Come 2019, Sentosa will soon be home to three more properties by hospitality provider Far East Hospitality (FEH), equivalent to a total of 839 keys.
Making up the three properties are the Village Hotel at Sentosa and The Outpost Hotel, both of which will open in 1Q2019, while The Barracks Hotel is slated to open in 3Q2019.
FEH’s upcoming hotels come on the back of an announcement by Singapore’s senior minister of state for trade and industry, Chee Hong Tat, of plans to reshape the entire Sentosa island.
An expansion of the Village brand, Village Hotel at Sentosa will be the brand’s flagship with 605 keys, including family rooms that each come with two ensuite bathrooms and two sets of amenities.
There will be a pool deck with themed pool zones, gardens, and outdoor spaces for rest, recreation and events. Pools include the Children’s Play Pool, Lazy River Pool, Adventure Pool, and the highlight, Pamukkale Pool.
The Pamukkale Pool is an infinity pool overlooking the seaside. For large-scale celebrations and meetings, guests will be able to host parties of up to 480 at The Commune.
The Outpost Hotel – a new brand to Far East Hospitality’s portfolio – will be an “adult-only” property. It will offer 193 guestrooms, alongside a rooftop pool and bar, as well as the Revelry Hall for wedding celebrations.
The Barracks Hotel – the smallest of the three – will be designed for travellers looking for “old school luxury, exquisite service and timeless charm”. Housed in a conserved colonial building, the hotel will offer 40 rooms, and rooms on the ground floor offer direct access to the pool and jacuzzi.
The hotels, set in the Palawan area of Sentosa, will be located two minutes from the Imbiah monorail station and near the Universal Studios Singapore.
Ctrip, which says it sees 40 per cent of traffic opening its app in non-homebase destinations, is on a drive to make the “super app” the only one that users will use when they travel overseas.
In a video interview on the sidelines of ITB Asia last week, Victor Tseng, Ctrip’s vice president corporate affairs, told TTG Asia: “We’ve been seeing a tremendous diversification in how users are using Ctrip. Now they’re using Ctrip throughout their whole itinerary. That’s been an important initiative for us to continue to push, particularly when users are travelling overseas.”
Ctrip is expanding its capabilities for users overseas, so they don’t have to open another app to seek the right information, user reviews or booking tools.
Issues such as a slowdown in China’s economy, foreign currency fluctuations and Sino-US trade tiff are creating “a macro overhang”, Tseng admitted, but pointed to the recent Golden Week which delivered around nine per cent growth as a reason to be optimistic.
“When you look at nine per cent relative to other parts of the world in terms of travel spend, that’s still very, very good growth,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ctrip’s ambitions to expand and tap global market sources through Trip.com are “making very good inroads”, Tseng said. Currently, the key markets Trip.com is focusing on include South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Australia and Russia.
Localisation is one of the ways Trip.com is taking to attract users to the site. In Singapore, for instance, the team works with local hotels to target staycations, which Singaporeans love.
Watch the full video to hear the full initiatives Ctrip is taking to stay ahead in the global industry here.