The Ascott Limited
The Ascott Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Ascott") is a Singaporean wholly owned lodging business of CapitaLand Investment, one of Asia's largest diversified real estate groups. Headquartered and listed as a Singapore company, Ascott has grown to be one of the leading international lodging owner-operators, with more than 700 properties in over 190 cities spanning more than 30 countries across the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the USA. Its portfolio of serviced residence and hotel brands includes Ascott The Residence, The Crest Collection, Somerset, Quest, Citadines, lyf, Préférence, Vertu, Harris, Citadines Connect , Fox, Yello and POP!. History. Founding Years (1984 – 2000). On 14 August 1984, Scotts Holdings opened The Ascott Singapore, the first international-class serviced residence in the Asia Pacific region. The name “Ascott” was coined by Ameerali Jumabhoy to represent Scotts Road in Singapore (where the first property was located at) and a nod to the famed British races at Ascot, due to the family's association with equestrian sports. The extra “t” was added to avoid copyright issues that may arise. Scotts Holdings eventually merged with Stamford Group, the serviced residence arm of DBS Land, to form The Ascott  Limited (hereinafter referred to as “Ascott”), creating a joint portfolio of more than 1,700 units in eight cities. In 1998, Pidemco Land set up its first serviced residence arm, Somerset International and acquired Liang Court Holdings, then one of Asia's largest serviced residence operators, to form Somerset Holdings. Ascott and Somerset Holdings merged in 2000, leading to a total portfolio of 6,000 serviced residences across 10 countries following the merger of DBS Land and Pidemco Land to form CapitaLand Limited. Ascott would later become a wholly owned subsidiary of the CapitaLand Limited on 28 April 2008. Growth and Expansion  (2000 – ). In 2003, Ascott acquired a 50% interest for EUR84.2 million (SGD47.5 million) in Citadines, a pan-European serviced residence chain with properties across France, the UK, Belgium, Spain and Germany, thereby increasing its overall portfolio to 13,500 serviced units in 37 cities across 16 countries. By 2004, Citadines was acquired fully for an additional EUR74.3 million (SGD154.2 million) by Ascott, which by then owned three brands: Ascott The Residence, Citadines and Somerset. In 2014, Ascott entered a strategic partnership with Quest Apartment Hotels (hereinafter referred to as “Quest”), then the largest serviced apartment provider with 112 properties in Australia , by acquiring 20% stake in the company for AUD28.8 million (SGD32.3 million). In 2017, Ascott increased its stake in Quest to a majority share of 80% for AUD180 million (SGD191 million), propelling it to become the largest serviced residence provider in Australasia, with 11,000 units in 180 properties located across cities in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. In 2016, Ascott launched its new co-living brand, lyf, which develops upscale communal accommodation for young travellers, in order to accommodate millennials. Currently open in Singapore and Thailand, lyf has acquired signings for properties in China, Australia, Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines  in 2020. In 2018, Ascott acquired a 70% majority stake for USD25.9 million (SGD35.4 million) in Indonesia's Green Oak Hotel Management (GOHM), the holding company of TAUZIA Hotels (hereinafter referred to as “TAUZIA”), one of Indonesia's top five hotel operators. At the time of acquisition, TAUZIA operated close to 20,000 units in 122 hotels across Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. The acquisition was a strategic move by Ascott to access the rapidly expanding middle-class business hotel segment, with about 70% of TAUZIA's hotels catering to business and convention travellers and the remainder to leisure travellers. Ascott Residence  Trust. Ascott Residence Trust (hereinafter referred to as “ART”) is the largest hospitality trust in the Asia Pacific and eight biggest globally, with a total asset value of SGD7.6 billion as at 30 June 2020. ART has grown roughly five times the amount in terms of asset size since March 2006, when it was listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST), having been established with the goal of investing mainly in income-producing real estate and real estate-related assets, which are used predominantly as serviced residences, hotels, rental housing properties and other hospitality assets in countries  across the world. With more than 16,000 units in 39 cities across 15 countries as at 30 June 2020, ART's international portfolio spans the Asia Pacific, Europe and the USA. ART's properties are mostly operated under the brands of Ascott The Residence, Somerset, Quest and Citadines, and are mainly located in key gateway cities such as Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, London, Manila, Melbourne, Munich, New York, Paris, Perth, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. ART is a stapled group comprising Ascott Real Estate Investment Trust (Ascott Reit) and Ascott Business Trust  (Ascott BT) and managed by Ascott Residence Trust Management Limited and Ascott Business Trust Management Pte. Ltd., both of which are wholly owned subsidiaries of CapitaLand Investment. In 2015, Ascott Reit was awarded “Best REIT (Asia)” at World Finance magazine's 2015 Real Estate Awards. Brands. Ascott The Residence. Ascott The Residence offers serviced residences. Citadines Apart'hotel. Citadines Apart’Hotels offers serviced apartments with hotel services. Citadines Connect. Citadines Connect offers business hotels. Somerset Serviced Residence. Somerset Serviced Residence offers serviced residences. The Crest Collection. The Crest Collection offers serviced residences in Paris. lyf by Ascott. lyf by Ascott offers upscale  communal accommodation. Quest Apartment Hotels. Quest Apartment Hotels offers properties that offer apartment-style rooms, designed to cater to both long-term and short-term stays. TAUZIA Hotels. TAUZIA Hotels offers accommodation options from seven brands: Préférence Hotels, Vertu Hotels, HARRIS Hotels, FOX Hotels, FOX LITE Hotels, YELLO Hotels and POP! Hotels. Properties under these brands are located in cities across Indonesia and Malaysia, with new properties slated to open in other Southeast Asian cities like Bangkok. Prior to acquisition, Tauzia offers MTP (My Tauzia Privilege) as its privilege reward program instead of Ascott Star Rewards, although the program continues  to run after Ascott acquisition. Préférence Hotels. Préférence offers a selection of upscale boutique hotels. Vertu Hotels. Not associated with Vertu luxury phones, Vertu Hotels offers hotels that are designed to cater to business and leisure travellers. The brand currently have one location in Jakarta. HARRIS Hotels / FOX Hotels / FOX LITE. HARRIS Hotels is the flagship brand of Tauzia, as it was the first brand introduced in 2002. Both HARRIS and FOX Hotels are catered from midscale to upper-midscale contemporary travellers. YELLO Hotels. Targeted to yuppy millennials/Gen-Z, YELLO is Tauzia's second economy hotel brand that emphasise  technological facilities and urban art exhibits. POP! Hotels. Tauzia's first economy hotel brand that emphasise environmental friendliness. Managed by Tauzia. Tauzia also managed non-brand hotels under Tauzia umbrella, made the hotels eligible for MTP/Ascott Star Rewards privileges. Rewards Programme. In 2019, Ascott launched Ascott Star Rewards (ASR), the world's first serviced residence loyalty programme to offer full flexibility to earn and redeem points. ASR members can earn and redeem points from direct bookings at all participating serviced residences within Ascott's global portfolio of brands. The programme's flexibility is reflected in how there is no  cap to the number of points that can be earned, no minimum points required for redemption, no blackout dates, as well as the option to nominate other guests to earn points. Signups for the ASR programme are free and the four membership tiers are based on members’ accumulated spending during the qualifying period, starting with the complimentary Classic tier, followed by Silver, Gold and Platinum.