Frasers targets 'road warriors'

Aug 19, 2008
Frasers targets 'road warriors'
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent

FRASERS Hospitality is cashing in on a newly emerging class of
business traveller, known as 'road warriors', with the launch of a
new, lower-tiered brand of serviced apartments early next year.
The new apartments, to be branded Modena, will cater to business
travellers who are on the road so often that high-end accommodation
is unrealistic.

Frasers Hospitality currently operates only the Frasers brand, which
is a high-end or five-star brand. The first Modena apartments will be
in China.

'There's a market for road warriors. It's not necessarily budget,'
said Frasers Hospitality chief executive officer Choe Peng Sum of its
Modena brand. Frasers Hospitality is the serviced apartment arm of
conglomerate Fraser & Neave.

'It's for the people who are travelling so much...If they start
staying in Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton, they would bust their
budget.'

It's a huge and growing market. Mr Choe said the firm sees a market
in China, India, Europe and South-east Asia.

'I would even say it's for the Generation Y road warriors,' he said.
The Modena brand will be easier to expand because the market is not
as well covered and there is a huge market especially in emerging
markets, he said.

Modena can also be sited in areas just outside the central business
district and rooms will be smaller than the Fraser brand properties.

In a separate development, the company also told The Straits Times
that it will launch its third serviced apartment property in
Singapore later this year at Fusionopolis in one-north. Called Fraser
Place Fusionopolis, it will be launched in October and opened in
November.

It will be a fairly small property with 50 loft units based on
the 'work, live and play' concept promoted at one-north. Frasers
Hospitality will manage the property - owned by JTC Corp - under a 10-
year contract. The other two properties are Fraser Suites in River
Valley and Fraser Place in Robertson Quay.

The firm remains optimistic on the business outlook, though the
global financial turmoil triggered by the sub-prime problems in the
United States has hit the hospitality industry in the region to some
extent.

Mr Choe said the banking and financial industries have been affected
somewhat but they are prepared for it. 'We have seen this coming and,
therefore, we have shifted very heavily into the shipping,
petrochemical industries.'

At present, bookings for Frasers apartments boast a three-month
waiting list in Singapore, he said.

The Ascott group is adding two more properties in Singapore under its
Ascott and Citadines brands. But the serviced apartment market in
Singapore still has a limited supply of branded serviced apartments,
said Mr Choe.