Lodgis acquires two historic landmark hotels in Cambodia

With the acquisition of the Raffles Hotels, Lodgis now owns the largest collection of historic luxury hotels in the Indochina region as well as a growing resort and hotel management business under the Fusion brand.

Lodgis acquired Raffles Hotel Le Royal Phnom Penh in the capital

According to Peter T. Meyer, chief executive officer of Lodgis, the company was very excited about the acquisition of the two historic Raffles hotels in Cambodia.

“Together with the Metropole in Hanoi, Lodgis now owns an irreplaceable Indochina heritage hotel portfolio that allows us to achieve significant synergies on both marketing and operations to better serve the rapidly developing tourism market across Indochina. We see tremendous upside potential for both assets with a highly targeted capital expenditure programme to transform the hotels back to their grand stature. Given our close working relationship with Accor as well as our strong in-house expertise, we are confident the hotels will create long-term value for Lodgis and be very well positioned for the overall Indochina market,” Meyer said.

Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor Siem Reap in the heart of the resort destination of Siam Reap

The acquisition of the Raffles Hotels marks the company’s maiden acquisition outside of Vietnam and adds to Lodgis’ leading Indochina hotel platform.

To date, Lodgis has acquired and developed several leading city hotels and beachfront resorts in Vietnam, including the 365-key Sofitel Legend Metropole in Hanoi, the top performing hotel in Vietnam which is consistently ranked as one of the leading hotels in Asia.

Located in Cambodia, the Raffles Hotels are historic 1930s buildings which were fully restored and re-opened under the iconic ‘Raffles’ brand in 1997.

The 175-key Raffles Le Royal is centrally located in the capital city of Phnom Penh, adjacent to the US Embassy and in close proximity to several key government offices, the Royal Palace, as well as the Central Market.

The 119-key Raffles Grand d’Angkor is in the heart of the old French Quarter of the resort destination of Siem Reap, and is only 6km from the renowned UNESCO World Heritage site of Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world.

To maintain their unique Khmer-French colonial charm, the two properties will undergo select renovation which includes upgrading and refreshing the guest rooms and food and beverage outlets as well as updating the meeting facilities and other areas to enhance the guest experience at the hotels.

In 2017, Cambodia recorded 5.6 million international visitor arrivals, representing a year-on-year growth of 11.8 per cent on the back of a strong 10-year CAGR of over 10 per cent.

Phnom Penh and Siem Reap attracted the largest share of international visitors in the country with 49 and 38 per cent, respectively.

With increasing direct flights and the government’s strong push towards tourism, the industry is expected to continue its strong upswing in 2018 with at least 6 million international visitors on top of the projected 15 million domestic tourists, reaching an anticipated $4 billion in revenue.

Established in November 2016 by Warburg Pincus, VinaCapital, and VinaCapital’s founder, Don Lam, Lodgis is a fully integrated hotel platform targeting the development, acquisition, and management of hospitality assets across Southeast Asia.

As part of its formation, Lodgis was initial seeded with approximately $300 million of capital commitments from Warburg Pincus and VinaCapital along with best-in-class hospitality assets including the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi and Fusion Hotels & Resorts, the leading domestic hotel company in Vietnam.