Ambassador Hotel Ltd (國賓大飯店集團), one of Taiwan’s listed hotels, launched its first budget hotel in Taipei yesterday, aiming to reach its break-even point within seven years by eyeing independent travelers from Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia.
The hotel — Amba Taipei Ximending (台北西門町意舍) — will begin its one-month trial operations on Saturday, with formal operations scheduled to begin on Feb. 23.
“Located in Ximending, a place full of rich cultural and tourism resources, we hope the hotel can attract tourists between the ages of 30 and 45,” Amba president Teresa Huang (黃絢霞) told a media briefing.
The increasing number of independent travelers to Taiwan and the success of Just Sleep (捷絲旅), a budget hotel launched by Formosa International Hotels Corp (FIHC, 晶華國際酒店集團) in 2009, gave Ambassador Hotel the inspiration to launch a new budget-conscious brand.
In 2010, Ambassador Hotel signed a contract with Eslite Corp (誠品) to rent one of Eslite’s properties in Ximending in downtown Taipei to build its first budget hotel.
Ambassador Hotel and China Prosperity Development Corp (中欣開發), a subsidiary of China Steel Corp (中鋼), invested a total of NT$350 million (US$11.67 million) for Amba Taipei Ximending, with Ambassador Hotel holding a 60 percent stake and China Prosperity holding the remaining 40 percent share.
Huang said the occupancy rate for the hotel’s rooms would reach 70 to 80 percent in the first year based on a conservative estimate, while most of the hotels located in Ximending have an 80 to 90 percent occupancy rate.
“With an average occupancy rate of 75 percent and an average room price of NT$3,200, the hotel aims at reaching break-even point, which means to earn back the total investment amount, in seven years,” Huang said.
Even though the tourism sector is poised to benefit from closer relations with China after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) won a second term in office on Saturday, Huang said Chinese tourists would not be Amba’s primary target, as most travelers from China still travel in tour groups.
Huang said she expected tourists from Hong Kong and Macau would make up about 40 percent of the hotel’s customers in the initial stage, followed by 20 to 30 percent from Singapore and Malaysia.
Ambassador Hotel said it would keep looking for appropriate locations to build more hotels under the Amba brand.
The second Amba Taipei hotel is expected to open in 2014. The location would be near Songshan Railway Station, involving potential investors such as Ambassador Hotel and Ruentex Group (潤泰集團), the Amba president said.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
RSS