Formosa International Hotels Plans Regent Return

After buying Regent Hotels & Resorts last week, Formosa International Hotels chairman Steven Pan says that they have a new global leadership team to revive the brand in London, New York and Hong Kong. He is committed to the global expansion of the brand, he continued, and feels it’s very important for them to return to the old cities were Regent was most well known.

Regent Hotels & Resorts was once the leading luxury hotel brand, pioneering concepts like villa resorts, luxury shopping malls inside hotels and full-fixture bathrooms – all of which are standard in the luxury industry now. It was actually founded in 1970 in Hong Kong and gained prominence.

However, the company fell on tough times with the decline of the Japanese economy in the ’80s, as its flagship Hong Kong property was built with Japanese financial backing. The Four Seasons owned the brand for a while after, but then sold it to Carlson Hospitality Group in 1997. At the turn of the century, the Hong Kong Regent was bought by InterContinental Hotels Group and renamed in 2001.

There are now only 7 Regent hotels worldwide, and Pan plans to greatly increase its presence internationally. The brand has given him and Formosa a ticket to the big leagues, he says. They are the champions in Taiwan, but now they have a chance to compete with the big hospitality groups, he continued. They want to raise $300 million to $500 million from private investors to open new properties in London, New York and Hong Kong, he added, as well as another 10 hotels that were already in Regent’s pipeline.