Forbes Asia August 2017

Singapore’s 50 Richest

CHOO CHONG NGEN

46 | FORBES ASIA AUGUST 2017

MUNSHI AHMED FOR FORBES

When the ‘Love’ Goes

Choo Chong Ngen expands beyond the familiar Hotel 81

to woo a different budget customer to his brand of inns.

BY JESSICA TAN

A

long a 2-mile stretch in Singapore’s red-light dis-

trict of Geylang, one budget hotel chain stands

out. Hotel 81, with its signature blue exterior, has

nearly a dozen inns dotting the side alleys of this

seedy enclave known for, among other things,

late-night supper options like frog’s porridge and turtle soup.

“We only sell rooms; we don’t sell anything else,” says the

chain’s billionaire boss, Choo Chong Ngen, firmly, albeit in

halting English, at his office in a suburban mall-and-office

tower. “Red-light district—the whole world has a red-light

district. You go any country, also have one.”

Choo, who ranks as Singapore’s No. 14 with his privately

held fortune of $2.05 billion, established his first Hotel 81 in

Geylang more than two decades ago, ahead of smaller rivals,

including the Fragrance Hotel chain owned by hotel and prop-

erty tycoon Koh Wee Meng (No. 30). Over the years, cheap

rates have kept business brisk at these so-called love hotels;

today rooms go for as little as $15 for a two-hour stay, extend-

ing to $47 a night.

But lately, Choo, 64, has been evolving from his Geylang

roots. In late 2015, he opened Hotel Boss, a 19-story, 1,500-

room hotel nestled between Arab Street and Little India not far

from downtown Singapore. On a recent weekday afternoon, its

hotel lobby was bustling with visitors from Indonesia, Malaysia,

China and India. Offering its own small, no-frills rooms at $94

a night, the “3.5-star” hotel, with an average occupancy of 80%,

appears to be a hit with a different budget set.

Hotel Boss followed a few other midtier moves by Choo

since 2009. And his makeover mission continues. This sum-

mer, he is opening the 343-room, 4-star Hotel Mi, his fifth

hotel brand in just eight years, just outside the main shopping

belt of Orchard Road, along Bencoolen Street. Choo’s portfolio

will exceed 6,500 rooms across the island, with less than half

belonging to Hotel 81.

Govinda Singh, a director and hotel specialist at real estate

services firm Colliers International, confirms that Choo’s hotel

empire is repositioning: “Because of its heritage, it probably

didn’t have the best image,” he says, adding that it now wants to

become a well-recognized budget brand such as Ibis, owned by

French firm AccorHotels.

It’s a calculated decision for Choo. “People think Hotel 81

means Geylang,” he says. “Different names can catch different

types of fish. No need to catch one type of fish. Can catch five

types of fish, ten types of fish.”

In recent years, smaller economy hotels have mushroomed

across the island city, which saw visitor arrivals increase by

7.7% to 16.4 million last year. Even so, “Singapore is very

small,” Choo laments. “If there are three more Hotel Bosses, we

won’t be able to find any more customers—I must go outside.”

He recently made his first foray abroad, in Thailand, when

he signed his initial affiliation with an international brand to

open a 164-room Travelodge in Pattaya, where he bought and

renamed an existing inn. Travelodge will also operate a hotel

owned by Choo in Bangkok, slated to open by year-end. Choo

declines to disclose financial details.

The Travelodge linkage is a good move, notes Colliers’

Singh. “When you go into a highly competitive environment

such as Bangkok, you need all the advantages you can get, and

what Travelodge brings as well is their international expertise

in managing properties.”

Choo says he has the wherewithal to make acquisitions

of up to $300 million and is scouting for expansion in Japan,