Sentosa’s seventh wonder

Source : Straits Times - 21 Feb 2009

Sentosa’s latest hotel - the ultra-luxurious Capella Singapore - opens next month, bringing to seven the number of hotels on the small, 500ha island.

The $400-million hotel designed by renowned British architect Norman Foster is set to be the jewel in Sentosa’s crown, with its distinctive figure-eight shape wrapped around two grand colonial buildings restored to their former glory.

It will have 111 rooms from a selection of suites, villas and what the Capella people call ‘manor’ houses.

Given that the resort island already has 1,200 hotel rooms, and with at least 1,650 more to come within the next three years, it begs the question: Is Sentosa in danger of being ‘hoteled’-out?

No, say industry experts who point out that the various hotels cater to different markets.

For example, Capella Singapore’s luxury rooms with villas and manors are the first of their kind on Sentosa, says Mr Philip Lim, director of hospitality and tourism training academy, The Tourism Academy@Sentosa.

‘It will be clearly differentiated from what is already available,’ he says. His training institute is a collaboration between Temasek Polytechnic and Sentosa operator Sentosa Leisure Group and offers diplomas in hospitality and tourism business.

Capella Singapore’s market is very high-end: Room rates start from $750 and go up to $7,500 - the priciest on the island.

Sentosa’s other hotels cater to either those on a budget, making them popular with families, or the upmarket crowd who can splash out but not to the level of Capella’s luxe lot.

Hotels in the first category are the Costa Sands Resort (Sentosa), Siloso Beach Resort and Treasure Resort. Prices start from $80, $260 and $288 for a night respectively.

Those belonging to the latter category are the five-star Rasa Sentosa Resort and The Sentosa Resort & Spa, and the boutique resort, Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa. Prices start from $375 at Rasa Sentosa, $380 at The Sentosa Resort and $500 at Amara Sanctuary.

Mr Goh Lye Whatt, Sentosa’s director of property and planning, points out that the island’s hotels and resorts are popular among a diverse group, from families on getaway vacations to business travellers and holiday-makers on extended stays.

He adds that as part of Sentosa’s master plan, these hotels were planned for the long haul in line with more tourism initiatives and to bring a wider range of offerings to meet the needs of travellers.

Singapore Tourism Board’s director of hospitality division Caroline Leong says ‘the wider range of offerings will better position Singapore to meet the accommodation needs of travellers’.

Indeed, Mr Albert Teo, chief executive officer of Amara Holdings which owns Amara Sanctuary, is unfazed by the opening of Capella Singapore. He says that with Capella’s additional 111 rooms, ‘it’s not that many to Sentosa’s total room count’.

Capella Singapore also offers extended stays that can be as long as 20 years. ‘It is catering to a niche market that is different from ours,’ says MrTeo of his 121-room hotel. He says Amara Sanctuary is meeting its targeted occupancy rate but declines to elaborate.

As well as the lavish Capella Singapore, built over nearly six years, Sentosa will have several more hotels opening over the next few years.

Singapore’s first of two integrated resorts, Resorts World at Sentosa, is expected to open in March next year. Four of its six hotels will be open by then, offering 1,400 rooms.

Property giant City Developments is also developing a 250-room hotel at Sentosa Cove, which it says will be ready in ‘two, three years’. It was originally reported to be a W hotel (part of the hip W hotel brand), but a spokesman says it will unveil the name at a later stage.

But that is a long way off. Right now, the buzz is all about Capella Singapore, the flagship property for Capella Hotels and Resorts in Asia.

General manager Michael Luible says it has been receiving bookings since January and ‘now has a healthy number of advance bookings’. These include room bookings by corporate travellers, individuals and families.

Mr Lim says whether Sentosa can take more hotels will depend on the demand ‘when the economy is back in its healthy state and when all hotels including those in Resorts World are ready’.

Mr Luible says consumers benefit from more options on Sentosa as the island provides a wide range of lifestyle and hospitality choices for various budgets and needs. But other than those already planned for, he prefers ‘to see no further hotel developments on the island, to preserve its natural beauty’.