Come autumn, two new players in the luxury hotel scene, Four Seasons and Landmark Mandarin Oriental, will bring more competition for the high-end business travel market.
Prudence Lui reports.
Frequent business travellers to Hong Kong will have two new accommodation options with the expected opening of the 396-room Four Seasons and the 113-room Landmark Mandarin Oriental later this year.
Both are billed as five-star plus and are the first deluxe hotels to be built in Hong Kong in 13 years. The last five-star hotel to open was the 216-room Ritz-Carlton in 1992.
Official opening dates have not yet been announced for either, but both properties are expected to be up and running when the peak tourist season and the Canton Trade Fair hit in autumn.
Expect to pay top-of-the-line rates as the Four Seasons plans to charge US$540 for a standard room with harbour view compared with US$501 at Mandarin Oriental and The Peninsula. These prices are comparable with those of New York, London and Paris.
The new properties are targeting top-ranking executive travellers and are expected to create more competition in the market for high-end guests.
Four Seasons regional director of marketing, Ms Jean Forrest, said: "Normally, the opening of a new hotel would have an impact on some existing hotels, but if business continues at present levels and if Hyatt Regency closes at the end of the year and the Mandarin closes for renovations, occupancy levels will continue to be very high. The pie is big enough for two more luxury hotels."
Four Seasons is part of the vast International Finance Centre complex and will perch directly over Hong Kong harbour. It is also connected to the concourse of Hong Kong Station from where the Airport Express Train goes on its high-speed run to the airport.
The Landmark Mandarin Oriental is part of the vast shopping complex of the same name. A "small grand hotel" carved out of an existing building, it is a few steps from the MTR Central Station.
Four Seasons claims to have already received "substantial bookings". General manager, Mr William Mackay, said: "These have been boosted by a number of prime business and international events to be held in Hong Kong later this year." Mr Mackay expects occupancy of about 80 per cent next year.
"We are positive about China's growing economic importance to the world and the opportunities that will be present for Hong Kong," he added.
The major global events that will help occupancies in the two new properties and other five-star hotels include the six-day World Trade Organization conference in December. Hong Kong's booming conventions and exhibitions market is also expected to draw the right crowd to the upmarket properties.
There were more than 21 million visitors to Hong Kong last year, and although the bulk of these were mainland leisure arrivals, there is a significant number of Chinese business travellers who now opt for luxury hotels.
Last year, highest-tariff hotels did an average of 83 per cent occupancy, according to figures from the hotel industry. The return of traditional markets such as North America, Japan and Europe after SARS and sluggish economies has helped. Mr Mackay said the timing could not be better for the opening of a property such as his.
Landmark Mandarin Oriental, which costs its investors US$110 million to build, will position itself differently from other properties. It will go for well-heeled patrons who want an exclusive boutique hotel.
General manager, Ms Susanne Hatje, said her business would include longhaul travellers spending holidays in Hong Kong. She expects 40 per cent of her clientele comprise business travellers.
Despite a revival in tourism and business travel, Hong Kong high-end room rates have not grown as swiftly as hoped. They are about 30 per cent below the crazy peaks reached in 1996 and 1997 just before the handover. Mr Mackay said the challenge for the industry in Hong Kong was to get room rates back up to where they belonged and where they made "more economic sense".
