Asian growth drives Oakwood expansion
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Rising demand for accommodation and relocation services in Asia Pacific is driving the expansion of Oakwood Worldwide.
Speaking to Travel Daily this week, the company’s managing director for Asia Pacific, Craig Ryan, said Oakwood Worldwide could potentially double its regional branded portfolio in the coming years, as intra-regional travel increases rapidly.
“We’re certainly in aggressive growth mode,” Ryan said, speaking from the company’s regional head office in Singapore. “We are looking to double our branded portfolio, pushing from 27 properties today to 35, 45, 50 in future. In addition, we continue to expand our vetted supplier network, providing clients access to over 400 properties across Asia Pacific, enabling us to deliver accommodation solutions for both short-term and extended-stay requirements in most major cities.”
Recent Oakwood expansion in the Asia Pacific region has included new Oakwood branded properties in Bangalore and Tokyo – its eighth in the Japanese capital. This summer will see the launch of the second Oakwood branded property in Korea, located close to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, and Ryan said the company is looking at numerous other cities in the region.
“Places like KL, Hyderabad, Chennai, Beijing, and other tier one and two cities in China. We’re also looking for an additional property in Hong Kong.” Ryan added that two of the company’s biggest markets, in terms of providing accommodation solution’s, are Sydney and Singapore, but the company does not have a branded presence in either market.
“We could support multiple Oakwood branded properties in Singapore, but for various reasons, the opportunity has not arisen,” Ryan said, attributing this to the fact that Singapore is a “competitive market”.
In terms of product, Oakwood currently offers three brand tiers: Oakwood Premier, Oakwood Residences and Oakwood Apartments. And while Ryan confirmed the company has no intention of entering the traditional hotel market, future product innovations are on the drawing board.
“Most of our serviced apartment properties can accommodate short-term stays, so we can already cater to this sector. But we have a couple of other ideas; a flexible all-suite brand is certainly something we would look at. The type of traveller is changing and we could offer something to cater to the millennial travellers.”
And many of these guests will be from countries in Asia. While Europe, the US and Australia are still “key markets” for Oakwood, Ryan revealed that Oakwood is seeing a significant “growth” in numbers for Asian guests.
With a rapidly expanding portfolio and new brand products to cater for this rise in Asian customers, Oakwood Worldwide’s future aspirations in the region appear to be built on solid foundations.
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