E&O hospitality activities set to rise this year

PROPERTY developer Eastern and Oriental Bhd (E&O) sees its hospitality activities in Penang receiving a boost this year with the reopening of its four-star Lone Pine Hotel along Batu Ferringgi.

The company, which is synonymous with the 125-year-old Eastern & Oriental Hotel (E&O Hotel) in George Town, is also expecting this hotel's extension, known as the Annexe, to be completed in 2012.

E&O managing director Datuk Terry Tham said the 50-room Lone Pine, which closed its doors for a RM50 million refurbishment in April last year, will reopen by the fourth quarter of the year.



"The refurbished property will boast of a spa, restaurants, a bigger pool and upgraded rooms," Tham told a media briefing in Penang yesterday.
Also present was E&O executive director Eric Chan.

Tham was in Penang to launch E&O Property Development's Quayside Seafront Resort Condominiums.

The upscale project is a component of the Seri Tanjung Pinang waterfront development, which is being tagged by the developer as the new millionaires' enclave on Penang island.

On the Annexe, Tham said the 15-storey extension, when completed in 18 to 20 months, will see the E&O Hotel offering an additional 139 guest suites along with retail, food and beverage components as well as a spa.

"The podium area will have more extensive meeting and banqueting facilities and we will also offer a bigger pool," he added.

Meanwhile, ahead of its official launch, the Quayside condominium project has already received some 100 bookings from both foreigners and locals for the more than 300 units in the first block, Chan said.

Conceptualised by international achitects WATG, Quayside's point-block design comprises five high-rise towers and two low-rise blocks.

By Business Times (by Marina Emmanuel)