Ascott, a lodging business owned
by CapitaLand Investment, has achieved its target of
securing 160,000 units by 2023, with the signing of over 4,000 units
in Q1 this year.
In light of this positive performance, Ascott has
renewed its target to double fee revenue to more than S$500
million in the next five years.
The fee revenue target is set off
the FY 2022 base of S$258 million – the highest earnings on record
for Ascott.
Fee revenue from the lodging business increased by 36%
year-on-year in FY 2022 on the back of record signings and
property openings.
Ascott also achieved a record net room growth of 20%
in FY 2022, underpinned by its acquisition of Oakwood which added
about 15,000 units to its portfolio, of which approximately 8,000
are operational units that contributed to its fee revenue.
In the
last five years, Ascott has rapidly grown its operational units
from more than 56,000 units in 2018 to over 95,000 units in 2022.
This year, it expects to open more than 13,500 units in over 70 properties.
Ascott plans to continue expanding its product offerings
with a portfolio of serviced residences, hotels, coliving and
senior living brands, positioned from mid to luxury scale.
The company anticipates that fee
revenue growth will be driven by new property openings as well as
new signings at an expected annual net room growth rate of 8-10%
in the next five years.
Kevin Goh, Chief
Executive Officer for Ascott and CapitaLand Investment Lodging, said, “With our
asset-light strategy, Ascott has doubled in units every five
years, growing from about 20,000 units in 2008 to over 160,000
units today. We are now seeing the positive financial impact of
growing our portfolio by eight-fold and will focus on driving even
stronger fee growth over the next five years. Over 80% of our
total units are under management and franchise contracts, up from
43% ten years ago. These management and franchise contracts
typically have sticky recurring fee revenue and long tenures.”
Ascott also demonstrated strong operating performance
in FY 2022, with a 40% y-o-y increase in revenue per available
unit (RevPAU) with the recovery of international travel.
Launched in the latter half of 2019, Ascott’s loyalty programme
–
Ascott Star Rewards (ASR) – has also grown exponentially despite
the complications caused by COVID19. In 2022, ASR membership grew 36%, with
member revenue increasing five-fold from 2021.
“To
achieve our new growth target, we will secure more management and
franchise contracts for prime properties that generate higher
quality fees and leverage our strong brand equity and direct
distribution channels to deliver greater value to property owners
and customers,” added Mr Goh. “In addition to ramping up the
opening of our properties, we will be stepping up efforts to
upgrade several of our strategically located properties into brand
flagship assets. Properties in the pipeline for these asset
enhancement initiatives include The Robertson House by The Crest
Collection in Singapore, The Cavendish London
and Citadines Saint-Germain-des-Prés Paris (pictured), which will
be re-branded under
The Crest Collection. Besides powering growth organically, we
will also actively seek strategic merger and acquisition
opportunities to accelerate our ambition to be a significant
global player in the lodging space. With vertically integrated
capabilities, we can also leverage our strong investment and asset
management capabilities to expand through our sponsored lodging
trust and private funds.”
