Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts last week broke ground for Shangri-La Hotel, Putian, an urban resort scheduled to open in 4Q2020 as the brand’s third address in China’s Fujian province after Fuzhou and Xiamen.

Shangri-La Hotel, Putian will have 247 guestrooms offering panoramic views of the city and Yanshou river. On-site facilities include a lobby lounge, restaurants, spa, fitness centre, swimming pool and a 1,200m² ballroom.

Adjacent to the hotel, a 3,500m² village-style plaza developed by the government for culture and tourism will offer a mix of restaurants, bars and retail shops.

Shangri-La Asia CEO Lim Beng Chee said: “Putian has remarkable economic potential for both business and tourism, which presents a great opportunity for the group.”

Absolute Hotel Services is ramping up its portfolio in Thailand with the signing of a U hotel in Hua Hin, scheduled to open in early 2020.

With a private beach location on 1.4ha of land between Hua Hin Soi 1-3, the U Hua Hin resort will feature 132 rooms and villas across superior, deluxe and pool villa types.

Facilities will include a beachfront pool bar and lounge, a large swimming pool, a specialty restaurant, meeting rooms for seminars and events, a fitness centre and a library/business centre.

Tour and activity booking platform BeMyGuest’s total equity funding has increased to S$11.5 million (US$8.5 million) after raising an undisclosed amount from its Series A funding led by Raffles Venture Partners and technology investor Koh Boon Hwee.

SPRING SEEDS Capital, the investment subsidiary of government agency SPRING (Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board) Singapore, Chan Brothers Group, travel industry investors Meng Xiong Kuok and Leland Kwee also participated in the round.

“This Series A is an affirmation of our vision and validation of our business model. We are certain that the quality of our technology, content and customer service will take us through the next phase of growth with an extremely robust partnerships pipeline going live in 2017 and beyond,” said BeMyGuest CEO & founder Clement Wong.

Last year saw the company shift its focus onto its B2B business, putting it on track to reach the target of S$100 million in sales through partnerships with B2C travel companies.

With over 500 distribution partnerships including with Ctrip, Ticket Monster, Tink Labs, Yatra, Tuniu, Alitrip and Travel.jp, BeMyGuest connects players in such key growth markets as China, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and India with over 4,500 suppliers of over 25,000 activities, attractions, day tours, ground transfers and events in over 900 destinations.

“By investing in BeMyGuest, we continue to develop and expand our travel ecosystem alongside capturing different market segments, as we move towards the future of travel that is more efficient and accessible to our customers,” said Anthony Chan, managing director, Chan Brothers Group.

In addition to recognising the startup’s “highly scalable technology platform”, Ted Tan, deputy chief executive, SPRING Singapore and chairman, SPRING SEEDS Capital, said: “Not only does BeMyGuest contribute (to) upgrading the technological capabilities of our local travel agents, it will also increase tourist arrivals by marketing our local attractions.”

Alongside this Series A funding is the launch of BeMyGuest Labs (www.bmglabs.com), a platform allowing suppliers and resellers to leverage BeMyGuest’s distribution network through travel technology solutions. These include supplier inventory push API, multilingual pull API, white labels, B2B agents marketplace, instant confirmation, e-tickets and revenue management.

Marriott International’s Edition collection will make its Japan debut in 2020 with openings in Tokyo’s Ginza and Toranomon, both conceived by Ian Schrager, hailed the father of the boutique hotel concept.

Located just off Chuo Street, the main shopping street in Ginza, the Tokyo Edition, Ginza will be a newly built 13-storey standalone property with 80 guestrooms. Construction is expected to start in May 2018, with an opening planned for March 2020.

Artist impression of Tokyo Edition, Ginza

The 200-key Tokyo Edition Toranomon will be built within a redevelopment of the former Pastoral Building, a mixed-use project comprising offices, residences and a medical center. Located in Minato ward, the hotel site is walking distance from Kamiyacho Station and Roppongi-Itchome Station and a short drive to Toranomon Station and Tokyo Station. Site excavation work has started.

The properties will result from separate agreements with Mori Trust, the largest owner and franchisee of Marriott International hotels in Japan.