It is now in talks to buy a piece of land in Kuala Lumpur and to manage hotels for their owners in the country.
"We have a few interested parties talking to us, including for us to purchase land for a Parkroyal hotel or Parkroyal Serviced Residences in Kuala Lumpur," Parkroyal Group executive director Wee Wei Ling told Business Times during a recent visit from Singapore here.
Parkroyal is well known in Australia and New Zealand, but in Malaysia it has been quiet. We were not ready to shout then, but we are now. <<
"There are also hotel (owners) who are asking us if we would like to manage their hotels," she said.
Parkroyal, which operates two hotels in Penang and Kuala Lumpur, is keen on representation in Sabah and Sarawak.
"Our plan is to be more aggressive for Parkroyal to go regional and secure management contracts," Wee said.
"Parkroyal is well known in Australia and New Zealand, but in Malaysia it has been quiet. We were not ready to shout then, but we are now," she added.
Regionally, it wants to expand into Japan, South Korea, China, Bangkok in Thailand and Indonesia.
"We would like to have a few more hotels in Malaysia either to buy, part-own or ideally to manage. We are keen on Sabah and Sarawak, especially Kota Kinabalu and Kuching ... Langkawi is also a possibility," she said.
Last year, its two Malaysian hotels contributed S$41 million (RM96 million) in revenue to the group, up eight per cent from 2006.
Apart from Malaysia, the group has two Parkroyal hotels in Singapore, one in Yangon in Myanmar, a Parkroyal Saigon and a management deal in Chengdu, China.
Positioning itself as a business hotel, Parkroyal will establish its brand in the cities before going into resort development.
However, the group will now expand if it would lead to a compromise in its quality, said Wee.
"We are going for quality rather than quantity. Otherwise (having too many) the product could deteriorate," she said.
Parkroyal's contribution to the group (minus Saigon and China) last year was 38 per cent of the net profit of S$88 million (RM206 million) recorded by Hotel Plaza.
The Parkroyal brand has been in Malaysia since 1989. Hotel Plaza, however, came into the picture in 2002, following the acquisition of both hotels.
Parkroyal Kuala Lumpur has 426 rooms and Parkroyal Penang 330 rooms.
Five other hotels owned by the group but managed by other brands include Sheraton Perth, Crowne Plaza Parramatta and Crowne Plaza Darling Harbour in Australia and Sheraton Suzhou Hotel & Towers, China and Sofitel, Hanoi.
By New Straits Times (by Vasantha Ganesan)
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