China: Ascott has signed contracts for four properties in top-tier Chinese cities, with a combined total of 583 units.
Ascott Beijing (opening 2016), Citadines Jinxiu Shanghai (opening 2019) and Citadines Putuo Shanghai (opening 2019) will boost Ascott’s portfolio to 11 properties in Beijing and seven properties in Shanghai. Ascott is also bringing its Citadines brand to Dalian, a major port city in north-east China, with the management of Citadines Gugeng Dalian (opening 2016).
The addition of the new properties brings Ascott’s Chinese portfolio to 14,300 units in 80 properties across 24 cities.
Ascott CEO Lee Chee Koon said: “China is Ascott’s largest market with the most number of properties given the tremendous growth opportunities for serviced residences in the country. Chinese domestic travellers now take up 30 percent of our business in China. In August, Ascott invested in Tujia.com International (Tujia), China’s largest online apartment sharing platform, to expand in the O2O (Offline-to-Online and Online-to- Offline) business. Our serviced residences in China under our three internationally recognised brands – Ascott, Citadines and Somerset – are now available on Tujia’s website for booking, expanding our reach to more customers online.”
“This collaboration will also fuel our performance at properties beyond China as we plan to have our serviced residences outside China available on Tujia’s website in 2016. With the rapid increase in Chinese travellers overseas and Ascott’s presence in many of the tourist and business cities worldwide, our penetration of the Chinese market is expected to contribute to Ascott’s business globally. Ascott will continue to seek innovative ways to scale up our presence and build up our capabilities to ensure we remain the top choice accommodation for our guests when they travel,” added Lee.
Kevin Goh, Ascott’s managing director of North Asia, said: “Since Ascott entered China more than 15 years ago, we have built a strong reputation for our award-winning brands and the value we provide to property owners – through our expertise in design, operations, global sales and marketing as well as our experience in managing properties worldwide. This year, we have so far secured 14 management contracts for over 2,500 units in Beijing, Dalian, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Nantong, Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuxi and Xiamen. To drive Ascott’s growth in China, we are accelerating our expansion across the tier-1 and 2 cities while increasing our business development in the growth cities of the central and west China. We will expand through investments, management contracts, strategic alliances and franchises. We are on track and confident of achieving Ascott’s target of 20,000 units by 2020.”
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