Parkroyal Collection expands to Malaysia, group to open 13 new hotels by 2024
SITTING in the lobby of the Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay, I am aware of a feeling of déjà vu mixed with a sensation of something new, lighter, greener. From the outside, it looks and feels like the hotel it used to be (Marina Mandarin) first built in 1984.
But a nine-month US$33 million overhaul by Pan Pacific Hotels Group has given it the feel of a hotel more suited for today, when the conversation is more around sustainability, less about marble, glass and steel.
Designed around the concept of a ‘garden-in-a-hotel’, the original atrium by John Portman is still there but a skylight now bathes the lobby in a sea of light. It’s more than decorative though. It has been designed with double-glazed and low-emissivity glass.
Aside from allowing natural light into the space, it reduces the ambient temperature by two degrees Celsius, which is equivalent to a two per cent reduction of the hotel’s electricity use. And by September this year, the hotel plans to install 210 rooftop solar panels, which will provide 10,083 kilowatt hours (kWh) of monthly off-grid electricity. That’s a lot of energy for something so pretty.
Layers of greenery – 2,400 indoors plants to be exact – not only make you feel like you’re sitting amid nature but also cools the air within. As CEO of Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Choe Peng Sum, says, “The light helps the plants grow and the plants keep the air fresh.”
That’s what nature teaches us, the inter-connectedness of everything.
An urban farm on the fourth level houses over 60 varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. This farm uses the hotel’s leftover coffee grounds as compost, and also recycles its aluminium coffee capsule waste. Other common sustainable practices include providing reusable glass bottles in every guest room; a water filtration system; biodegradable bath amenities; and motion sensors that enable intelligent temperature control and efficient use of energy. All these sustainability considerations have earned the hotel a BCA Green Mark Gold certification.
Overall, it exudes a similar feeling as the Parkroyal Collection Pickering (featured image) but then that is deliberate. Parkroyal Collection is Pan Pacific’s sustainability brand, with Choe saying, “It is the right brand for the right time.”
And it is taking it abroad for the first time with the Parkroyal Collection Kuala Lumpur. Described as a “new eco-chic icon with a sustainability ethos”, it will also house Pan Pacific Serviced Suites Kuala Lumpur for long-stay guests.
The group will also open a zero-waste hotel, Pan Pacific Orchard, in Singapore in the fourth quarter of 2022. To fulfil its zero-waste promise, the 350-room hotel will have a rainwater-harvesting system, a recyclable water system, a compactor that transforms food waste into nutrient water for the hotel’s sky gardens, water dispensers to eliminate the use of plastic bottled water, and technology to save energy such as light, motion and rain sensors and solar cells.
Said Choe, “Customers are demanding sustainability, particularly in the US, Europe and Australia. In fact, some of them get mad if we change their towels everyday. In Asia, it’s taking a longer while but it will get there, especially with the younger generation. And when it comes, the hotels that have adapted will be ready instead of back-peddling.”
Just as they did when the Internet came along and OTAs disrupted distribution, I asked? “Yes, hotels that invested early are doing better than those who are still catching up, even now,” he said.
Committing to sustainability in design, operations and every aspect of hospitality is not cheap, said Choe. “You have to put real money into sustainability, you have to spend money to save money, it’s a long term thing. The good news is, solar panels have fallen in price. It used to take 15 years for solar panels to show return on investment, now it’s five years.”
Being an owner-operator, which owns and manages 70% of its properties, is clearly an advantage in committing to such a goal as sustainability, said Choe. “We have to make sure our brands are consistent and deliver to their promise,” he said.
Pan Pacific is the group’s top tier brand, Parkroyal Collection its sustainability play, followed by Parkroyal. Last week, the group announced it would open 13 new properties across 10 key gateway cities by 2024.
In China, the group will open Parkroyal Dalian in 2022, which will have 52 levels and is set to be the first Parkroyal hotel in the city.
Additionally, the group is expanding its serviced suites portfolio in the Indochina region, with Parkroyal Serviced Suites Hanoi in Vietnam and Parkroyal Suites Bangkok in Thailand opening in March and May 2022 respectively. By 2023, it will also open Pan Pacific Phnom Penh and Parkroyal Siem Reap in Cambodia, increasing its strength to a total of nine properties in the region.
The move adds more than 3,300 rooms to the group’s inventory, and brings its total portfolio to 48 hotels, resorts and serviced suites across 29 cities.
Note: Choe Peng Sum will be speaking at WiT Experience Singapore 2021. Programme here.
• Featured image credit – Parkroyal Collection Pickering, the flagship of the sustainability brand, which is expanding into Kuala Lumpur: Pan Pacific Hotels Group
