Singapore: Ascott has signed strategic partnerships with developers in in China, Japan and Thailand, and has added more than 5,000 units to its pipeline in Q1 2018.
In China, Ascott has partnered with Riverside Group, to launch serviced residences in Zhejiang, Chongqing and future riverside themed towns in other key cities. This strategic partnership will start with two serviced residences with a total of 350 units in Zhejiang and Chongqing. It follows Ascott’s contract with Riverside Group to manage the 190-unit Ascott Riverside Garden Beijing which opened in November last year.
In Japan, Ascott has partnered with the listed Japanese real estate company, NTT Urban Development Corporation – a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation – to jointly explore serviced residence opportunities in Japan. The partners are currently working on two projects in Fukuoka and Yokohama.
In Thailand Ananda Development, has expanded into the serviced residence business through its strategic alliance with Ascott. The first four properties under the collaboration – Somerset Rama 9 Bangkok, Ascott Embassy Sathorn Bangkok, Ascott Thonglor Bangkok and one more property in Sukhumvit 8 – will offer close to 1,500 apartment units in Bangkok when they open between 2020 and 2021.
Kevin Goh, Ascott’s CEO, said: “Forming strategic cooperation with well-established developers is one of Ascott’s key strategies for growth. From Singapore, to Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan and the Middle East, the alliances we have forged allow us to gain access to a variety of large scale, quality projects to fast-track Ascott’s expansion and broaden our reach to even more gateway cities. Having some of the biggest industry players choose to partner us speaks volume of Ascott’s reputation and expertise in managing award-winning serviced residences globally for over 30 years.”
“Leveraging Ascott’s global network of close to 100,000 corporate clients, we will create significant cross-marketing opportunities across the globe for our properties to maximise returns for our partners. We are confident of achieving our global target of 80,000 units this year, and to double our portfolio to 160,000 units by 2023. We will continue to scale up through investments, strategic alliances, management contracts, leases and franchises,” he added.
In addition to the 1,607 units that expanded its portfolio in January and February, Ascott is adding management and lease agreements for another 14 properties with about 3,400 apartment units across 10 cities in China, Japan, Thailand and Indonesia this quarter. This includes a lease agreement with department store chain, Takashimaya Company Limited, to operate the first Citadines Apart’hotel in Osaka.
Scheduled to progressively open from this year to 2021, these newly signed properties will mark Ascott’s entry into Dongguan and Huizhou in China’s fast-developing Greater Bay Area, as well as deepening its presence in the Chinese cities of Dalian, Haikou, Hong Kong, Nantong and Shanghai, Osaka in Japan, Bangkok in Thailand, and Bandung in Indonesia.
Goh added: “Serviced residences are in high demand in many parts of the world. In the first quarter of 2018, we have added over 5,000 units to Ascott’s portfolio – more than 300% growth on a year-on-year basis. China remains our top source market globally with the Chinese constituting almost a quarter of our customers and growing. Our latest expansion with eight new contracts across seven cities in China will further boost Ascott’s dominance in the market.”
