International hospitality operator Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is partnering with Taiwanese developer Yuanlih Group (元利建設) to open a new five-star hotel in central Taipei.
They announced the collaboration on Tuesday evening, saying that the Toronto-based company aims to boost its presence in Asia, while the local developer seeks to venture into the hotel business.
“Taipei has long been a target destination for Four Seasons, as we look to expand our presence in Asia’s most important cities,” Four Seasons global business development and portfolio management president Bart Carnahan said.
Photo: Amy Yang, Taipei Times
The new property, Four Seasons Hotel Taipei, would be in Xinyi District (信義), opposite Taipei 101, one of the city’s top tourist attractions, and home the Taiwan Stock Exchange, major banks and organizations, and high-end shopping and office spaces.
The location was chosen to ensure that the hotel would be convenient for business and leisure travelers alike, Carnahan said.
The hotel would be built on a 1,552 ping (5,121m2) plot and have about 260 rooms on 31 floors above ground, Yuanlih chairman Lin Ming-hsiung (林敏雄) said, adding that construction began last year and would finish in 2025.
Lin — who also heads PX Mart Co Ltd (全聯實業), the operator of PXmart (全聯福利中心), the nation’s largest supermarket chain — said he previously aimed to build an office building on the plot, but Four Seasons approached him and he changed his plan.
Lin said that despite his lack of experience in the hospitality industry, he is confident in the luxury hotel brand.
Four Seasons does not own any of its properties worldwide, but operates them on behalf of real-estate management firms and developers.
The contracts between Four Seasons and property owners typically permit it to participate in the design of the property and run it with nearly total control over every aspect of the operation.
Four Seasons Hotel Taipei would have a restaurant focused on Chinese cuisine, a destination bar, a specialty restaurant, an all-day restaurant, a pool bar and a lobby lounge, Carnahan said.
Lin said construction costs have picked up significantly in the past few years, but remain bearable.
The arrival of Four Seasons would sharpen competition in Xinyi District, where private equity fund Riant Capital Ltd (子樂投資) is to launch two luxury hotels under the Park Hyatt and Andaz brands in the yet-to-open Taipei Sky Tower.
The new hotels would have to compete with Grand Hyatt, W Hotel and Le Meridien.
Formosa International Hotels Corp (晶華集團) said it welcomed more internationally renowned hotel brands, saying they would help raise Taipei’s profile on the world stage.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS