KUCHING: 360 Hotels Group, a company that specialises in the conceptualisation, construction and conversion, as well as management of hotels, is currently in the process of adding four more properties to its managing line of business.

While two of these properties will be located in Kuching, the remaining two will be located in Kuala Lumpur and Brunei.

Established in 2007 and in a short span of just two years, it managed to secure 20 years contracts to fully run two hotel properties in Kuching, namely the 360 Boutique Hotel located at Hock Lee Center and 360 Xpress Citycenter located at Song Thian Cheok Road.

In 2010, the group undertook a massive conversion project of the existing 99 rooms 360 Boutique Hotel to a 277 rooms 360 Urban Resort Hotel. The 180 units of brand new add-on rooms in the East Tower of Hock Lee Center are slated for completion next month.

360 Hotels Group partner Steve Ng Thian Yew told The Borneo Post that the new image hotel would be a grade above but complimentary to the current 360 Hotels operations in the West Tower. “Renovation of the new tower is so expensive that we have to change it to an urban resort concept. It will feature luxurious rooms and suites in a lush urban resort settings.”

He also revealed that the group’s on-going projects included the 290 rooms 360 Waterfront Hotel at Plaza Merdeka Kuching, a brand new 12 storey 150 rooms 360 Xpress Hotel at Jalan Nipah Kuching, the 72 units 360 fully managed luxury residences at Ong Sum Ping Road in Brunei as well as the 300 rooms 360 MCB Plaze Hotel at Changkat Raja Chulan in Kuala Lumpur.

Moving forward, the group was scheduled to manage four new properties by 2013 each with a contract duration of 20 years. “We are a constantly evolving hotel management group with a big difference and it will be reflected in the upcoming different themes of our 360 hotels. The successful collaboration with the respective property owners are the key drivers of our success,” said Ng.

On the financial front, the humble Ng also pointed out that ‘integrity’ and ‘trust’ were the key factors. “We are very conservative on the revenue side, anything that we present to the owners will always exceed expectations. We want the owners to make the decision based on something we are very comfortable that we will be able to deliver, anything more will be a bonus for them.”

“We build the property at cost and only charge between five and six per cent management fees depending on the size of the projects. Backed by our strong credibility we are able to build at a 30 per cent discount to the market cost,” he revealed.

Based on the current operations, property owners were seeing a return on investment (ROI) of between 11 and 16 per cent at room rates that are much lower than the market. 360 Group earns about seven and a half per cent of the total ROI.

“Our thinking is the same with the owners, grow the revenue as much as possible while minimising expenses and spurring on the gross operating profits. Basically, if the owners don’t reap the benefits, then automatically we do not gain as well. Our operational breakeven is easily below 20 per cent because of our operating model and we run a very lean operation,” Ng explained.

At the same time, the group is also anticipating the current mega-project, Plaza Merdeka shopping centre to be the main revenue generator for its 360 Waterfront Hotel. The shopping mall comprises a built up area of 559,000 square feet while the hotel takes the remaining 169,000 square feet.

The construction of Plaza Merdeka and 360 Waterfront Hotel were expected to be completed by June 2012 and first quarter of 2013, respectively. “I believe by the time we are open for business, there will be more hotels coming into that area and slowly, Plaza Merdeka will be one of the latest tourist attractions,” said Ng, who is also the managing director for Plaza Merdeka Holdings Sdn Bhd.

“Apart from this, there will be more projects coming up along the way. We cannot reveal anything at the moment until we get our approvals from the respective parties. 360 Group is constantly on the look out for new faces, ideas and spaces every day. With this in mind, we hope to be able to take the company to the next level soon,” he concluded.

Source: Borneo Post Online