PT Gobel diversifies to build three-star hotel

JAKARTA (JP): PT Gobel Development Corporation, a major electronics manufacturer, is entering the hotel business by constructing a three star-hotel on Jl. Saharjo in South Jakarta.

The planned hotel, to be called Hotel Clarion Jakarta, is owned by PT Dharmagraha Nusantara, a Gobel subsidiary, and will be managed by PT Choice Hotels Indonesia, the master license holder of Choice Hotels International of the United States.

The ground breaking ceremony of the US$125 million hotel took place yesterday and was led by a Gobel commissioner, Abdullah Gobel, Choice's executive chairman, David Schaefer, and the chief of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, Pudjo Basuki.

Gobel said that the planned eight-story hotel will include 172 rooms, a business center, meeting rooms, a conference hall, a swimming pool, restaurants and a health center.

The hotel is expected to open in early 1998 and to employ some 250 Indonesians, he said.

Pudjo admitted that the 1.5-year construction period is relatively short for such a project.

"I am quite happy that this hotel will be up and running soon. There are currently 11 star-rated hotel projects in Jakarta delayed by the owners, mostly owing to financial problems."

A number of star-rated hotels in Jakarta are currently carrying out renovation or expansion projects, including the Borobudur Inter-Continental and Le Meridien, while dozens of new star-rated hotels, such as the Conrad, the Marriott, the Kempinski, the Marco Polo, the Traders and the Park Lane, are being prepared to open in the city in the next few years.

However, Pudjo said, Jakarta might lack star-rated hotel-rooms if the growth rate is slow and more hotel projects are delayed. He refused to name the delayed hotel projects.

"Jakarta now has some 18,000 star-rated hotel rooms. This figure is expected to increase to 30,000 by the year 2000."

Choice currently operates six hotels, in Yogyakarta, Bandung and Anyer in West Java, Parapat in North Sumatra and Pacung and Taman Mumbul in Bali.

Choice expects to see four hotels open in 1997, located in the Central Java city of Surakarta, Batam in Riau, Carita beach in West Java and Surabaya in East Java.

In addition to the Clarion Jakarta, Choice will also manage two further hotels, in Palembang in South Sumatra and Bogor in West Java in 1998.

Today Choice, which uses Quality, Clarion, Comfort and Sleep as it brands, is scheduled to sign an agreement with the Lippo Group to manage the Carita Clarion Suites at the Carita beach in West Java. (icn)