Hyatt Hotels has managed to secure a site for two future hotels in Taiwan where both a Park Hyatt as well as an Andaz property will be accommodated in the planned Taipei Sky Tower by 2021.
The Sky Tower will cost one Billion US$ and the site has been secured right next to the Taipei 101 which is also where the Grand Hyatt Taipei is located.
Even though the site itself is firm there is currently nothing to see except a perimeter around the areal when I went this morning to check it out.
It’s quite unusual that two hotels are housed in the same building, let alone two of the same chain but it seems that this concept sparked interest with both Hyatt and the owners.
The project was already announced in January this year but back then no site work had been done, in fact the site was and is still a sprawling area, part of the Breeze Shopping & Entertainment Complex. Having a construction of this magnitude in the neighborhood won’t go unnoticed, that’s for sure.
You can access the previous article from the South China Morning Post here.
Plans for the Taipei Sky Tower (TST) were just unveiled last week, and the lifestyle-driven development is targeted at high-end travellers, housing two Hyatt-branded luxury hotels – the Park Hyatt Taipei and Andaz Taipei. …
The TST is estimated to cost more than US$1 billion in total development cost, which, going by transaction size, makes it one of the largest projects in Asia in recent years. …
ST is 280 metres (920 feet) tall, which makes it the second tallest building in Taipei after Taipei 101 (449.3m), while beating out Shin Kong Life Tower (244.8m). The complex is situated in the city’s Xinyi District, and will contain 500 rooms split between the two hotels.
Italian firm Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel (ACPV) – known for the Bulgari Hotels in Dubai, London, Bali and Milan, as well as other urban and mixed-use developments – was responsible for TST’s architecture. For the interior, ACPV handled the design for Park Hyatt Taipei, while Taiwanese design duo Neri&Hu worked their magic on Andaz Taipei. The aesthetic is meant to be East-meets-West, showcasing a balance of modernity and tradition. …
The project is scheduled to be completed in 2020, according to Aaron Chan, chairman and CEO of Riant Capital, the private equity investment firm behind TST.
“Travellers nowadays are tired of the conventional hotel experience but are still unsure about the consistency of what online short-term lodging offers,” he says. “We believe this is where the opportunity lies. We want to create a product that is experiential and exciting, and, at the same time, consistent and operationally well run.”
The hotel situation in Taipei is interesting because there are obviously plenty of hotels but very few international chains. Right now the market has a lot of SPG hotels with the W Taipei being the most popular followed by the Le Meridien. There are also a Westin, Sheraton, two Aloft & Four Points in the city and plenty more in the greater Taipei area. Some Marriott branded properties too.
Mandarin Oriental is also available in Taipei and currently the only truly luxury hotel that isn’t a business hotel at the same time. Hilton has zero properties here in Taipei and IHG only has an Holiday Inn Express as well as a Holiday Inn far outside the city center.
Hyatt currently has the Grand Hyatt Taipei opposite of Taipei 101 and by that opposite of the new Park Hyatt / Andaz. Word has it that the hotel would undergo additional renovation once the new hotels open but I couldn’t confirm that with the hotel and it sounds unlikely given they just received a costly renovation a few years ago. Grand Hyatt Taipei is an established hotel that makes good money making it even more unlikely to close down unless absolutely necessary.
All of these hotels have one thing in common: They ain’t cheap when it comes to the rate! W and Le Meridien command close to US$300 net as an average daily rate and have gotten away with it for years. Grand Hyatt isn’t very far behind, a Standard Room tonight would cost US$250 all in.
Conclusion
Finishing this project by 2020 or even 2021 as was mentioned to me sounds highly ambitious considering half of 2018 has already passed. Taiwan also has adverse weather conditions many times per year, especially during the typhoon season making it difficult to upkeep a steady work pace.
Considering the limited amount of international hotels in Taipei I’m confident that these additional 500 rooms can easily be filled and marketed. The andaz could be a direct rival to the W Taipei which for over a decade is still considered a hip spot in the city with folks flocking to Woobar every week. I’m sure the Andaz will try to get some of these customers and ideally it will moderate their rates a little bit (somehow I have a feeling though that this might be wishful thinking).
