Worldwide Hotels, Singapore's largest homegrown tourist-class hotel group, had plenty to celebrate at its 30th anniversary dinner this week after emerging stronger through the pandemic with more than S$1.5 billion (US$1.1 billion) local and overseas expansions.
The fast-growing hotel group has added three hotels with more than 2,000 rooms to the local hotel inventory since opening the 543-room Novotel Singapore on Kitchener last November - the single largest hotel asset deal in the city-state and the second largest in Asia Pacific in 2023 at more than S$500 million (US$368 million).
This was followed by the purchase of the 530-room Hotel Mi Rochor in December 2023, and the 989-room Mercure ICON Singapore City Centre, the group’s new flagship hotel under its ICON Hotel brand and the largest Mercure Hotel in the world, which opened this week.
The group added three overseas hotel assets with the acquisition of the 177-room Oakwood Studios Sukhumvit Bangkok in December 2022 and the 472-room dual hotel, the Novotel and Ibis Melbourne Central Hotel in Australia. These bring the group’s overseas hotel assets to 11 in Australia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
This week’s celebration dinner saw the Worldwide Hotels-Choo Chong Ngen Foundation donate S$2 million (US$1.5 million) to the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and S$300,000 to the School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA).
Worldwide Hotels CEO Carolyn Choo remarked, “Our mission extends beyond providing exceptional hospitality. We are dedicated to giving back to the community, supporting education, and enabling students to chase their dreams without financial constraints.”
With the latest contributions, the Worldwide Hotels-Choo Chong Ngen Foundation has donated more than S$14 million (US$10.3 million) to local educational institutions, establishing bursaries and supporting the academic journey of numerous students.