SILVERNEEDLE Hospitality’s upper midscale hotel brand, Country Comfort, is offering a new franchising model, passing on all savings from negotiating the lowest possible costs for all furniture, fittings and equipment (FF&E) with its suppliers directly to franchisees.
The group’s Singapore-based executive vice president for brands, Sean Flynn, said: “As a franchiser, we take a long-term view of aligning our economic interests with the franchisees’ so we will be one of the few hotel franchisers that will not make any money off the franchisee’s capital expenditure.”
The FF&E cost of a Country Comfort room will be 25 per cent lower than the average FF&E cost of a midscale hotel room, according to the 2013/2014 HVS Hotel Development Cost Survey.
Quality fittings in the Country Comfort franchise include the SilverNeedle DreamWeave Sleep System comprising the highest quality pillow-top mattress with gel-infused memory foam, Egyptian cotton 300 thread count per inch linens and a selection of premium pillows.
Guests will also enjoy an energising high pressure shower experience and quality bathware from the high-end German brand, Bravat.
Meanwhile, SilverNeedle aims to take Country Comfort, already established in Australia and New Zealand, to other parts of Asia-Pacific, specifically South-east Asia, North and South Asia. The group is in discussions with interested franchisees in Japan, Malaysia, Macau, Vietnam and Australia.
