M&C: News Release - Global Hospitality Leader Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Announces Spikes In Online Staycation Bookings In Singapore and London Ahead of Festive Season

03/12/2020

General Announcement::Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Limited - News Release

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT::MILLENNIUM & COPTHORNE HOTELS LIMITED - NEWS RELEASE

Issuer & Securities

Issuer/ Manager

CITY DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED

Securities

CITY DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED - SG1R89002252 - C09

Stapled Security

No

Announcement Details

Announcement Title

General Announcement

Date &Time of Broadcast

03-Dec-2020 19:34:27

Status

New

Announcement Sub Title

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Limited - News Release

Announcement Reference

SG201203OTHRRSII

Submitted By (Co./ Ind. Name)

Enid Ling Peek Fong

Designation

Company Secretary

Description (Please provide a detailed description of the event in the box below)

Please refer to the attached News Release titled "Global Hospitality Leader Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Announces Spikes In Online Staycation Bookings In Singapore and London Ahead of Festive Season" issued by Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Limited on 3 December 2020.

Attachments

0312_NewsRelease.pdf

Total size =107K MB

https://links.sgx.com/1.0.0/corporate-announcements/0FMWD8P8Y0OM1JMC/a85ee12e55d26dc152b420ba22fdd35486d73d260eaea5690f4213fd95… 1/1

For Immediate Release

Global Hospitality Leader Millennium & Copthorne Hotels

Announces Spikes In Online Staycation Bookings In Singapore and London Ahead of Festive Season

Singapore/London, 3 December 2020 - Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Limited (M&C) said today that its hotels in key gateway cities of Singapore and London have reported spikes in staycation bookings and restaurant outlets, with strong domestic demand ahead of the Christmas and New Year festive season leading up to Chinese New Year in February 2021.

Singapore hotels under M&C - a subsidiary of Singapore Exchange-listed City Developments Limited (CDL) - recorded bookings of 31,480 room nights in the August to November 2020 period, up nearly seven-fold from 4,698 in the preceding four months. M&C owns or operates over 2,000 hotel rooms in Singapore, including Orchard Hotel Singapore, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Copthorne King's Hotel, M Social Singapore, M Hotel and Studio M.

"Across major cities, we are seeing a clear trend of travellers choosing to holiday within their home countries as air travel is likely to remain restricted through 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our hotels worldwide are responding to this trend in domestic demand with digital marketing strategies and promotions particularly in the run up to the festive season," said Lee Richards, Vice President Operations (SEA) of M&C and General Manager of Orchard Hotel Singapore.

M&C operates 66 hotels (seven of which are managed by third parties) in Asia (12), Europe/UK (21), USA (18) and New Zealand (15) under the Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR) global brands; while 79 other properties are under franchise and management contracts. M&C has an inventory of over 40,000 rooms and operations in 29 countries.

While M&C had launched its "We Clean. We Care. We Welcome" staycation package earlier in the year, even before the Singapore Government imposed stay-at-home restrictions on 7 April 2020, online bookings began to rise from July 2020 with 2,198 bookings that month. These have since surged to 10,566 in November. Of bookings made last month, 28% were for November itself, 57% for December and 12% for the January to March 2021 period coinciding with Chinese New Year in February.

Mr Richards said, "Clearly there is pent-up demand for hospitality. Singaporeans are accepting of the fact that it will be a while before they are able to travel overseas for holidays. The strong response to the staycation programmes has come as a welcoming relief after a particularly challenging year for the entire hospitality industry."

Dine-in revenue at restaurants in M&C hotels in Singapore has recovered between 20% to 50% since the Phase 2 re-opening on 19 June 2020 (nine weeks after the Circuit Breaker). For the month of November, revenue at the award-winning Hua Ting Restaurant at Orchard Hotel increased 45% compared to June despite seating restrictions of up to five persons per table. Hua Ting patrons have even opted to pay a 20% down payment to secure tables or rooms during peak festive occasions.

A similar trend has also been witnessed by M&C hotels in Europe.

With the approval of a vaccine for use even as the United Kingdom (UK) begins relaxing curbs on COVID- 19, the 18 hotels under the M&C chain have experienced spikes in room bookings ahead of the festive period through to the summer of 2021.

Targeting domestic travellers and revellers, M&C has announced a series of celebratory offers for its hotels in the capital city, including Chelsea Harbour Hotel London, Millennium Hotel London Knightsbridge, and Hard Day's Night Hotel Liverpool.

A particularly successful strategy in the UK has been M&C's omni-channel digital marketing efforts to target customers living within 300 kilometres of its hotels. Reflecting brand loyalty, 65% of bookings done on the M&C website came from My Millennium loyalty programme, with the most popular being the "We Clean. We Care. We Welcome" staycation package which accounted for 85% of all staycation bookings.

Richard Adler, Vice President of Sales for UK and Europe, said: "As the UK emerges from a second lockdown, people want to take advantage of the extended shopping hours and experience some festive sparkle in the lead-up to Christmas. We will build upon this momentum for hotel bookings and fresh value-for-money dining experiences."

Ending a four-week lockdown on midnight 2 December, the UK has entered a tiered system of restrictions designed to curb the spread of COVID-19 infection. The curbs are expected to be relaxed over the Christmas period. These measures have kicked in even as the UK becomes the first nation in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use.

"Since we launched staycation packages that emphasises hygiene, bookings in the UK and Europe have climbed from an average of 7,276 bookings in July and August to an average of 9,880 in the three months ended November, an increase of 35.8%. Some bookings stretch to August 2021," said Mr Adler.

~ END ~

ABOUT MILLENNIUM & COPTHORNE HOTELS

Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR) is the global brand of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Limited (M&C), a global hotel company which owns, manages and operates over 145 hotels across some 80 locations worldwide. It has four distinct hotel collections - Leng's Collection, M Collection, Millennium Collection and Copthorne Collection - throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand and the United States. Its properties are in key gateway cities such as London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Dubai, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong. Occupying the best locations around the world, MHR has the perfect address for business and leisure travellers. M&C is the hotel arm of Singapore-listed global real estate company City Developments Limited, and is a member of the Hong Leong Group. Visit www.millenniumhotels.comfor more information.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Gerry De Silva	Joanne Koh
Head, Group Corporate Affairs	Manager, Group Corporate Affairs
Hong Leong Group	Hong Leong Group
T:	[phone]	T:	[phone]
E:	[e-mail]	E:	[e-mail]

1. [phone]