Hotel Okura Co. has agreed with the Saigon Trading Group (SATRA) to develop and manage The Okura Prestige Saigon, the Okura Prestige brand's first property in Vietnam, which is expected to open in Ho Chi Minh City in 2020.
The move is part of an effort by Hotel Okura—whose subsidiary Okura Nikko Hotel Management Co. operates Okura Hotels & Resorts, Nikko Hotels International and Hotel JAL City—to expand its global portfolio to 100 properties by 2020. The majority of these hotels will be in Asia.
"We are focusing on hotel development in Vietnam because of its stable and highly promising GDP growth rate, which is averaging 6.5 percent annually, and its affluent and youthful population up to age 30, which accounts for half the nation's population," Hotel Okura's President Toshihiro Ogita said in a statement. In July, Savills Vietnam predicted that the country’s hotel sector would see more mergers and acquisitions throughout 2016 as international tourism to the country continues to rise. Official figures showed Vietnam's international arrivals rose 21.3 percent year-on-year to more than 4.7 million in the first six months of 2016.
The 250-guestroom Okura Prestige Saigon will be the third hotel in Vietnam managed by Okura Nikko Hotel Management following Hotel Nikko Hanoi and Hotel Nikko Saigon operated under the Nikko brand.
The hotel will be part of Satra Tax Plaza, a 40-story, multipurpose commercial complex under construction on the site of the former Saigon Tax Trade Center.
Okura Hotels & Resorts will also add Okura Spa & Resort Cappadocia in Turkey in 2017 and The Hotel Okura Manila Bayshore and The Okura Prestige Phnom Penh in 2019. The next Nikko Hotels International property scheduled to open will be Hotel Nikko Bangkok in 2018.
Hotel Okura's partner, Satra, is a public enterprise owned by Ho Chi Minh City.