Second Marriott Courtyard opens in Bali

Marriott International has established its second Courtyard branded property in Bali.

Marriott Bali Seminyak’s new Courtyard is a 290 room hotel situated in the Seminyak area of the island, nearby the beach.

Described as an ‘urban oasis’, the hotel offers a variety of rooms with private terraces or balconies, as well as a bar and restaurant, a large lagoon-style pool, 24-hour fitness centre, a kids’ club, plus banqueting and conference space for up to 350 people. Free Wi-Fi is also offered and the hotel has shuttle bus services to the beach and close by entertainment areas.

Another novelty feature of the recent property is an electronic board in the lobby, informing guests on hotel facilities, nearby attractions, flight schedules, a local map and general news.

Marriott’s vice president for Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore happily explained that Seminyak, Bali is one of the trendiest locations for business as well as leisure travellers.

Marriott Bali Seminyak is the second brand opening in Bali after the Courtyard by Marriott Bali Nusa Dua. It is the 31st Courtyard hotel in Asia.

New Holiday Inn Express in Bali

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has opened a new, fourth Holiday Inn Express hotel in Indonesia. This is after just eight months since Holiday Inn Express was first established in Indonesia.

It is situated in trendy Kuta of the Bali Island, just 6km away from the airport. Named Holiday Inn Express Bali Raya Kuta, it accommodates 168 rooms, offering free Wi-Fi and breakfast. 24 hour fitness and a swimming pool are also available.

There are currently a total of nine Holiday Inn Express hotels throughout South East Asia, with 16 more scheduled to open in the region over the next five years. This with 11 opening in Indonesia alone.

Holiday Inn Express first launched in in the country last year, starting with the Holiday Inn Express Semarang Simpang Lima. This was then followed by the Holiday Inn Express Jakarta Thamrin and Holiday Inn Express Bali Kuta Square.

The new Holiday Inn Express Bali Raya Kuta will be joined by Holiday Inn Resort Bali Benoa during the final quarter of this year.

Industry investment opportunities from Asian Urbanisation

Industry players of a banking forum today, claimed they see massive business opportunities from Asian urbanisation. This is with a researcher having emphasised aspects including agriculture, consumer products and infrastructure.

The infrastructure sector of the region on its own calls for 2.4 trillion U.S. dollars of investments from now to as far as 2030, as claimed by a senior representative of the McKinsey Global Institute during the DBS Asian Insights Conference. The agricultural sector is also anticipated to consolidate, generating major business opportunities.

Indonesian surplus!

It has been announced in Indonesia today that its trade balance altered back to surplus during May, reporting a burst of further positive data - a boost for the top economy of South East Asia following a recent slowdown.

According to the statistics agency, the surplus was slightly higher than anticipated at $70million, following a deficit of nearly $2billion during April as exports were affected by a controversial mineral ore export ban.

The trade balance is especially closely observed by investors, with economists claiming the surplus is efficient during the high uncertainty prior to an increasingly tense presidential election next week.

Manufacturing activity also expanded, as reported by HSBC's manufacturing purchasing managers' index for Indonesia.

It rose to 52.7 during June, from 52.4 during the month before, the highest reading since the survey begun April 2011. The reading above 50 signals growth and as a reading below 50 would be contraction.

DoubleTree Hilton - The latest hotel, hospitality and leisure news

Do you remember when Commercial People updated you with the news of DoubleTree by Hilton Jakarta opening in Diponegoro? They finally opened to guests last week as the first Double Tree in Indonesia.

Situated upon 1,400m² plot of land in Cikini, Central Jakarta - Diponegoro quarters 253 guestrooms including 11 suites and executive rooms. It has three dining outlets, with a ballroom plus meeting rooms, as well as an outdoor swimming pool with a children’s pool, as well as around the clock business and fitness centres.

This DoubleTree marks the addition of a third brand to Hilton Worldwide’s portfolio in Indonesia. The other two being Conrad, Bali and Hilton, Bandung.

Going forward, the group are to establish its Hilton Garden Inn brand in the Bali airport during August/September, plus a second property in Kuta, Bali during 2016. Further in the pipeline is Waldorf Astoria, opening in Jakarta and Uluwatu, Bali during 2017.

The vice president of operations – South East Asia, Hilton Worldwide have claimed that they would love to have each brand in Jakarta. Considering Jakarta’s scale, there could be more than one Hilton Garden Inn.

Within a mature market such as Bali, there has also been demand for hotels such as Hilton and DoubleTree by Hilton and Hilton.

Medan and Balikpapan are also being considered for Hilton or Hilton Garden Inn. Medan is the second largest city of Indonesia with a combination of leisure and business markets, as Balikpapan quarters gas and oil businesses.

Indonesia calling for electricity engineers

The electricity market of South East Asia is set to boom, this is according to Frost and Sullivan.

This is motivated by an expanding residential sector and the industry's replacement of old fashioned electromechanical metres with more newer technologies - particularly in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Revenues of the market (including electronic, electromechanical, prepaid and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)/automatic metre readers), were US$403.9million last year -- expected to grow to US$483million in 2018.

Microsoft shifting into Asia Pacific as technology is growing

Cesar Cernuda, president of Microsoft’s Asia Pacific business - selling devices, software and services in 39 countries and territories quartering one billion people – took his job in Asia, last year in Singapore. This is as he exemplifies the worldwide reach and perspective of a company, seeking to make up for lost ground by concentrating more on emerging markets – where the smartphone era has also just begun to emerge.

He believes China and India may receive the most attention for the Asian business, due to the large sizes of the countries. However, he claimed of Indonesia being expected to become the fourth largest economy in the world by 2050.

Indonesia’s future and its interesting culture towards how technology is currently utilised, has been acknowledged. An emerging country, Indonesia is acknowledged as a young country—the population has an average age of 28—enthusiastic towards technology. Microsoft’s share of the Indonesian smartphone market is expected to triple this year.

Consumer confidence in economy!

Bank Indonesia's consumer confidence survey revealed Indonesian consumers were more optimistic during May 2014 compared to its preceding month. Consumer confidence in South East Asia's major economy increased to 116.90 during May from 113.90 during April. The confidence indicates that Indonesian consumers are more optimistic about the current Indonesian economy condition as well as conditions over the upcoming six months. The result during May was also higher compared to the same period during 2013 (at 112.8).

The survey revealed that in 12 out of 18 Indonesian cities, consumers showed more optimism in regards to the economy. The highest increase was found within the Bandung (9.3) and Bandar Lampung (10.2) cities.

Based upon spending, consumers who spend at least IDR5million (USD$423) per month, tended to show the largest growth in confidence.

Louvre - Another group to open multiple hotels in Indonesia

The tenth largest hotel group in the world and the second largest of Europe, the Louvre Hotels Group, has publicised expansion plans for Indonesia, announcing up to 30 new hotels within the upcoming three years under the Première Classe and Golden Tulip brands.

The announcement marks a further obligation to the destination following Golden Tulip’s access into the market during late 2012.

Since then it has established the Golden Tulip Galaxy Banjarmasin offering 138 rooms. There are six more hotels totalling an additional 1,286 rooms, planned to open this year:

1. Golden Tulip Devins, Bali - scheduled for a June opening, offering 108 rooms in trendy lifestyle region of Seminyak

2. Golden Tulip Essential - August opening, offering 94 rooms in the Denpasar business district region

3. Golden Tulip Jineng Tamansari, Kuta, Bali - October opening, offering 185 rooms on Sunset Road

4. Golden Tulip Essential - November opening, offering 186 rooms in the Pontianak business region

5. Golden Tulip Kalyana, Buah Batu, Bandung - December opening, offering 302 rooms with easy access to industrial and business regions

6. Royal Tulip Bandung, Baros, Cimahi - December opening, offering 411 rooms with easy access to Jakarta, situated just across the exit of the toll road. This will be the flagship of the Indonesian group, being the largest hotel of the group, as well as the first Bandung hotel quartering the major convention centre of the town alongside a wedding chapel

Jakarta is Indonesia's Number 1 Emerging City!

According to the latest from Chicago’s Emerging Cities Outlook (ECO) Index, Jakarta is now the number one rising city. The report looks at cities from low to middle income countries with a strong likelihood to progress over the next two decades, measuring from the business activity criteria, human capital performance and innovation indicators attracting business and talent.

Indonesia generally has been gradually more recognised by companies and their counterparts in foreign governments, as a growing influence in both global and regional business – as stated by a representative of AT Kearney. They continued onto explaining that Jakarta also has a significant demographic advantage alongside capital stability, security, environment and awareness contributing to the city becoming number one.

Jakarta is followed by Manila, the Philippines’ major financial, commercial and cultural hub, ranking second owing to its key advancement in human capital indicators, particularly in the availability and quality of healthcare. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was also in the top ten, based upon largely improved transparency and business activity and transparency. The ECO also reported the potential and probability of an emerging city to rise up and into the more prestigious Global Cities Index (GCI).

Beijing, China, stands out in making it on both the top tiers of the GCI and ECO Index, ranking 8^th and 12^th respectively. The city’s improved healthcare, increased business activity from Fortune 500 companies and performing engagement in politics, as well as its growing international education provisions and escalating IT sector, allowed it to climb six places from 2012.

Agriculture is still important!

 

Two Indonesian companies have purchased Top End cattle stations in just over half a year. This goes to show that agriculture is still significant! This is as well as business in merchandise.

 

It is believed that Great Giant Livestock Co., the second largest cattle feedlot of Indonesia, has bought Willeroo Station from the Bruneian Sultan for $15.1million. This is as at the end of last year, the Japfa group of Indonesia, also known as Santori, purchased Riveren and Inverway for approximately $35million.

 

The Willeroo covers 170,000 in the South West of Katherine, estimated to hold a capacity of 22,000 cattle head. Following negotiations by Ruralco Property's Andy Gray and Steve Liebelt, the final deal included 17,000 cattle head.

 

A smaller property, also near Katherine is expected to be purchased by another Indonesian company in the near future, as Ruralco has commenced a marketing campaign to sell Moroak Station, also within the Northern Territory.

 

With agriculture still in play in South East Asia, why not search for your land or dream agricultural property at www.commercialpeople.co.id – Coming soon.