Seri Malaysia Group to build five more hotels in the country

Hotel Seri Malaysia Sdn Bhd will build five more hotels under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), said its Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Zafrul Isa.

Zafrul said the hotels were to be built at Kepala Batas in Penang, Tanjung Malim in Perak, Kangar in Perlis and Sabah and Sarawak.

New hotel: Rahaman unveiling the plague to launch the Hotel Seri Malaysia in Ayer Keroh recently.

“The chain of hotels started in 1994 under the Sixth Malaysia Plan, with 15 hotels built, and the hotel in Malacca is the 18th Hotel Seri Malaysia to join the chain,” said Zafrul at the launching of the Hotel Seri Malaysia in Ayer Keroh recently.

He said the hotel in Malacca had been operating for about a year, recording an average occupancy rate of 65.32% for the average room rate of RM92.24.

Zafrul added although the hotel was recognised as a two-star hotel because facilities provided were the basic amenities needed by visitors, at certain locations in the country, the Seri Malaysia hotels facilities were at par with those of three-star hotels.

Besides the basic amenities, he said the hotel in Ayer Keroh was equipped with other facilities such as the Jonker Cafe restaurant, a multipurpose hall to accommodate 300 people and a self-service laundry.

“Our objective is to provide quality, international standard service at a reasonable and affordable price, or simply put, a five-star service at a two-star price,” said Zafrul.

He added Hotel Seri Malaysia was the only hotel chain which was given the recognition as the Largest Hotel Chain in Malaysia by the Malaysian Book of Records.

Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, whose speech was read out by State Tourism Committee Chairman Datuk Rahaman Abdul Karim, said the state generated revenue of RM2.5bil from the tourism industry last year, and was aiming to hit RM3mil from the Visit Malaysia 2007 campaign.

“Front liners such as hoteliers and service providers in the tourism sector must go back to basics such as cleanliness, friendliness, affordability and quality.

“Besides that, industry players must also think out of the box on how to attract more visitors to stay over especially during off-peak periods and weekdays,” said Mohd Ali.

Mohd Ali added travel agents also played an important role to ensure that they offered value-added packages to tourists and make Malacca a “must-see” destination whenever a visitor visits Malaysia.

“Travel agents must make sure that once the tourists land in Kuala Lumpur, Malacca must be the first destination where they spend their first night,” he said.

Source : STAR
[tags : malaysiahotelnews hotels malaysia resorts news travel tourism travel vmy2007]