Vietnam: Oakwood Residence Hanoi will welcome its first guests at the end of September opening, according to the property’s general manager.
GM Humayoon (Tom) Shaikhzadeh said the property will have an indoor pool with retractable roof, and will opweratoie its own restaurant: “For the F&B, we just feel that there are quality establishments out there, but obviously when you run it yourself you have control over the food quality and flexibility in terms of pricing the package to entice more corporate customers.”
Apartments feature Samsung smart TVs, Nespresso coffee machines and balconies: “We have some unique products as far as that goes, but are also catering more to the market here: absolutely every single apartment has a bathtub – even a studio. Most hotels unfortunately are older build and may or may not have a bathtub, and there’s not much you can do. In our apartments every one of them is outfitted with that.”
He suggested September 26 as a possible soft opening date: “There have been some interested parties and we’ve committed that they can move in at the end of September. It’s probably going to be very low key for the soft opening and we’ll have the hard opening a couple months later.”
“I believe this segment is heating up. In Saigon, we definitely noticed that and I think as a business model serviced apartments offer great value to the customers. I was a hotelier for 30-odd years and got exposed to serviced apartments, and I’m beginning to see the value proposition it offers travellers. Asian travel is often a multigenerational proposition: you’ve often got grandparents and grandchildren and the whole family staying. Offering a larger living space and kitchen really caters to this market very well,” he added.</p
