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Heeton Holdings eyes to expand its hospitality business with the introduction of its new Luma brand hotels to more markets, reported The Straits Times.
Together with three joint venture (JV) partners, Heeton opened the first Luma Concept Hotel last month in Hammersmith, London. The property firm holds a 60 percent stake in the JV.
According to Heeton chief executive officer Eric Teng, the firm is “test-bedding” the new Luma Concept Hotel, which is short of the usual facilities like bar, pool and restaurant, but is focused on providing four-star-quality rooms.
“From our in-house research, we found that guests either don’t use the facilities much or they are out of the hotel most of the time. We recognise a gap to fill – where a lot of people want good-quality rooms but limited services usage,” noted Teng.
The eighth hotel property held by the Heeton-led consortium, Luma Concept Hotel has 89 rooms, bringing the hotel portfolio to 1,048 rooms in Thailand, Britain and Japan.
Teng hopes the hospitality segment will account for a significant portion of the firm’s revenue.
Notably, 14.6 percent of Heeton’s revenue in 2016 is accounted for by the hospitality business at around S$9.8 million, up from S$5.8 million during the previous year.
“As a listed firm, we are always looking for recurring income, and hospitality is ideal partly because it’s a cash-flow business,” said Teng, who is confident that hospitality business provides good prospects for the firm.
Heeton ventured into the hospitality sector in 2011, with the acquisition of the Mercure Hotel Pattaya in Thailand.
It has rapidly expanded since then, buying three hotels in 2016 – Holiday Inn Express Hotel Manchester City Centre, ibis Hotel Gloucester in Britain as well as a hotel building in Sapporo City, Japan.
This article was edited by Denise Djong.
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