Indonesia: Ascott has paid US$26 million for a 70 per cent stake in Indonesian hotel management company TAUZIA Hotel Management.
The move is Ascott’s first into the lodging segment beyond its core serviced apartment business and signals the company’s first major move in expanding its presence in to new sectors.
TAUZIA is one of Indonesia’s top five hotel operators. With its investment in TAUZIA, Ascott “will get an instant boost” of close to 20,000 units spanning 122 hotels across Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, half of which are under development.
Kevin Goh, Ascott’s CEO, said: “While Ascott’s serviced residences continue to see strong demand from expatriates and corporate travellers, we can capitalise on significant opportunities in the middle-class business hotel segment which is expanding at an unprecedented rate. This is brought on by the rise of the gig economy, super commuters, infrastructure builders, other project-based workers, and tech-savvy, self-sufficient, and value-conscious leisure travellers. With our investment in TAUZIA, we look forward to accessing this market, which is one of the fastest growing segments of the hotel industry.”
“We are also looking to expand beyond serviced residences where we can leverage Ascott’s over 30 years of experience managing properties globally. Scaling up the lodging business will allow Ascott to address these new segments of customers by widening our offering of products and services. Together with our earlier platform investments in Synergy Global Housing and Quest Apartment Hotels, increasing the scale of our business will allow us to achieve greater synergies in cross-selling and operational efficiencies as well as better customer outreach; essentially anchoring Ascott’s position as a dynamic chain player in the lodging industry,” added Goh.
