Facade image of the Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City
By V. Sivaji
International hotel brands and locally owned hotels are taking the queue to set up base in Penang and the timeline goes well into 2029.
From our count, there will be 16 more hotels either newly built or undergo major renovations on the island alone.
The most recent announcement was made for the Marriott Hotel Penang Queens Waterfront in Bayan Lepas.
The new 5-star hotel located in Bayan Lepas will offer 262-rooms and feature top notch rooms, suites and other facilities for guests. While the Marriott Residences Queens Waterfront Penang will offer 228 units.
The project is expected to be completed by 2029.
This will be followed by the Lyf Hotel in Georgetown and the Citadines Tanjong Tokong which are nearing their competition and expected to open by Q3 or by the end of this year.
Work on the Citadines Connect Bertam in Georgetown near Komtar is feverishly underway too.
Meanwhile, it will be followed by the Fifth Avenue Hotel in Macallum, M Social Penang (former Copthorne Orchid) and Millen Hotel (former Northam All Suites).
The former is expected to be launched by the end of this year while the latter two hotels are seeing rigorous renovation work underway.
Other hotels planning their opening are the Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City on August 1, 2024 and later in the pipeline, the Harris in Ayer Itam, The Le Meridien near the Penang International Airport, The Intercontinental in Teluk Bahang (former Mutiara Resort), the Capri Hotel along Magazine road and the Evergreen Laurel Hotel along Gurney Drive which has been bought over by new owners.
Not forgetting two more new hotels (not named yet) at the Light City along Tun Lim Chong Eu Expressway.
On the same note, we have also heard of the former Holiday Inn in Batu Ferringhi being rebranded under the Marriott International group too.
When contacted, the chairman of the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Penang, Dato Tony Goh said that with the estimated increase in the rooms inventory of around 5% of the current total till 2029, there should be no big impact on the hotel occupancy.
“We also expect the increase in the corporate, MICE, (PWCC) as well as foreign tourists with more direct flights in Penang International Airport (PIA).
“By this time the PIA will also be expanded by then to handle the capacity”, said Goh to Penang Hyperlocal.
Dato Tony Goh MAH Penang chairman