88-Room Three Star Boutique Hotel

A unique opportunity is available to discerning investors to own a brand new 88-room three star boutique hotel in the center of Kuala Lumpur. The hotel will be sold in fully furnished and operating condition. It began operations on 22 April 1999. A host of quality finishes, well-designed rooms and a modern aluminum clad and curtain glass facade will make this the hotel of choice for business travelers.

The record number of tourist arrivals, the tremendous and significant transformations that are planned for Jalan Ipoh in the vicinity of the hotel, the phenomenal growth of the Malaysian economy after the Asian crisis and the significantly undervalued Malaysian currency will bring excellent price appreciation in the medium term making this an exceptionally attractive investment.

LOCATION

The hotel is located on the northern side of Kuala Lumpur’s city center. It fronts onto the main road, and is the closest hotel to the Hentian Duta, drop-off point for Kuala Lumpur’s International Airport (KLIA) buses. Its management has capitalized on this advantage by forming a strategic alliance with the Airport Coach (monopoly bus operator from KLIA) when marketing the hotel. The hotel is very well served by public transport including the Light Rail Transit System (LRT), the People's Rapid Transit system (PRT), the KTM electric train, which connects hotel to major centers in KL and to other cities including Penang and Singapore and Thailand. Many routes of Intrakota buses pass the hotel. The hotel is within walking distance to the most established business and retail centers of Kuala Lumpur, namely the Mall, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Tun Razak, Jalan Putra, the Mutiara Complex and golden triangle.

For travelers driving to Kuala Lumpur from other cities in Malaysia or from Singapore and Thailand, the hotel is highly accessible from several highways and the PLUS toll system. The new toll highway to Genting Highlands is just minutes away from the hotel. Access to Jalan Ipoh can be made via Jalan Tun Razak, Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Pahang, Jalan Kuching through Jalan Segambut, Jalan Tun Ismail, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, Jalan Perhentian and Jalan Sentul all of which are prominent city center roads of significant traffic. 

SITE REVIEW

The site is strategically located in the center of Kuala Lumpur’s buoyant and fastest growth area, Sentul, which is very well situated on the northern part of the golden triangle. In addition to the existing retail, tourist and business attractions of central Kuala Lumpur, there are many high-rise modern office blocks either completed or near completion along Jalan Ipoh that will generate good demand for hotel rooms. 

A hotel belt is developing along Jalan Ipoh. The Vistana Hotel, Dynasty Hotel, Grand Pacific Hotel, Innapan Moccis, The First Business Inn, the New Cloud Hotel and Hotel Bintang are just a few of the hotels now in operation. A sophisticated transportation terminal is being developed to house the already operating LRT station and the KTM electric train station (two electric train services) both of which are within walking distance to this hotel.

Directly across the road from the hotel is the main entrance to Sentul Raya, a 276-acre mega-project, which is being constructed around Malaysia’s oldest golf course that will be expanded further with the inclusion of several lakes. Sentul Raya will have an International Arena, Asia’s largest Exhibition center, a huge all-purpose venue, a massive residential development; a Railway Museum; a High-tech Entertainment Center; and a five star Convention Hotel. This hotel will offer alternative accommodation to Sentul Raya's five star hotel. 

To accommodate the Sentul Raya mega-project, the Malaysian Government has announced major plans to beautify Jalan Ipoh and has begun linking it by an overhead bridge to Jalan Duta which is the exclusive Embassy housing area and the bus terminal for buses serving the International Airport. The entire area will be transformed and is seeing enormous growth with several sizeable office complexes and a large open-air shopping street built by Sentul Raya across the road from Bestotel. 

Immediately behind the hotel is a new 23-storey condominium and a good-sized eight storey commercial building with good tenants including law firms, an established college, an international medical distribution house. These generate demand for the hotel and the restaurant. 

Important commercial centers near the hotel include Hong Kong Bank, Public Bank, Mayban Finance, Phileo Allied Bank, BBMB Kewangan, Kompleks Batu, Malaysia Assurance Alliance Bhd., Wisma TCL, Wisma Tan Kim San, Ford Concessionaire, Mazda, UMW Toyota Motor, Citroen, SsangYong, Honda, Perodua, Mutiara Complex and SKF Malaysia to North East.

To the South West (walking distance) is the Putra World Trade Center, the Pan Pacific Hotel, the Dynasty Hotel, the Mall (Yaohan), the Legend Hotel, the Grand Pacific Hotel, UMNO Bldg., the Sentul Police Station, IGB Plaza, Pekeliling Plaza, Bangunan Perkim, Bangunan MIC, Bangunan Bank Rakyat, Bangunan Hui Hong, Wisma Kota Mas, Kompleks Damai, the Federal and Capitol Cinemas (along Jalan Raja Laut), Vistana Hotel, First Business Inn and Innapan Moccis.

The total land area of of the hotel is 5,220-sq. ft. (freehold) with 60’ frontage unto Jalan Ipoh and an access road at the back leading to a 620-unit covered car park. There exists a vacant plot of land immediately adjacent to Bestotel which can be purchased and annexed to the hotel with possibility of constructing private carparks, swimming pool and a pool side restaurant, a massage parlor, and additional rooms.

The site for the hotel has high visibility from the busy Jalan Ipoh, Jalan Perhentian and from the Sentual Raya project. 

HOTEL FACILITIES 

As a well-decorated three star boutique hotel offering necessary amenities and good business support systems, and a convenient location the hotel has had good occupancy since its opening and is expected to improve demand in the future. 

The hotel has a well designed exterior façade with aluminum clad and reflective glass windows projecting a clean, modern business-like image. 

The lobby is covered with imported marble where our guests will find a conference room and a Business Centre equipped with a fast Pentium personal computer, colour printer, fax machine, scanner, zip drive and internet access. 

Safety deposit boxes, car rental services, concierge and foreign currency services are situated on the ground floor. 

The hotel is equipped with a modern PABX phone system (Ericsson brand) and we have equipped every room with two telephone lines, one for voice and another for internet or data transmissions. The guests can request their own private fax in the room offering very high level of privacy for business travelers. This user-friendly PABX system supplemented with a call billing system calculates and posts telecommunication charges to the respective guests or office folios. 

We have installed Room Master which is one of the best and fastest Front Office Management Systems running on windows platform..

We have also installed a good fire fighting and fire alarm system which includes hose reel on all floors and smoke detectors in all rooms.

The hotel's only F&B outlet is the Super Buffet, which can seat over 118 PAX and caters for hotel guests and the booming population base nearby. The restaurant has a 40’ frontage unto the busy Jalan Ipoh, and has its own signage and identity serving Asian and Continental dishes at affordable prices. The restaurant is managed by an independent operator and pays 15% commission on all its sales to the hotel.

Today’s business travelers and tourists demand a comfortable bedroom and a good clean bathroom. The hotel bedrooms are all tastefully decorated and equipped with tea/coffee making facility, a mini-bar, television with in-house movies, orthopedic designed high quality hotel mattresses and individually controlled air-conditioners. All public areas and corridors receive centrally broadcast music (CD and Tape and radio) with public announcement facility.

Every bedroom offers two IDD phone lines to the guests with private fax available in guest rooms. We also offer Internet TV which allows the guests to browse the Internet or send and receive emails using their room television and a remote controlled keyboard. Internet access is measured by the call billing system and is charged to the guests providing the hotel with added revenue at high mark-ups. 

The shower area uses high quality Italian bathroom fixtures such as towel racks, soap dishes and toiletry shelf. Imported European faucets were used for aesthetic reasons, for water conservation and low maintenance.

The bathroom walls are tiled from floor to ceiling with high quality Italian designed tiles. Large mirrors, a shell type wash basin and imported water-saving W/Cs with silent type siphonic jet flush complete the well lit bathrooms (energy saving lights) to satisfy guest expectation. Guests appreciate a touch of class. Our neo-classical custom designed wood furniture are compact, functional and beautiful. 
The hotel has a total of 88 rooms some with queen-sized beds, some with two single beds and twelve rooms which are triple. Four rooms are currently used as administrative offices, housekeeping area and one as a prayers room. 

We have included a stand-by generator so that the hotel can sell its rooms and serve its guests in the event of a power supply interruption.

Water storage reservoirs atop of the building and in the basement will serve the guest needs and that of the restaurant in the event of water cuts.

We have an in-house laundry room equipped with an 8-kg washing machine, a clothes dryer and adequate shelving. Our laundry room enables the hotel to handle express guest laundry and hotel's cleaning cloths. Laundry services for bed linen and towels are contracted out at very little cost. In the event of an interruption of services from the laundry contractor, the hotel will be able to operate and manage its own laundry without interruption to guest services and sale of rooms.

The staff shower room, two utility/storage rooms and public toilets (including two for the handicapped) are situated on the ground floor.

The lower ground floor has an area of about 2,000 sq ft which is currently un-utilized. It can be converted to a health centre or a pub and bar or used for functions.


CHEAP TO OPERATE 

Extensive cost-saving features are found throughout the hotel. We have planned and built the hotel to achieve very low maintenance cost, minimal downtime and high level of productivity that translate to superior profits.

To name just a few cost saving features:

¨ The hotel operator need not spend any money to generate hot water: our heat recovery system uses the waste heat from our air-conditioners to heat enough water for the hotel. At the same time our air-conditioners operate more efficiently and use less energy.

¨ Our air-conditioning system itself was designed to absolutely minimize power consumption. The multi-split systems simply use less electricity than any other system. And we only cool those rooms that are sold and occupied. When the guest leaves his room and removes his energy key tag, the air-conditioner also stops.

¨ We have installed electricity saving key tag systems so that when a guest leaves the room, power supply is cut off to all lights, television and so on, except the mini-bar. All interior lighting is the energy-saving PLC type.

¨ We have selected and installed parquet floors over the usual carpet for the bedrooms. Parquet floors are easier to maintain, faster to clean and do not need regular shampooing therefore removing the need for expensive loss of room sales during drying periods. And when carpets wear out, they must be replaced whereas parquet floors can be re-polished at very low cost. Such flooring also looks and feels cleaner for the guests without absorbing smell. In tropical countries carpet is rarely a good idea.

¨ We have four central vacuum systems which collect dust more effectively than traditional cleaners. Rooms can be vacuumed without a motor or ugly wires to pull along. Chambermaids only carry a vacuum hose and plug it into the wall socket to start suction. And the rubbish is emptied from the vacuum once in every four months instead of daily, which saves labour.

¨ We used Venetian blinds on all windows matching the distinctive copper colour of the façade of the hotel. Unlike fabric curtains, these window coverings do not need to be sent for expensive dry cleaning: they can be wiped clean, they block the light for privacy and look good.

¨ We installed a kitchen waste disposal system that grinds food waste and pumps it into the sewerage system with the kitchen wastewater. We pay only RM 150 per month for garbage disposal, fire hazards and garbage odours are minimized and the odour associated with kitchen refuse is mostly gone.

¨ The front office and business centre are situated behind the reception counter for efficient control and work force minimization. 

¨ it has an underground water storage tank: if city water pressure ever becomes low, our hotel will still have water! This is then pumped up to five water storage tanks on the roof and if any one water tank (hot or cold) is under maintenance, water can still be drawn from others. This avoids operational interruption, prevents loss of room revenue and maximizes convenience to hotel guests. We do not have any pneumatic or pressuriszed water tanks that require expensive repairs and maintenance. Water pressure is guaranteed by gravity.

¨ Our air-well is designed to keep 21% of guest rooms cool without the need for air-conditioning.

¨ The entire hotel is operated with a workforce of about 15 people, a one to six labour-room ratio which is extremely low! Proof of the design. 


NO FRILLS CONCEPT

The no-frills hotel has gained wide acceptance globally among tourists and business travelers alike. Asian and Middle Eastern travelers, the strongest markets to Malaysia, view price and a clean image as paramount in their choice of hotel. More than ever before tourists, businessmen, shoppers and middle managers are choosing good clean hotels that are reasonably priced over the more expensive five star properties. The the hotel does away with multiple banquet halls, convention centres and competing F & B outlets which add greatly to overhead and staffing needs. Instead we have focused on delivering one of each facility plus well-appointed rooms to serve the guests’ basic needs. Other facilities such as the business centre, excellent communication systems, the Super Buffet, our laundry, and money changer services will answer the common needs of all our guests. The express hotel concept has good appeal in North America too.

WHY INVEST NOW?

1- Property prices are just beginning to recover. 

2- The Malaysian currency remains pegged to the U.S. dollar at 3.80, a rate that was set during the depth of the Asian financial crisis. The ADB has openly declared the Ringgit as undervalued versus other currencies.

3- Interest rates are at historically low levels and inflation is low.

4- Investor confidence has returned to Malaysia.

5- The tourism industry has seen amazing growth: Malaysia received 10.22 million tourists in the year 2000. The year 2001 was better still: in the period January - July 2001 alone, 8.4 million tourists arrived in Malaysia. Tourism arrivals have seen amazing growth rates of about 27% per year. For tourism statistics please see: http://www.tourism.gov.my/tourism_bak/report/statistics.htm 

6- The Sentul Raya development now under construction will transform the neighbourhood and push prices up. The exhibition hall will bring full booking year round.

7- Malaysia has excellent fundamentals and is one of the youngest nations in the world.

8- Prudent economic policies have put the economy on a rapid recovery process, which will bring rapid price appreciation for the property sector. A recent policy was the removal of duties on most branded items to make Malaysia the top shopping destination in the world.

9- Capital gains tax rates are low (zero percent if held for six years).


THE DEVELOPERS

They are a Malaysian owned affiliate of a Canadian construction group and is managed by experienced professionals and engineers. Well planned and fitted with high quality finishes this hotel is operationally simple. Few investments can offer better or safer returns and you are invited to study this opportunity further.

TERMS OF SALE

Sale price: RM 19,900,000.00 (Approx. $5,240,000.00 USD)

Terms of payment:
10% Deposit on agreement
90% On hand-over of hotel

The company may accept development land or income properties of equivalent value in exchange for the hotel.