Airline News and Hotel Updates: Ascott

Friday 28 October 2011

Ascott Signs New Serviced Residence in Malaysia

Ascott has been awarded a contract to manage its first serviced residence in Iskandar, the southern gateway of Malaysia.

The new 204-unit Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar is scheduled to open in the Nusajaya flagship economic zone in 2013.

The contract was awarded by Nusajaya Consolidated, a joint venture between established Malaysian developers United Malayan Land Bhd and UEM Land Berhad.

Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar is located within Nusajaya, home to developments such as EduCity which houses several world-class university campuses, Medini which encompasses business and leisure districts, the Southern Industrial and Logistics Clusters and Afiat Healthpark.

The serviced residence is within walking distance to Kota Iskandar, the Johor State?s new administrative centre. It is a 20-minute drive from the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link and 25 minutes away from Johor's Senai International Airport. It is also easily accessible via the soon to be opened coastal highway which links Nusajaya to the main Johor city centre and the Johor-Singapore Causeway.

Travellers can enjoy excellent connectivity to other parts of the Iskandar region via the water transport terminal, bus terminal and light rail transit station situated in the property?svicinity.

As part of the luxurious waterfront development of Puteri Harbour, Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar is near quayside lifestyle stores, fine dining restaurants, alfresco caf?s and an indoor theme park featuring popular children?s characters such as Hello Kitty, Thomas and Friends, Barney and Bob the Builder.

Furthermore, it is just 10 minutes away from the first Legoland theme park in Asia which is expected to open in 2012.

Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar will offer apartments that range from studios to three-bedroom units that come fully furnished with modern amenities.

Facilities will include a gymnasium, swimming pool, restaurant and residents? lounge.

Mr Alfred Ong, Ascott?s Managing Director for Southeast Asia and Australia, said, ?Ascott expanded into Cyberjaya and Petaling Jaya earlier this year and we are pleased to add another city to our Malaysian network. Our entry into Iskandar further strengthens Ascott?s leadership position as the largest international serviced residence owner and operator in Malaysia. We currently operate five properties with close to 700 apartment units. With this new property in Iskandar, we now have a strong growth pipeline of more than 900 units which are scheduled to open in Malaysia over the next five years. In total, this brings our Malaysian portfolio to over 1,600 units. We will continue to look for opportunities to expand our footprint in Malaysia.?

Besides Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar, Ascott plans to open Citadines Uplands Kuching in 2012, Ascott Sentral Kuala Lumpur in 2013, Citadines D'Pulze Cyberjaya in 2014 and Somerset Damansara Uptown Petaling Jaya in 2016.

Ascott currently operates Ascott Kuala Lumpur, Somerset Ampang Kuala Lumpur, Somerset Seri Bukit Ceylon Kuala Lumpur and two properties for corporate lease in Malaysia.

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Ascott Opens Third Citadines in Xi'an, China

Ascott has opened its third Citadines serviced residence in Xi?an, China.

The 138-unit Citadines Xingqing Palace Xi?an is a five-minute walk to the historic Xingqing Palace Park, a popular tourist attraction built on the ruins of the palace dating back to the Tang dynasty. The serviced residence is also close to many shopping and entertainment outlets such as the Lifeng International Shopping Square, Jiaoda Computer Mall and Hongye Cinema.

Each of the studios to two-bedroom apartments has a fully-equipped kitchen, an ensuite bathroom and separate work and sleeping areas.

The serviced residence offers 24-hour reception, 24-hour security, meeting rooms, WiFi zones and business support services

For recreation, guests can make use of the fully equipped gymnasium, sauna, steam room or yoga room.

Residents also have the flexibility to choose from services including grocery shopping, laundry, dry cleaning and meal delivery to customise their stay experience.

To celebrate the opening of Citadines Xingqing Palace Xi?an, Ascott is offering introductory rates which start from RMB 350 for a studio. The rates are valid until 31 December 2011. Terms and conditions apply.

Mr Lee Chee Koon, Ascott?s Managing Director for North Asia, said, ?Xi?an has immense potential for serviced residences. As a key economic hub in Central West China, foreign direct investments have been growing with many multinational companies such as IBM, Intel, Fujitsu and NEC setting up their national R&D centres in the city. Xi?an is also a famous tourist destination attracting millions of foreign and domestic travellers every year with its many historic sites. The opening of our third Citadines in Xi?an will enable us to cater to the strong demand for accommodation from business and leisure travellers. Moving forward, high growth cities such as Xi?an will remain an important market for Ascott as we seek to expand our China portfolio to 12,000 units by 2015.?

Ascott currently also operates Citadines Central Xi?an (162 units) and Citadines Gaoxin Xi?an (251 units) while Somerset Gaoxin Xi?an (233 units) is expected to open in 2013. All four properties are in prime locations in the Hi-Tech Development Zone or the business district of Xi?an and are close to many tourist spots.

In China, Ascott has about 7,000 apartment units in 38 properties across 16 cities.

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