JAYAKARTA Hotels & Resorts has rolled out a new budget hotel brand, J Hotel by Jayakarta, with the first two properties set to open in Bali next year.
Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of The Jayakarta Group’s 60th anniversary celebration in Jakarta, the company’s president commissary, Lukman Pudjiadi, said: “Looking at the trend of Indonesian and international tourists today, we see more travellers willing to pay between 400,000 rupiah (US$42.50) and 500,000 rupiah per night, including tax and service, plus breakfast for two.
“Therefore, we are not shy to follow other hotel chains, such as Santika Indonesia Hotels & Resorts, which started (in the budget segment) earlier with its Amaris brand.”
The first two J Hotels will be situated in Bali’s Legian district; one will have 151 rooms, while the other will offer 138 rooms. Construction on both properties is scheduled to commence in October, and is expected to be completed by June 2013.
Other J Hotels are in the pipeline in Semarang, Jakarta, Tanjung Enim (South Sumatra), Banjarmasin and Bandung.
Meanwhile, Lukman noted that not all investors were interested in budget properties. Two of the group’s upcoming hotel projects in Ubud (launching this year) and Karawang (scheduled to open next year) will bear the Jayakarta brand.
“We offered to build J Hotels (instead), but the owner of Jayakarta Karawang said his Japanese and South Korean guests would not want to stay in a budget hotel. Similarly, the Jayakarta Ubud owner wanted a combination of hotel and villa,” he explained.
