The Ascott Limited reported that it signed more than 2,100 units across 12 properties over the last three months in China.
The group said that revenue of operating properties in the country had reached close to 95% of pre-COVID-19 levels
With these new units, Ascott has added more than 5,600 units across 26 properties, which represent a 60% year-on-year growth in units in China. Globally, Ascott has sealed new contracts for more than 3,700 units across 22 properties; about 60% of which were from China and the rest were in various countries including Austria and Indonesia.
Ascott was also seeing strong recovery in China on the operations front. Its apartment revenue in September 2020 performed close to 95% of that in September 2019. Meanwhile, Ascott had been maintaining a steady stream of openings as demand for extended-stay properties continues to grow. In 2020, Ascott has opened 17 properties with over 2,400 units, with about half of these units in China.
In September 2020, close to 75% of its guests in China were domestic travellers. During the same period, Ascott’s properties in tier one cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen achieved an average occupancy rate of over 86%. In Chongqing, despite facing the pandemic and the worst floods in decades, Ascott Raffles City Chongqing achieved high occupancy rate of 80% in August 2020.
Kevin Goh, CapitaLand’s CEO, lodging and Ascott’s CEO, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the resilience and flexibility of Ascott’s business model to the fore. In 2020, we have signed more than 9,300 units in 48 properties worldwide while expanding in China at a record rate. We are also planting new flags in markets such as Austria and Indonesia, offering our guests a wider network of Ascott properties. At the peak of the Covid-19 situation, many of Ascott’s properties worldwide remained open to provide a safe haven for our long-stay corporate guests, maintaining a robust average occupancy rate. With China being the first major economy to resume growth after the pandemic and the easing of domestic travel restrictions in the country, we are seeing strong recovery at our properties in China.
“To provide guests with peace of mind, we launched the ‘Ascott Cares’ commitment to continue to deliver stringent hygiene and cleanliness standards. Ascott has also partnered with Bureau Veritas to provide independent audits for the hygiene and safety standards of our properties worldwide. At the same time, we have also been actively implementing various initiatives such as the launch of our ‘Discover ASR’ mobile app, ‘Work-In-Residence’, ‘Space-as-a-Service’ and our digitalisation efforts, to ensure Ascott is future-ready.”