/// East Malaysia Property News
Sabah Mulls Adding More
Affordable Housing Units
2,600 More Hotel Rooms in Sabah and
Peninsular
at least three years ago
were now recording
average occupancy rate
of between 75% and 80%,
adding that the newer
hotels would need time to
build up their occupancy
rates.
He gave the thumbs-up
to the Government for
putting in place good
infrastructure that was
essential for tourism
development.
Kota Kinabalu City
Low-cost house for the poor under construction in Kg Sabah
Baru in Lahad Datu
Sabah wants to increase
the number of affordable
housing units to be built
in the state by another
10,000, Chief Minister
Datuk Seri Musa Aman
said.
He said this was over and
above the 23,126 housing
units that are to be
completed in the state over
the next few years.
“We need the additional
houses to accommodate
the number squatter
families that have been
recorded by our local
authorities,” Musa said
after witnessing the
handing over of the
500-unit Lintas Sibuga
low-cost housing scheme
in Sandakan from the
Housing and Local
Government Ministry to
state authorities.
He said the Lintas Sibuga
housing scheme was part
of the 13,756 low-cost units
that had been completed
in Sabah so far.
“We know there are many
more families hoping for
decent and affordable
housing and we are doing
our best to meet their
expectations,” Musa added.
Everywhere you go, there are
excellent airports like in Kuching and
Kota Kinabalu. What is also important
(for tourism development) is efficient
immigration and customs services
54
www.PropertyHunter.com.my
French hotel group Accor
is rapidly expanding its
network in Malaysia, with
15 new hotels nationwide
in the pipeline by 2016.
The new hotels coming up
in Sabah and Peninsular
Malaysia will provide about
2,600 rooms. By next year,
the group’s Malaysian
network is expected to
more than double to 20
hotels with over 5,000
rooms from the current
eight hotels.
Senior vice-president
for Malaysia, Indonesia
and Singapore Gerard
Guillouet said the Europe’s
leading hotel operator saw
Malaysia as one of SouthEast Asia’s top tourism
destinations.
“Malaysia has a lot of
potential for us to grow.
We are focusing our
energy to aggressively
develop more hotels in the
country across all market
segments.
“The mix of hotel
segments in the pipeline
indicates that we will
continue to have a
well-balanced network
in 2015, with 15% of the
hotels being upscale, 40%
mid-scale and 45% being
economy hotels,” he told
StarBiz.
He said the network would
also be geographically
balanced, with hotels
in strategic business
and leisure destinations
throughout the country.
Accor’s existing eight
hotels in Malaysia are
under three of the group’s
11 brands. The three are
Pullman, Novotel and
ibis Styles hotels. They
are Pullman Putrajaya,
Pullman Bangsar, Pullman
Kuching, Novotel Kota
Kinabalu, Novotel Kuala
Lumpur City Centre,
ibis Styles Fraser Perak,
ibis Styles Cheras, Kuala
Lumpur and ibis Styles
Ipoh.
The 513 -room Pullman
Bangsar opened for
business last month.
“We expect to open at
least four hotels this year.
They include Novotel
Melaka (374 rooms),
Mercure Kota Kinabalu
Eton (103 rooms) and
ibis Styles Sandakan
Waterfront (135 rooms),”
said Guillouet.
According to him, Accor
would have 25 hotels in
11 Malaysian cities and
towns by 2017 based on
committed projects under
construction.
He said Accor aimed to
be Malaysia’s leading
international hotel
operator by 2017 from its
current ranking of among
the top five.
Guillouet said Accor hotels
in Malaysia which opened
“Everywhere you go, there
are excellent airports
like in Kuching and Kota
Kinabalu. What is also
important (for tourism
development) is efficient
immigration and customs
services,” said Guillouet,
who returned to serve
Malaysia two years ago.
His first posting in this
country was in 1991.
He said Accor recorded
some 300 million visitors
to its website and
generated 25 million room
nights in its hotels last
year.
He said as Accor saw
faster growth in Asia
for upscale and luxury
hotels, the group was in
the process of shifting
its marketing base to
Singapore from Paris.
Accor currently operates
four hotels in Singapore
where its office will take
over worldwide marketing
for the group in the first
quarter of this year.