WCT and Hyatt to develop Hyatt Place Johor Bahru

JOHOR BARU (June 20): WCT Holdings Bhd and Hyatt Hotels Corp (Hyatt) has entered into a management agreement to develop a 200-room hotel in an integrated development that includes the largest regional mall in Johor, Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru.

Dubbed Hyatt Place Johor Bahru, the hotel will feature 200 guestrooms, a cafe, swimming pool, fitness centre, as well as more than 2,400 sq ft of meeting space. It is set to open in 2022.

The hotel will be part of a 13-acre integrated development that includes the Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru, which opened in late 2017, as well as the soon-to-be-launched Paradigm Residence.

“We are grateful to work with WCT for the first time to introduce the Hyatt Place brand to Johor Bahru, one of the fastest growing cities in Malaysia.

“A destination in itself, Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru offers an ideal locale for Hyatt Place Johor Bahru, which will provide professionals and leisure travellers with a relaxed, quality hotel experience in a prime leisure, retail and dining hub,” said area vice-president, South East Asia of Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Datuk Willi Martin in the signing ceremony today.

He added that the Hyatt Place brand offers casual hospitality and purposeful service in a smartly designed, high-tech and contemporary environment, which the new Hyatt Place hotel in Johor Bahru will embody.

“We are delighted to work with Hyatt to embrace and integrate the Hyatt Place brand’s unique approach to hospitality with our retail mall and residential components.

We are confident given the prospects and business vibrancy of Johor Bahru that this new hotel will be well received by local Johoreans, as well as business and leisure travellers from various parts of Malaysia and Singapore,” said WCT Holdings group managing director Datuk Lee Tuck Fook.

Also presented at the ceremony was Hyatt’s Asia Pacific senior vice-president of real estate and development Patrick Finn. He believes that the Hyatt Place Johor Bahru, Paradigm Mall will reinforce Hyatt’s growing portfolio in Malaysia.

“We look to double the number of Hyatt hotels here over the next few years,” said Finn.

Situated within a 10-minute drive from Johor Bahru City Centre, the hotel will have direct access to major highways, including the Skudai Highway, Pasir Gudang Highway, North-South Highway, and Second Link Expressway.