The four-star Maytower Hotel & Serviced Apartments is projecting RM7 million
in sales in its first financial year and increase it by 20-30 per cent next year
MAYTOWER Hotel & Serviced Apartments, owned by Malaysia Land Properties Sdn
Bhd, aims to break even in its current financial
year ending March 31 2009, closing
the year with 70 per cent occupancy and an average room
rate of RM180.
The four-star RM100 million property on Jalan Munshi Abdullah, which opened in January
2008, has been enjoying brisk sales so far, said Maytower assistant general manager
Chen Hon Kit.
Speaking to Business Times recently, he said Maytower is projecting RM7 million
in sales in its first financial
year.
"We hope to increase it by 20 per cent to 30 per cent next year through various
promotional activities. The first year of operation is always a testing period for
every new hotel," Chen said.
Maytower, which offers 179 hotel rooms and 435 serviced apartments, is enjoying
a good clientele mix comprising corporate, government and travel agents.
It is hoping that market conditions would stabilise soon allowing it room to grow
the business.
"The next six months will be challenging for us," Chen said.
He said that Maytower has been absorbing rising cost instead of passing it on to
its clients. "That's our stand. We are playing a cautious role by holding back on
our cost," added Chen.
Nevertheless, he said Maytower may increase room rates by up to eight per cent effective
January 1 but will at the same time raise the quality of services to match the higher
rates.
Maytower hotel's standard and deluxe rooms, and executive suites, are currently
offered at RM200, RM250 and RM550 a room a night respectively, without taxes.
It also offers studio and two-bedroom apartment units for rental for RM5,500 and
RM7,500 per month respectively.
"We are leasing back some of the apartment units from the owners for rental purposes.
"We will maximise on what we have now but are looking at several avenues to improve
the hotel's operation such as injection of new services and facilities. Our immediate
plan is to increase seminar room capacity from 100 pax to 120," Chen said.
He said that with the government cutting cost, Maytower will not put its eggs in
one basket, thus the company will diversify and look for long-term clients, who
will stay at the hotel for three to six months.
He said this is where the executive suites will play an important role.
"We are looking at strengthening our markets and positioning ourself as a strong corporate hotel. But having said that, competition is really high where we have
some hoteliers trying to match our rates.
"Our concept here is that we do not want to drop rates and go into a price war.
What we can provide is improve our quality of services," Chen noted.
He said since Maytower is relatively a new brand in the market, it would be an even
bigger challenge for the hotel operator to stay afloat in the industry.
"We are not a standalone brand. We are part of the Dorsett International chain,
which is synonymous with quality and service," Chen said.