ABOUT YTL HOTELS

A MALAYSIAN COMPANY, AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION

YTL Hotels is the hospitality arm of one of Malaysia's most dynamic conglomerates, YTL Corporation Berhad. The parent company is considered among the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's bluest blue chips, with a strong foundation in construction and construction-related industries (at home and abroad) and a growing reputation as a major international player in power generation. YTL Corporation Berhad is also listed on the Tokyo bourse.

YTL Corporation Berhad Specialises In:

Construction Contracting | Power Generation | Cement Manufacturing & Related Activities | Property Development
Hotels, Resorts and Leisure | Technology Incubation | Carbon Consulting | REIT

YTL Hotels does not confine itself to any one particular activity or sector in the hospitality industry. The company is involved in both ownership and management of properties and operations ranging from moderately-priced hotels to luxury trains. Each one of its enterprises is highly-rated in its own right. 

The company continues to expand aggressively, taking its experience and expertise overseas with an eye on forging successful partnerships to develop properties in other emerging markets around the world.

Management With An Owner's Perspective

Key to the company's successful partnerships is its long involvement in property ownership. This has allowed it to develop a healthy recognition of owner's concerns when providing value-added management services, and is vital in helping build trust, understanding and cooperation with its partners.

Product Philosophy

As hotel owners and operations, YTL Hotels is vitally concerned with sustained product and profit performance throughout the commercial span of each property managed, a critical factor in business success. 

But even before a single brick is laid, we are already in a position to help our partners achieve significant commercial advantage for their properties. Over 50 years' worth of experience and expertise in building construction allows us to help you ensure optimal building and outfitting costs, with significant savings.

Unlike some companies, YTL Hotels never makes the mistake of relying solely on the apparent physical merits of each property. Instead, the company consistently seeks to apply the discipline of adding value to each hotel's as-built-features through customer service and consistent product performance. 

As a result, properties under YTL Hotels share common characteristics, displaying a distinctive style of operational and key product standards:

Ideal location (be it for ease of business or leisure) | Experienced international-class management | Continual competitive innovation of both product and services | Carefully recruited and highly-trained staff

What really sets the company apart is its unstinting application of its operational philosophy to each of its hospitality products.

 

Success At Every Level

Two Prime Properties, Two Prime Examples

Two of YTL Hotels’ properties, in particular, attest to its success. One is a business-class hotel, the other a world-class luxury resort and each one is considered the best in its category. Together, they also help showcase the company's vast range. 

Vistana Kuala Lumpur, which began operations in 1996, was designed as a moderately-priced hotel addressing the needs of Malaysian and regional business travellers. In a short time, it has risen to become a major player in Malaysia's hospitality industry. 

The hotel's popularity is evidenced by its occupancy rate, attaining an average of over 90% for its first two years of operation. And despite the country's recent economic volatility and increasing competition, Vistana's occupancy consistently exceeds that of its competitors by over 20 percent.

Since its inception, Vistana has proven itself to possess a formidable potential for strong earnings. And efforts to establish and strengthen its presence as a chain throughout Malaysia are well underway. Today, you will also find the similar warm Vistana hospitality in Kuantan and Penang. 

At the luxury end of the scale is the award-winning Pangkor Laut Resort - voted the top 2 island resorts in the world by the U.K. Conde Nast Traveller magazine in 1999, voted in 1997 as one of the world's top 5 resorts by readers of International Business Traveler magazine. Nestled amidst the exotic surroundings of the Malacca Straits, it is an international jetsetter's haven of luxury villas sprawled over the lush tropical greenery of a private island. 

Pangkor Laut's concept of "one island, one resort" has validated YTL's ability to precisely cater to the needs of its customers. Like the Vistana, it also performs well, outpacing all other Malaysian resorts in its class.

Product Versatility

Adding to the company's impressive credentials within Malaysia are several other operations. Each is very different in nature. Each one unique. 

The company jointly owns the Eastern & Oriental Express, the Asian cousin of the legendary Venice Simplon Orient Express. The service runs from Singapore to Thailand, traversing the entire length of the Malaysian peninsular. 

In 1997, the company added Kuala Lumpur's first luxury boutique hotel to its portfolio when The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur opened for business in December. It has quickly gained a reputation for a level of service never before experienced in the city.

Going International

In addition to supporting and managing its own properties, YTL also believes in continual expansion. Its expertise in strategically identifying potential niche markets allows YTL the capacity to expand by investing in existing high-growth sectors. 

One aspect of YTL's expansion strategy is to establish alliances with partners in various countries. By tapping and building on their existing infrastructure, it actively identifies attractive investment opportunities, where it can play a significant role in lending its expertise, experience and operational skills. 

In its first venture abroad, YTL Hotels has taken over joint ownership of The Surin Phuket, a five-star resort on Thailand's most famous holiday island. Drawing on the experience gained from operating Pangkor Laut, the company is developing the property into one of the more exclusive retreats at one of the most popular tourist destinations in Asia.

Within the growing resort and leisure industry in general, YTL Hotels will continue to acquire relatively new niche markets. One of the company's strategies will be to focus on select locations with geographical appeal - for example, in developing game parks on the vast and scenic grasslands of the African continent.

 

Management Through Innovation

YTL Hotels' management expertise lies at the core of its business strategy. And to remain competitive, the company realises the need for constant innovation in its management methods. To this end, it has developed a proprietary system of operation for the properties it manages, with the following essential components: 

  • A Sales Account Management System (SAMS), a sales method relying on information from potential customers as its base. This consultative methodology provides YTL with the capacity to fulfill the dynamic needs and requirements of any customer with appropriate hotel products and services. And because relationships are formed with buying organisations not limited to a single market source, the system can be applied to hotel products in just about any geographical location.
  • A Human Resource and Training System, which relies on employee education and development in order to retain a stable work force of highly-trained and motivated staff. Each employee regularly participates in YTL-developed generic training programmes to upgrade their skills. 
  • YTL Hotels also operates its own Central Purchasing System. The system maintains master files and catalogues on all equipment, ware, and supplies required. It does this to assure effective cross-indexing of purchases to control all acquisition and operational costs. By consolidating the purchasing and product research activities, YTL Hotels gains advantages of expertise, actual field experience, and volume discounts which significantly improve operating efficiencies.

The Sales, Human Resource & Training, and Central Purchasing divisions of the company are well-supported by the IT division, which is constantly developing supporting proprietary software.

The YTL Difference

YTL Hotels seeks to produce and continually improve its hotel products, with a great degree of consistency and competitive innovation. To this end, the management of assets is focussed in achieving customer satisfaction, optimal profit margins and maintaining competitive advantage. Additionally, the development of its human resources through consistent training and education develops a renewable source of operational talents. These attributes empower its managed hotels and resorts to gain an aura of success and preeminent desirability, fundamentals of a viable market image. 

To date, the company's system of operation has proven to be a success. The Vistana and Pangkor Laut are now the envy of the Malaysian hotel industry, with the other properties soon to follow. All will possess products and services appropriate to their markets, coupled with the distinct qualities that set them apart from their competitors.