns hotel brands Gloria Residence (華泰瑞舍), Hotel Quote and Hotel Proverbs in Taipei, resort property Gloria Manor (華泰瑞苑) in Pingtung County’s Kenting (墾丁), and Gloria Outlets (華泰名品城).
The group is reportedly planning to collaborate with UT Land Development Group (忠泰建設) to turn Gloria Prince into a mixed-use complex with 21 floors above ground and 6 basement floors.
The upcoming complex would feature a new hotel with 100 guestrooms and set aside the remaining floors as upscale office spaces that could come into service in 2026 if work on regeneration starts next year.
The two sides seek to extend the urban renewal project to neighboring apartments, pending their owners agreement to participate.
The government has encouraged regeneration projects by granting favorable floor space ratios and sparing them of credit controls as it seeks to enhance building safety and stimulate domestic demand.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
RSS