Tropicana and Marriott to open first Courtyard hotel in Malaysia

PETALING JAYA: Tropicana Corp Bhd will collaborate with Marriott International Inc to develop the 200-room Courtyard by Marriott in Penang. The hotel, with a gross development value (GDV) of about RM150 million, will be built within the group’s Tropicana 218 Macalister, its latest integrated development on the island with a total GDV of RM511 million.

This marks Courtyard’s first entry into Malaysia. The hospitality brand is the second largest revenue earner for Marriott International.

“Tropicana is proud to collaborate with Marriott, a company with a long history of designing, building and managing world-class hotels and resorts. It will provide a strong branding for Tropicana’s entire development on the prime land,” Tropicana founder and group executive vice-chairman Tan Sri Danny Tan Chee Sing told reporters on Wednesday.

He said this is in tandem with the group’s transformational roadmap in forming strong partnerships to accelerate growth and strengthen market leadership.

Marriott International Inc Asia-Pacific director for hotel development Peter Gassner   said they hope to expand to another 48 locations in the Asia-Pacific. The group currently has 25 Courtyard hotels in the region.

“We believe that the satellite cities in Malaysia are underserviced by international hotel brands. Hence, there will be plenty of opportunities to establish ourselves,” he said, adding that they are looking into areas such as Johor Baru, Kota Kinabalu, Langkawi, Melaka and Ipoh.

The official signing ceremony took place on Wednesday at the Tropicana Golf and Country Club in the presence of Penang state executive councillor for local government, traffic management and flood mitigation Chow Kon Yeow and Tan.

Signing on behalf of Tropicana is group CEO Datuk Yau Kok Seng and group managing director Datuk Dickson Tan, while Marriott is represented by Gassner and Marriott International vice-president for operations Robert Stark.

Danny Tan (third from left) presenting Chow (fourth from left) a token of appreciation after the signing ceremony. From left are Gassner, Dickson Tan, Yau (fifth from left) and Stark.

Tropicana 218 Macalister will consist of the 15-storey Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, 211 commercial suites, 88 serviced residences and 20 high-end retail outlets. Construction on the 2.1-acre (0.85ha) plot in Macalister Road is expected to begin this year, with the grand opening slated for 2018.

Tropicana is listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia and is involved in property and resort development, property investment, manufacturing, land trading and investment holding.

The group has about 2,200 acres of landbank with a potential GDV of RM80 billion in Johor, the Klang Valley, Penang and Sabah.

Marriott is a leading lodging company based in Maryland, the US, with nearly 3,900 properties in 72 countries. The hospitality chain, which operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts under 18 brands, reported a revenue of almost US$12 billion (RM38.5 billion) in fiscal year 2012.

The Courtyard brand was founded in 1983. Today, Courtyard is based in 900 locations in 37 countries, more than any other Marriott brand.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 22, 2013.