YANGON, 25 January 2019: After years of extended talks and false starts, Hilton appears to have finally secured a management agreement for a Yangon hotel.
The hotel group announced, last week, it has inked a deal with Myanmar’s Crown Advanced Construction Company, the owner and developer of a 308-key hotel close the central business district in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital.
Hilton confirmed the property, to be branded, Hilton Times City Yangon should open in 2022, but it is not uncommon for international hotels brands properties to face considerable delays during the fitting out phase.
It will be the chain’s first managed property in Yangon.
Crown Advanced was first established in 2009 as a construction company in both civil and real estate sectors, and first identified the Times City Project on its Facebook page in 2017.
However back in 2015, Myanmar Times reported Hilton Worldwide was ready to sign a deal with local conglomerate Crown Advanced Construction to operate a hotel in central Yangon.
That news came two years on the heels of an Hilton Worldwide announcement that it had signed a deal with Thailand-based LP Holdings in 2013 to manage a 300-room hotel at Centrepoint Towers in downtown Yangon.
Nothing materialised for Hilton on that project.
In 2015 news reports identified the USD324 million mixed-use development known as Times City quoting a Crown Advanced Construction director who said “Hilton would manage”, but a contract failed to materialise.
Since 2013 Hilton Worldwide has been associated with properties developed by Eden Group and there was talk of it opening five hotels, that would be branded under Hilton. Today there are two one at Ngapali and the other in Nay Pyi Taw.
In 2015 news reports claimed the Yangon Times City project would comprise of 10 buildings, including two office towers, a five-star hotel, 260 high-end condominium units, 37 shop houses, a gems mall called Yatanar Mall and a 14-storey second-hand car business centre.
The owning company even announced that construction had begun as earlier as 2013 with completion set for 2016.
Now in 2019, Hilton’s latest press statement claims the long awaited debut in Yangon will occur in 2022 when Time City with all of its grandiose buildings opens to the public, around six years after the developer originally claimed construction was underway.
Located a 20-minute drive from the airport and 15-minute drive from downtown Yangon, the hotel will be part of a mixed-use development, including the all-suite hotel, serviced apartments, an office tower, high-end residential units and a retail mall.
“It is an exciting time to be expanding our footprint in Myanmar, with an optimistic outlook for inbound tourism and the country expected to receive 7.5 million tourists,” Hilton said in its statement.
(Source: Hilton, Myanmar Times archives)
