Ovolo Hotels Celebrates the Home. Stretch. of Quarantine Measures with NEW Quarantine Concierge Offering

Ovolo Hotels Celebrates the Home. Stretch. of Quarantine Measures with NEW Quarantine Concierge Offering

Ovolo Hotels has launched a new Home. Stretch. Quarantine Concierge offering in response to Hong Kong’s 12 August easing of restrictions

The award-winning designer hotel collection has been proudly bringing Hong Kongers home for the last two years and has been an industry trailblazer when it comes to elevating mandatory quarantine to a pleasant and restorative experience for its guests.

Ovolo Hotels welcomes the latest announcement to reduce quarantine with open arms and sees this as a positive step forward in what the city hopes to be the ending stages of in-bound quarantine.

Ovolo has always been an advocate for reopening Hong Kong’s borders when it was safe to do so. While Ovolo was honored to play its part in welcoming returning citizens and visitors to Hong Kong with a safe and enjoyable experience, running a quarantined hotel has many challenges and few of the joys of face-to-face interaction that hospitality normally offers. With the exceptionally high costs of running a quarantined hotel, financial gain has never been a priority – for Ovolo, it’s all about bringing people back to Hong Kong with dignity and respect. It is now time to reinvigorate the city and treat COVID as what it is: a part of life.

Quarantine Concierge: Home. Stretch. continues to offer everything Quarantine Concierge 7.0 did and more, with a choose-your-own three-day staycation experience. Ovolo has curated a number of options under the pillars of Wellness, Fitness, and Indulgence for guests to choose from. Guests can mix and match according to their personal preference, enabling them to enjoy a healthy or indulgent lifestyle balance:

• The ‘Wellness’ selection is perfect for guests wanting to use the time to practice some mindfulness, with activities such as origami kits, meditative coloring-in and a yoga masterclass, complete with a take-home yoga mat.

• Those looking to stay active can pick from the ‘Fitness’ menu, which offers a variety of workout equipment plus a pilates masterclass membership, motivating playlists and a walking pad to ensure your daily step count is reached.

• Guests needing a little self-care will enjoy ‘‘Indulgence’ options complete with a luxe whisky masterclass, gourmet Kettle Chips and a rejuvenating skin retreat masterclass.

Ovolo’s partnership with ClassPass, provides quarantine guests with a complimentary membership for two weeks, complete with 20 credits and 50% off all classes on their trial, so they can continue to enjoy the perks after their stay.

“The home stretch…….finally!  It’s awesome to see that Hong Kong’s quarantine rules are easing to 3 days hotel quarantine with a further 4 days of health monitoring. Whilst Ovolo Hotels has been proud to look after returning Hong Kongers over these last two years, I hope to see quarantine-free travel for everyone coming into our amazing city soon. A quarantine-free border policy is the only way we can truly return to our status as Asia’, says Girish Jhunjhnuwala, Founder & Executive Chairman of Ovolo Hotels.

“Just as we led the way in delivering an exceptional experience throughout the initial quarantine periods, we are now looking at how we can offer an amazing three-day quarantine to corporates and locals, and maybe even some tourists, that will be more like a staycation than quarantining. This includes offering a wide variety of fitness, wellness, and indulgence experiences to care for you – mind, body and soul.

Our Homecoming Project will also continue through this period; it's an initiative that is dedicated to supporting returning Hong Kongers in need, with HKD$1 a night rooms during this mandatory quarantine period to help them get back to their loved ones.”

Standard in all Quarantine Concierge packages, this new offer will continue to be inclusive of three daily meals per person, free daily in-room happy hour drink and snacks, free welcome mini bar, free welcome Loot Bag, free unlimited premium Wi-Fi, free local calls, and in-room Apple TV and Alexa.

“Coming off the immense success of our Quarantine Concierge 7.0 package, we’re excited to announce Quarantine Concierge: Home. Stretch., which offers guests more choice than ever before, ensuring a pleasurable staycation experience, no matter what they’re into,” says Mael Vastine, Director of Operations of Ovolo Hotels Hong Kong

For more information:

Website: https://ovolohotels.com

OVOLO POISED FOR GROWTH AS TOURISM INDUSTRY REBOUNDS

OVOLO POISED FOR GROWTH AS TOURISM INDUSTRY REBOUNDS

Leading independent lifestyle hotel brand, Ovolo, is poised for expansion to capitalise on the long-term growth of the travel sector. Having tripled its room count in the last five years, including adding two assets during the pandemic, market conditions are now ripe to seek value-add and conversion opportunities to take advantage of the recovery.

After building its foundations as an owner-operator, Ovolo is now looking to more than double its network, and will ramp up growth efforts via acquisitions, HMAs, joint ventures and partnerships. Embarking on its next chapter, Ovolo is looking to expand further in Australia, New Zealand, and selected APAC target markets where it can leverage its strong brand value. After opening its first hotel in Indonesia late last year, Ovolo is also keen to grow in major urban and leisure destinations in Asia including Tokyo, Singapore, Bangkok, and Phuket. In addition, the group is eyeing key source markets in Europe and beyond.

“This is the perfect time to expand the Ovolo brand and we are open to discussions with strategic partners who would like to be part of our growth journey,” says Girish Jhunjhnuwala, Ovolo Hotels Founder and Executive Chairman. “After 20 years of building the Ovolo brand, we want to share our expertise and build long-term partnerships that can unlock an asset’s full potential and drive higher returns.”

Interest and capital in hotel real estate is currently booming, with Q1 of 2022 seeing the highest quarterly transaction volume in Australia and New Zealand on record, and quarterly volumes across Asia Pacific exceeding full-year 2020 levels. Developers, family offices, high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors are looking at the hotel sector with renewed interest as they diversify from retail and office space due to shifting consumption and work patterns. However, travel demand is set to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023/24, further accelerated by an increased desire for people to buy experiences.

Indeed, lifestyle hotels are set to lead the market out of the pandemic, with demand for this sector more than doubling from 2014 to 2019 and set to double again by 2023. There is a clear and growing preference for the highly connected and experiential nature of lifestyle hotels and Ovolo’s design-led, people and service driven culture sets it apart from its competitors. Transforming older, outdated hotels with Ovolo’s signature guest experiences can unlock significant upside potential. Importantly, lifestyle guests are willing to pay substantial room rate premiums of 15% or more, which drives both higher yields and profitability.

“There are great value-add opportunities in the market right now, where hotels can be reimagined and repositioned with the right design, service and branding,” says Dave Baswal, Ovolo Hotels CEO. “Ovolo has experience in delivering multiple value-add projects over many years and we are considering strategic partnerships and JV opportunities to expand further and faster to take advantage of the current favourable conditions in the market to facilitate growth.”

Strong branding is clearly linked to hotel performance in an increasingly competitive market. The award-winning Ovolo name resonates strongly with the travelling public, having been named Hotel Brand of the Year 2019 and 2020 in the Hotel Management Awards in Australia. Ovolo hotels are consistently rated amongst the top hotel brands in their locations on TripAdvisor and Ovolo Central Hong Kong was awarded Travellers Choice Best of the Best 2021, while Ovolo won the Hospitality & Leisure Business Award Hong Kong 2021, amongst many others.

Guided by its visionary founder, Girish, Ovolo hotels have built a reputation for disrupting and shaking up the boutique lifestyle hotel scene.  With a talented cross-functional team known for driving creativity and agility, Ovolo hotels stand out from the crowd. Ovolo has a proven track record of adding value and delivering superior results, with end-to-end experience in identifying opportunities, transforming hotels, and driving operational excellence. From heritage hotels like Ovolo Woolloomooloo, to greenfield developments like Ovolo South Yarra, and new urban resorts like Mamaka, Bali, Ovolo avoids the cookie-cutter approach to ensure every hotel is different and can change with the times.

Ovolo’s culture is centred around providing a great experience for both guests and staff and is dedicated to making meaningful contributions to people and society. Ovolo was the first hotel group globally to develop its Plant’d ‘Veg Pledge’, going fully vegetarian across its Ovolo Hotels to reduce its carbon footprint significantly and promote wellness through conscious cuisine. Ovolo also has in place eco-conscious minibars that feature organic and fair-trade produce; ORCA food waste recycling; electric vehicle charging stations; energy efficiency programs; and Cloud-based reporting to reduce paper waste.

More than places to stay, Ovolo hotels are places to experience. Each hotel is a unique adventure, with vibrant interiors, generous inclusions and restaurants and bars that draw not only guests but locals. Ovolo prides itself on breaking the traditional rules of hospitality and in delivering wonder and surprises at every turn.