It's DIY for Group Exklusiv's hotel

August 9, 2008
It's DIY for Group Exklusiv's hotel
It will be the main contractor and aims for Oct 2009 opening
By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent

ENTREPRENEUR Peter Kwee's Group Exklusiv will assume the role of main
contractor for its maiden hotel project here because 'all the big
contractors are tied up with other projects'.

The squeeze on labour has been cited lately as a reason for the
private and public sectors deferring projects worth billions of
dollars.

'The main cons (contractors) are just too busy,' said Mr Kevin Kwee,
Group Exklusiv's executive director and Peter's son, adding that the
group had been its own main contractor before, in a residential
development and a golf course.

'This will be our biggest job,' he said.

He said the company plans to carve up the project into 28 or so
parcels for sub-contractors to take on.

The yet-unnamed 200-room hotel sited on the grounds of Group
Exklusiv's Laguna National Golf & Country Club in the east coast is
waiting for regulatory approval before work starts.

But Mr Kwee hopes to begin piling work this October and complete the
project by October next year, 'preferably in time for the next
Formula One race here'.

Designed by Italian firm Mercurio Design Lab, the four-level hotel is
expected to help ease a squeeze on hotel room supply when the first
integrated resort starts operating in 2010.

There are currently about 37,000 hotel rooms in Singapore, which
industry watchers deem insufficient for the increased visitor numbers
which Formula One and the two integrated resorts are expected to
bring.

Mr Kwee said the hotel in Laguna will offer standard rooms of 342 sq
ft each, which he described as 'generous'. Some of these will open up
to the golf course's driving range, allowing guests to practise their
swings in the comfort of their own rooms.

The hotel will have several three-room suites of 3,000 sq ft each,
which Mr Kwee said could be targeted at long-term stayers who prefer
a resort environment to a serviced apartment.

The entire development will have a gross floor area of 10,000 sq m,
and sit near the resort's swimming pools.

Besides taking on the role of main contractor, Mr Kwee said the other
challenge is the rising cost of raw materials. When the project was
first mooted last year, the projected cost was $90 million.

He said the company has not decided whether it will have a hotel
chain manage the facility.

'The advantage of that is the booking system which these chains have,
and they would have ready clients. They would also have a brand
name,' Mr Kwee said.

'But if demand is going to be so high, do we really need that?'

He added that Group Exklusiv has many years of experience in managing
a hotel. 'We have Joondalup in Perth, and we used to have another
hotel in Albany,' he said, referring to the group's resorts in
Australia.

Laguna National Golf & Country Club is not the only club cashing in
on the expected increase in tourist arrivals. Jurong Country Club is
building a 300-room hotel on its premises, and the Singapore
Recreation Club is building 35 guest rooms.

Singapore received a record 10.3 million visitors last year.

Although there have been signs of a slowdown in recent months, the
Republic is still expected to get 10.8 million tourists this year and
17 million by 2015.