The Ascott Limited, the lodging business unit of Capitaland Investment, has set a goal to double its fee revenue over the next five years. By FY2022, the company’s highest earnings on record reached $258 million. In that same year, Ascott’s fee revenue grew by 36% y-o-y due to its record signings and property openings.

The company also announced that it had hit its target of securing 160,000 units for 2023, with an additional 4,000 units signed up in the 1Q of FY2023. Ascott plans to expand its product offering, which spans serviced residences, hotels, co-living, and senior living from mid to luxury scale.

The growth over the five-year period will be driven by new openings and new signings at an expected annual growth rate of 8-10%. With its asset-light strategy, Ascott has doubled its units every five years, going from 20,000 units in 2008 to over 160,000 units today. Kevin Goh, CEO of Ascott and CLI Lodging, claims that these management and franchise contracts have “sticky recurring fee revenue and long tenures”, thus boosting the fee revenue.

Ascott seeks to secure higher quality management and franchise contracts for prime properties, and use its strong brand equity and direct distribution channels to make it happen. This is expected to create greater value for its property owners as well as customers.

Recent new openings include Citadines Connect City Centre Hotel on Orchard Road, and two properties in China and the Netherlands for $190 million through its serviced residence global fund. Ascott also launched its third co-living property in Singapore. With the new goals set, the business looks forward to a prosperous future that will undoubtedly see it continue to thrive.