Thread: New hotel build in Myanmar

Originally Posted by Simon43

Perhaps the doomsayers should note BettyBoo's post 'Simon you are mad'. So humour me on this one and continue to enjoy your cuppa tea and sunday newspapers in your 'safe little world'

most entrepreneurs are indeed mad for taking the risks they are taking, but that doesn't stop them from taking them, and thank god for that

that said, Burma political situation is still unclear, despite recent positive reports. This kind of country can overturn all their positive efforts overnight. As they say, "easy come, easy go"

Just don't play golf there. They seem to like planting bombs on the courses.

Only the other day a friend and I were discussing a visa run to Kawthung as we have both been many times and were thinking about doing the casino run this time round.
The weather usually turns sour as soon as we get on the longboat which makes it a tad miserable , so the casino ferry is a drier option.
I was surprised to find out he had stayed a few nights at the " honeybee" as from the outside it looks completely delapidated.
Aparently its not too bad on the inside !
Good luck with the venture Simon , its an untapped resourse and if you could get the tour / visa run operators in Phuket to run your brochure's it would be an interesting diversion for what is usually a very laclustre visit. (Very cheap , Kamagra , whiskey and ciggies are also an open market.)

Good on ya, and good luck.

Personally I'd be wary of such a business in such an unstable region (with regards to Visas - which is presumably the reason why most of your potential guests will be traveling there). With visa rules for both countries being quite unstable.

But hey, if it's just some Ham guys money....

Good luck with it all. Might take a ride down there sometime in the future.

Myanmar lures hoteliers
March 30 - April 8, 2012


A view of Traders Hotel in Yangon.
Pic: Myanmar Times archive

Myanmar is stepping up auctions of land plots in prime locations in Yangon for hotel development.

Authorities are rushing to address a room shortage as foreign investors and tourists begin flocking back to the country.

Myanmar is embarking on reforms and opening up after 50 years of isolation under military rule.

The country will also be the site of the SEA Games 2013 and the Asean Summit 2014, creating even more demand for hotels.

Thinn Htut Thidar, CEO of Myanmar-based Universal Link Service Co Ltd, a business consultant and expert on the country, says all land plots and properties the government selected for bidding are in prime locations in Yangon.

In the first phase of the bidding in late January, 25 properties were offered. Some of them were old buildings suitable for either renovation or new construction while some were vacant plots. Only two were reserved as heritage sites and allowed only for renovation.

“There will be many more buildings or land plots the government plans to open bidding for in the next phase. They need hotels, as the current supply is not enough.”

In Myanmar, all land is owned by the government, which in turn leases it to the private sector for 30, 60 or 90 years.

“Among all property segments in Yangon, hotels are the most attractive for investors as the supply, particularly four- to five-star, is scarce,” Mrs Thidar told the Bangkok Post.

Myanmar now has about 25,000 hotel rooms nationwide. Most are three- to four-star establishments, while five-star ones account for 5 percent. This year, international chains such as Sofitel and Marriott will enter the former capital.

Mrs Thidar said foreign investors were welcome in the property sector but they need to form joint ventures with local companies. Foreign shareholding can be up to 99pc.

“Land prices and value in Yangon are soaring, like in Hong Kong and Singapore,” she added. “Another interesting sector for investment is industrial estates in economic zones.”

Mrs Thidar is a former deputy director of the International Trade Promotion Department, Ministry of Commerce of Myanmar. Her company is a group of experts and experienced retired senior government officials from the trade and investment sector.

According to research by the property consultant Colliers International Thailand, there are 1730 upscale hotel rooms in downtown, inner-city and outer areas of Yangon, compared with Bangkok and its more than 15,000 upscale or luxury hotel rooms on offer.

No new hotel rooms have been added in Yangon since 1998, while serviced apartments number just 700 units, unchanged from 2003.

Paradorn Kunkongkaphan, managing director of the Myanmar-based MK Group of Companies, says the group wants to invest in and develop a five-star hotel in Yangon this year.

“For the past decade, there have been no new hotels in Yangon. Only a handful of the existing ones are four- to five-star with only five sites,” he said. “Most hotels were invested in by foreign investors.”

The group will invest through a subsidiary, as it has had a presence in Myanmar for two decades. With a total of 29 subsidiaries and 400 employees, it has expertise in retailing and is a distributor for the Thai consumer product giant Saha Group’s ICC International and the Thailand-based retail giant Central Marketing Group. It also has a joint venture in Myanmar with Berli Jucker, owned by Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi.

“The business growth rate in Myanmar was around 5-10pc a year until 2008. In the past few years, it was in an astounding range of 50pc and 100pc. We see positive growth and a bright future,” Mr Paradorn said at a seminar with Myanmar experts held last week by Colliers International Thailand.

Throughout its 20-year presence in Myanmar, MK Group faced many obstacles, particularly logistic ones and high transport costs, as well as currency fluctuations.

In the retail sector, Colliers reports that the average occupancy rate of retail space in downtown Yangon, inner-city and outer-city areas rose less than 1pc over the past six months. The outer-city areas were the most active, with an occupancy rate of almost 99pc in the second half of 2011.

For the condominium sector, the average selling price of newly launched units in 2010 and 2011 increased from US$1000 per square metre to $1300 downtown and from $1000 per sq m to $1100 in outer-city areas but dropped from $1300 to $1000 in inner-city areas.

“The definition of condominium in Myanmar is unlike that in Thailand. They call it a condominium if it has an elevator but call a building an apartment if has no lift,” said Tony Picon, associate director at Colliers. Units on the ground and second floors have higher prices than upper floors, the reverse of what is typical in Bangkok.

Office space in Yangon is also limited. There was 60,000 sq m of space last year, with 17,000 sq m added in 2010 alone. The total office space across Yangon was only half of what is offered at Bangkok’s Empire Tower, at more than 140,000 sq m.

– Bangkok Post

mmtimes.com

Mid, that picture of Traders hotel is a little bigger than I expect to build. I was thinking more on the lines of this



... and then maybe look to add a few improvements

^ I wouldn't stand where that bloke was standing...

Originally Posted by Simon43

Begbie - the l and o situation in Kawthaung is totally stable - no payments required.

I very much doubt it; likely similar to Thailand, but worse...

Hi Simon, I'm seriously thinking of investing $250, would this get me free beer for life and a small divvy?

Chock Dee, better stay for awhile to get the lay of the land.

Can't think why the major chains want to build in Rangoon. There's fuck all there.

Will you be creating employment for the Burmese?

I very much doubt it; likely similar to Thailand, but worse...

Sorry but I don't do payments. Never have done in 10 years of running businesses in Thailand (including girlie bars in BKK). I just smile and look simple - that seems to scare people off

^ time will tell... I suspect the Burmese will not be letting profits out to smale scale foreigners... Good luck nonetheless.

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

I suspect the Burmese will not be letting profits out to smale scale foreigners

Maybe that's why S43 mentioned using offshore banks

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Can't think why the major chains want to build in Rangoon. There's fuck all there.

tourists will go anywhere you tell them to

as for business, the military need more money so have pretended they are going to be a democracy, so the UN/US will lift the cuffs

as for business, the military need more money so have pretended they are going to be a democracy

and i'm going to be cnut like all the Thai and Chinese who've already started businesses in Myanmar, and exploit the dumb locals...

Actually, i'm off to Kawthaung tomorrow and will check on building material costs, as well as beer supply prices (most important). I've got a visit to the local hospital and school all lined up.

There is blog running about this project at DX Myanmar - I'll grab some more video clips and photos and post them up soon

also - u can follow my Twitter feeds at https://twitter.com/intent/follow?or...on&variant=2.0

Simon

I'll post up some videos on my blog in the next few days.

During today's visit to Kawthaung, I had a great encounter with 2 middle aged Burmese women - let's call them Fleur and Flo, who were sitting on the sea wall selling what looked like roti.

These women were dressed in a very ethnic garb, with their faces brightly painted and with weird hats. What a great photo!

But they only spoke Burmese, except for 2 Thai words - Ha baht - and 1 English word - no -

Although we conversed using a mixture of all 3 languages plus sign language, you can imagine that the conversation went something like this:

[Fleur to Flo] Look, here comes some sucker foreigner. Let's see if we can sell one of our exceddingly tasty buns to him for the rip off price of 5 baht.

[Flo] Yes Fleur, great idea Fleur, you are so clever Fleur.

[Me] Morning ladies, what beautiful buns you have. I'd love to partake in one.

[Fleur] Ha baht

[Me] That sounds an absolute bargain. And can I also take a photo of you 2 beautiful ladies

(Flo giggles quietly)

[Fleur] No

[Me] you don't smile much do you?

[Fleur] What!?

[Me] Never mind. I'll buy a bun and take 1 small photo if I can

[Fleur] Look, this is getting rather tiresome. We're not some sort of circus attraction. You either buy a bun for ha baht and piss off, or you don't buy a bun for ha baht and piss off. what's your choice?

[Me] In that case I'll choose not to buy a bun and I'll piss off

[Fleur] Suits me fine. Come on Flo, let's go and find some real customers

(and with a sniff they gathered up their buns and strode away towards the hub-bub of the metropolis... )


So no photo

take the pic first, then buy the bun for 10 baht

Originally Posted by DrAndy

take the pic first

No, tell her to get her buns out first

hello, can I know why you finally gave up with this idea ? Thanks.

The last post in this thread was over six years ago you Arse Goblin.