THE Peninsula Hotels’ two new projects in Yangon and London are in the design phase, with the former expected to open in three years and the latter in five.
The Yangon property is the former headquarters of the Burma Railway Building, an elegant colonial building and one of the most distinctive buildings in Yangon. Plans are to preserve and restore the existing structure and redevelop it into an 80-room Peninsula hotel.
The Peninsula London is being developed on a 1.5-acre site opposite the gardens of Buckingham Palace and overlooking Hyde Park.
Details are still sketchy, with The Peninsula Hotels’ regional vice president and general manager, The Peninsula Hong Kong, Rainy Chan, in Singapore for a media update, saying the group is consolidating the design concepts for the Yangon project and designing the facade for the London hotel, a new-build, which in London requires a lot of approvals at each stage.
On which other destination gaps the group hopes to fill, Chan said: “In terms of global profile, our need was more in Europe, as we didn’t have a presence until The Peninsula Paris opened (in August last year). London will continue to build on our global portfolio.
“So now we have six properties in Asia, three in the US and six in Europe. I wouldn’t say there’s a tremendous gap, rather, a desire or a wish to have a hotel in India eventually. Our chairman (Michael Kadoorie) and his family lived in India before they moved to Asia and they always have a strong emotion tied to India. India and Shanghai were his roots. He waited 15 years for Shanghai.”
She added: “We are selective; all our hotels are owned and managed by us, so it’s a huge investment while commitment of resources is another (factor). We are a small hotel company and we take things slowly. With two projects under our belt, we’re quite busy.”
