SINGAPORE, 20 October 2020: CapitaLand’s wholly-owned lodging business unit, Ascott Limited (Ascott) has secured more than 2,100 new units across 12 properties in China in the last three months.
With these new units, Ascott has added a record high of more than 5,600 units across 26 properties, which represent a 60% year-on-year growth in units in China.
Globally, Ascott has sealed new contracts for more than 3,700 units across 22 properties; about 60% of which are in China and the rest are in various countries, including Austria and Indonesia.
Ascott also sees strong recovery in China on the operations front. Its apartment revenue in September 2020 performed close to 95% of that in September 2019.
The group credits its resilience to long-stay corporate guests and China’s strong domestic leisure travel market that have enabled Ascott to achieve robust occupancy rates. In September, close to 75% of its guests in China were domestic travellers. During the same period, Ascott’s properties in tier-one cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen achieved an average occupancy rate of over 86%. In Chongqing, despite facing the pandemic and the worst floods in decades, Ascott Raffles City Chongqing achieved a high occupancy rate of 80% in August 2020.
“In 2020, we have signed more than 9,300 units in 48 properties worldwide while expanding in China at a record rate. We are also planting new flags in markets such as Austria and Indonesia,” said CapitaLand’s chief executive officer for lodging and Ascott CEO, Kevin Goh.
With the 12 new properties secured in China, Ascott will make inroads into three new Chinese cities, Baotou, Ningbo and Yantai, while strengthening its presence in Changchun, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Xi’an. These properties are slated to open between December 2020 and 2026.
