56 Hotel makes big strides into 2013

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TARGET MARKET: Gregory says the area that he wanted to work on is mainly on the leisure side, which includes leisure as an individual or leisure as a group, whereby it was expected to form close to 70 per cent of the hotel’s business.

KUCHING: Boasting its own unique corporate identity, the new 56 Hotel stands out from competition in more ways than one, catering to the expected influx of domestic as well as foreign tourists coming into Sarawak for years ahead.

Standing firm behind a row of shophouses along Tun Jugah Road, the five storey high hotel strikes a stunning pose with its modern facade, an exterior design that appears to whirl and beguile in rhythmic poetry.

Director of sales and marketing Trescott Gregory told The Borneo Post in an exclusive interview that the brand name itself could already ‘catch’ a pool of curious passerby during the trial period.

“2013 will be the year where you will see a lot of hotels popping up, especially when ‘Visit Malaysia’ is announced and we also look forward to see the local government initiatives to set up ‘Visit Sarawak 2013’ as well,” he added.

Riding on the waves, he further pointed out that one of the major tasks was to get 56 Hotel known domestically as well as in Asia through collaboration with travel agents and online travel agencies namely Agoda and AsiaRooms.

“These are the people that will help us to tell the world – 56 Hotel is here. Having said that, we will also work closely with the tourism board as well as the the media for wider coverage and exposure,” he explained.

In terms of target markets, Gregory said the area that he wants to work on is mainly on the leisure side, which includes leisure as an individual or leisure as a group, whereby it was expected to form close to 70 per cent of the hotel’s business.

“The remaining 30 per cent would be mainly business travellers, focusing on corporation as well as government contracts. I believe our location helps us a lot in deciding which market we should focus on,” he shared.

In terms of designs, all 155 rooms in the hotel were designed to ensure that memories would always be recalled with much fondness after staying there.

Every room comes with a complete set of amenities as well as free Internet WI-Fi and complementary breakfast options.

For the year 2013, Gregory stressed that he was looking at an occupancy rate of above 45 per cent, with an average room rate of RM150. Revenue-wise, he hoped to see 80 per cent rooms’ contribution versus 20 per cent from food and beverages.

When asked if the market in Kuching was able to sustain more new hotels, he concurred with the current situation saying that it was good to have more competitors around as this would be able to support more events coming into the city.

“At this point of time, I can see that the demand is coming in strongly. In order to sustain the business, we need to have more hotels which are able to support the increasing number of events,” he elaborated.

However, he pointed out that the market in Kuching is still very much seasonal.

“Only due to a certain seasons and festive celebrations that customers and tourists will fall in continuously.

“But thanks to Sarawak Tourism Board for organising the Rainforest Music Festival and other big events around the city, the numbers have begun to increase.”