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http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_343610.html
S'pore hotels upbeat
By Lim Wei Chean
PHOTO: IBIS SINGAPORE
View more photos
IT IS not the best of times, but the first of 10 new hotels to come up in Singapore this year threw open its doors in a grand official opening ceremony yesterday.
Hundreds of guests turned up for The Ibis on Bencoolen's launch event, and were feted with champagne and local delicacies such as chilli crab, bak kut teh and char kway teow before a ceremony in which the hotel's main signpost was turned on.
Opening this year
Opening in the first quarter, or already opened:
Capella Singapore: 111 rooms
... more
The 538-room, three-star hotel - and the other nine which will open here this year - were planned for in better times, when Singapore was setting tourism arrival records at breakneck pace, and fears were looming of a room crunch.
Those fears never materialised: Just 12 months ago, hotel occupancy was in the high 80 per cent to 90 per cent range. It has now dropped to the high 70s to 80s range.
But despite the tourism downturn and recession, the hotels are all confident of doing well, and say they have drawn up strategies to cope.
The Ibis on Bencoolen, for instance, has struck pay dirt since its 'soft opening' on Feb 12, and has been almost full since.
The hotel said it is depending on its international brand name and cheap rooms to make it a winner. The chain's parent company, Accor Hospitality, has 4,000 hotels in 90 countries around the world.
The economy-tier hotel on Bencoolen Street was offering its rooms at an opening rate of $148 which is valid till May.
In fact, Mr Gerard Guillouet, Accor's vice-president for Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, was upbeat enough yesterday to proclaim loudly: 'If this hotel does not perform, no other hotel in Singapore will.'
He said Ibis will be able to tap on growing demand from corporate business travellers who are downgrading, as well as leisure travellers on a tight budget.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of the Straits Times.
S'pore hotels upbeat
By Lim Wei Chean
PHOTO: IBIS SINGAPORE
View more photos
IT IS not the best of times, but the first of 10 new hotels to come up in Singapore this year threw open its doors in a grand official opening ceremony yesterday.
Hundreds of guests turned up for The Ibis on Bencoolen's launch event, and were feted with champagne and local delicacies such as chilli crab, bak kut teh and char kway teow before a ceremony in which the hotel's main signpost was turned on.
Opening this year
Opening in the first quarter, or already opened:
Capella Singapore: 111 rooms
... more
The 538-room, three-star hotel - and the other nine which will open here this year - were planned for in better times, when Singapore was setting tourism arrival records at breakneck pace, and fears were looming of a room crunch.
Those fears never materialised: Just 12 months ago, hotel occupancy was in the high 80 per cent to 90 per cent range. It has now dropped to the high 70s to 80s range.
But despite the tourism downturn and recession, the hotels are all confident of doing well, and say they have drawn up strategies to cope.
The Ibis on Bencoolen, for instance, has struck pay dirt since its 'soft opening' on Feb 12, and has been almost full since.
The hotel said it is depending on its international brand name and cheap rooms to make it a winner. The chain's parent company, Accor Hospitality, has 4,000 hotels in 90 countries around the world.
The economy-tier hotel on Bencoolen Street was offering its rooms at an opening rate of $148 which is valid till May.
In fact, Mr Gerard Guillouet, Accor's vice-president for Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, was upbeat enough yesterday to proclaim loudly: 'If this hotel does not perform, no other hotel in Singapore will.'
He said Ibis will be able to tap on growing demand from corporate business travellers who are downgrading, as well as leisure travellers on a tight budget.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of the Straits Times.
