SMHCC makes its bid for the serviced apartments market
SM Hotels and Conventions Corp. (SMHCC) is keen on expanding its partnership with the Hong Kongbased Lanson Place Hospitality Management Ltd. (LPHML), if the Sy-led company fully embraces the extended-stay, serviced-apartment market, a growing segment of business travel.
Asked about the possibility of putting up more Lanson Places in the country, SMHCC Executive Vice President Peggy Angeles told a press conference on Tuesday, “Yes, why not? If we intend to expand our serviced-apartment portfolio, Lanson’s foot is already in the door. Of course, there are still a lot of discussions in the future [but] there are possibilities.” The press conference was held to herald the formal opening of Lanson Place Manila, the hospitality management’s first mixeduse, hybrid property that combines a hotel with serviced apartments.
She cited the Global Serviced Apartment Industry Report of 2023 showing the increasing market for such properties due to corporate travelers. “Close to 40 percent over 2022 were on project assignments, so their lengths of stay are longer [and] not your usual two-nighter,” she said. The dearth of such properties in Pasay helped cement SMHCC’S decision to go into the serviced apartment business with Lanson Place Hotel Management. SMHCC will also be constructing a 150-room serviced apartment behind Park Inn by Radisson Clark, which will be under the Radisson Hotel Group, said Angeles.
SMHCC has positioned the P3.6-billion Lanson Place Manila as a four-star property between its value chain, Park Inn by Radisson, and its five-star Conrad Manila. Aside from 247 hotel rooms, there are 143 serviced residences at Lanson Place, which is strategically located near the SM Group’s e-com office buildings and SMX Convention Center, making it ideal for business travelers and MICE (meetings incentives conventions exhibitions) tourists.
Businessmirror sources disclosed that 30 companies have already cornered the serviced apartments of Lanson Place and as such, the latter is holding off in opening these rooms to private individuals, who may want to have extended vacations in the country. “We saturated [our marketing] to the companies at the ecom buildings, so many of our guests are expats,” or foreign executives currently based in or visiting the country. Lanson Place requires a minimum 14-day stay in the serviced apartments.
Discussions on a possible partnership between the SM Group and LPHML began as early as 2014, explained Angeles, with “doors opened by common friends who had worked at Lanson Place Hong Kong”, but it was only in 2019 that a management contract was signed between the two parties.
The Covid-19 pandemic, however, delayed its construction with the scheduled opening moved from 2022 to 2024.
For his part, LPHML Chief Executive Officer Michael Hobson said the company is now focusing on mixed-used, hybrid projects such as Lanson Place Manila. “So, we need to select markets where there’s a demand, and the markets are not over supplied.” The company will be opening a hybrid property in Melbourne in July, “and it’s a fantastic opportunity that’s got a fantastic convention calendar. And it’s both good for business as well as leisure.”
LPHML has three serviced apartments in Hong Kong, one in Shanghai, one in Kuala Lumpur, and one Singapore. Other properties will be opening in the Greater Bay area in Hong Kong, “and I think we will also reestablish ourselves further in Shanghai and Beijing.”
The hospitality management firm started its “expansion journey” in 2019 but the pandemic halted this, said Hobson “But I think more importantly, you know, we’re a small family-owned company. We’re part of Wing Tai Holdings. We’ve never tried to be the biggest. We’re just trying to be the best. And so it’s important to us that we do everything properly.”
On the possibility of making more capital investments in new properties, Hobson said, “We will look at every opportunity on its own merit, and if we’re required to invest, we’ll take a very close look at that.”