YTL Hotels’ senior executives were in Sydney this week to meet with trade and media, and to share news of upcoming activities at its global collection of hotels. Karryon Luxury attends the briefing.
Meeting at Silvester’s Restaurant at Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel, owned by YTL Hotels, Karryon was among a group of media invited to meet YTL Hotels executives currently in Australia.
Greeting guests was YTL Corporation Executive Director, Dato’ Mark Yeoh Seok Kah; Investment and Asset Manager, Cedric Cheah; and Resort Director of the group’s Niseko, Japan properties, Panch Ratnavale.
Mr Yeoh discussed the company’s expansion and innovation, highlighting their properties in various countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, France, and The Netherlands.
Among its prized properties are The Gainsborough Bath Spa, a part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World; The Ritz-Carlton, Koh Samui; and Pangkor Laut Resort in Malaysia.
The portfolio includes ownership management of Marriott International properties in Australia and Kuala Lumpur, as well as properties under the brand’s Autograph Collection banner.
Properties under the Marriott International partnership include The Ritz-Carlton, Koh Samui as well as Higashiyama Niseko Village, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. YTL now owns five resorts in Niseko Village.
Speaking at the Sydney event, organised by GTI Tourism, Dato Mark Yeoh said:
“YTL Hotels has a tagline that we’ve had for the last 30 years called ‘Treasured Moments, Treasured Places,” he said.
“People ask what is luxury? How do you define luxury? Is it a gold tap? A chandelier with diamonds or things like that? I think of one of the lines that I used in one of my first interviews about 10 years ago in Architectural Digest magazine… luxury is waking up with a 200 million year old rainforest as your backdrop. I think that’s luxury,” he said.
Expansion is clearly on the cards for the hotel group, with Dato Mark Yeoh referencing how busy his investment manager, Cedric, would be over the next few weeks.
“I’m taking about three weeks off in early July and we still have three deals to sign off before 30 June – in Singapore, Bangkok and probably Phuket – so there will be more new things for you to enjoy,” he said.
What’s coming up?
At Pangkor Laut Resort in Malaysia, the group will host ‘Opera in Paradise 2024’ for the second edition of this event. Renowned Australian opera stars will participate this year, alongside headline act Italian Flautist, Andrea Griminell.
Speaking at the dinner, Dato Mark Yeoh spoke about legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti’s fondness for the resort, which he officially relaunched for the group in 1993, describing the location as “paradise”.
“Lucianno became a very, very good friend. He visited Pangkor Laut twice and performed,” he said.
Opera in Paradise will take place from 18 – 20 October, 2024, during a three-day, two-night weekend experience of opera and gastronomy. Packages start from approximately AUD $530 and include minimum two nights’ accommodation, daily meals, scheduled speedboat transfers, pre-concert cocktails, and the opera concert followed by a gala dinner.
The group’s The Gainsborough Bath Spa, the only property connected to the natural thermal springs in UNESCO World Heritage-listed city of Bath, will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen in 2025.
“We’re doing a deal with the Jane Austen Foundation that will see us host gala dinners for the year, special packages, and we will have all the best historical people in to talk about Jane Austen – from her poetry, writings, and lifestyle from a historical perspective. We are introducing things like a Jane Austen high tea from the summer,” he said.
For more information, visit ytlhotels.com
