The Peninsula Group has plans for expansion. With nine locations around the world, Kwok said the five- to 10-year plan calls for operating a maximum of 15 properties.
The company, based in Hong Kong, is looking to expand the Peninsula in “secondary” markets in China, where it currently has locations in Shanghai and Beijing.
Gross domestic product in China, the world’s third-biggest economy, may grow 9.6% this year, according to the median estimate of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Clement Kwok said, “The growth of China’s economy keeps supplying an increasing crop of high-end travelers.”
He admitted that in Beijing, an oversupply of rooms built for the Olympic Games is forcing Peninsula’s occupancy rate down. The company recently closed the hotel portion at its Quail Lodge Resort & Golf Club in Carmel, California, which had lost money for the past 10 years, according to Kwok. The CEO doesn’t anticipate any other closings.
Business Week quoted Kwok as saying, “We generally look at our hotels as 30- to 50-year investments. We would never close any of them due to a particular economic downturn.”
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