Laureate banks on hospitality courses to grow

The US education group is banking on strong demand for jobs in the Malaysian hospitality sector

Education group Laureate Education Asia Ltd expects to grow its Malaysian business by offering world-class hospitality courses over the next two years.

The US group is banking on strong demand for jobs in the Malaysian hospitality sector. For instance, there were 39,000 jobs in the industry in 2008 alone.

Malaysia will be seeing the entry of major hotels like the Four Seasons and Hyatt in central Kuala Lumpur, while the six-star St Regis is being built at Kuala Lumpur Sentral.

"We see huge demand and decided to bring in the programmes to Malaysia," Laureate chief executive officer Graham Doxey told Business Times in an interview in Subang Jaya, Selangor.

Laureate, which owns Inti Education Group, plans to introduce three world-renowned hospitality programmes by the year-end and early next year.

It is constructing a building next to the existing campus in Subang Jaya to accommodate the new programmes.

"The new programmes will be among the factors that will help contribute to the (business) growth," Doxey said, without disclosing specific figures.

Two of the programmes are from the Switzerland-based Les Roches Bluche International School of Hotel Management and Glion Institute of Higher Education.

"Another is from Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School of Australia."

The Swiss-based courses are expected to start next January, while the Australian programme will begin this July once the college receives approval from the Malaysian Qualification Agency.

“Although the Swiss programme will only start in January, we will open it for intakes from July this year,” Doxey said.

The new programmes, which will be useful for those seeking to be hotel managers and food and beverage managers, are expected to attract a large number of foreign students from Southeast Asian countries and the Middle East.

“We expect to enrol up to 3,000 new students, from the existing 14,000 students we have now,” Doxey said, adding that all nine Inti campuses offer close to 100-odd courses in total.

Laureate Education, based in Baltimore in the US, has a presence in 20 countries and serves more than 500,000 students worldwide.

Its network includes 45 accredited institutions in North and Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Together, these independently branded universities offer more than 130 career-focused, multi-year undergraduate, master’s and doctorate degree programmes in a number of fields, including engineering, education, business, healthcare, hospitality, architecture and information technology.

The company moved its regional headquarters to Kuala Lumpur from Hong Kong last December as the former is closer to other educational hubs like Singapore and Australia.

Rendezvous Hotel targets niche market

RENDEZVOUS Hotel Kuala Lumpur, which is scheduled to open this July, expects to register operating profits within a year of business.

This four-star 444-room business hotel located in Changkat Thambi Dollah, off Jalan Pudu, expects to fill between 55 per cent and 60 per cent of its room inventory and make an average of RM250 to RM280 per night in the first year.

It is also looking at a gross operating profit (GOP) of 30-odd per cent in the first year. GOP is gross revenue from rooms, food and beverage, laundry or business centre minus cost of operations like wages, electricity and amenities.

This projection would seem rather optimistic for a new hotel in Malaysia, but general manager Freddy Sim thinks it is achievable as the economy is recovering.

Moreover, Sim feels that there is still plenty of room for growth in the four-star business hotel category and that the package it offers will lure the crowd.

"We are looking at creative business packages specifically catered to the businessman. Business people (now) must have good Internet connection, (as such) we are looking to provide complimentary Internet connection," he said.

The fact that during the global crisis, many corporations moved their business to four-star hotels from five-star hotels to save costs. Not many have reverted to five-star hotels, and this would further lend support to its performance.

Unlike most hotel operators in Malaysia who either own and manage or own or simply manage hotels, Rendezvous will be leased from the owner.

"We are leasing the hotel portion and will manage it. It is a 12 years plus six-year lease," Sim told Business Times in an interview.

The hotel is part of the RM250 million Taragon Puteri KL integrated development. It also comprises serviced apartments and retail lots.

"Two-thirds of the building is the hotel and a third is apartments which are sold as residences. The retail portion is small," he said.

Malaysia will be the group's third property outside of Australia after Singapore and Shanghai.

Rendezvous, according to Sim, offers Asian elegance and grace in its service culture.

This hotel expects 35 per cent of both its business and leisure crowd to be derived from the domestic market, followed by 17 per cent from Singapore.

China, Japan and South Korea are expected to make up 15 per cent of its guest profile while another 8 per cent will come from Europe. The Indian and Middle East market is expected to contribute 15 per cent.

Rendezvous Hospitality Group (RHG), a subsidiary of Straits Trading Co Ltd, is a relatively new, but growing Singapore brand. It plans to have 12,000 rooms by 2020, from 2,600 rooms now.

RHG manages hotels under the Rendezvous and Marque brand through Rendezvous Hotels & Resorts International.

Marque, is another hotel that the group plans to open and grow in Malaysia. The hotel is targeted at younger businessmen. Marque is described as being bold and carrying strong colours.

It appeals to people who like to be seen such like those who do interior designing or are in advertising.

Charge five-star rates, hoteliers told

KUALA LUMPUR: Hoteliers should not offer rooms at too low a rate as it will give an impression to foreigners that their services and rooms are of poor quality, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Prime Minister said since the country was working hard to attract high-end tourists, the under-pricing of room rates would only negate such efforts.

“It is bad for the tourism industry as it is not the best approach and I would like to advise hoteliers not to continue doing it.

“Besides undervaluing quality, such approach will also not increase sales,” he said when opening the Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur here last night.

Also present were his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The five-star, 402-room hotel is owned by Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera and was built at a cost of RM200mil.

Najib said foreigners had often expressed disbelief that the room rates of five-star hotels in the country were low compared to those under the same category in the region.

“They wondered if our hotels were really five-star and thought that the services and quality offered by the hotels were low.

“Our rates should commensurate with the star rating because high-end tourists are prepared to pay a premium for excellent service and quality,” he said.

Najib also reminded hoteliers to pay attention to details as it would “make or break a hotel”.

The service industry, he added, was very competitive and only hotels offering a memorable experience to their guests would succeed.

Guests should be pampered by all levels of the hotel employees who make an effort to know their names, he added.

“The arrival of tourists showed an increase in January which is a good indication,” he said, adding that Malaysia was among the few countries in the world that registered a rise in the number of arrivals despite the global economic slump last year.