SINGAPORE – Naumi, Singapore’s first luxury boutique business hotel, is scheduled to open next month, replacing the old Metropole Hotel along Seah Street.
Most of the hotel’s 40 rooms will be suites with kitchenettes, work desks and a Cisco Unified Communications system to ensure Internet security.
Similar establishments are set to open up across the Lion City.
Naumi is owned by Hind Developments, whose managing director, Surya Jhunjhunwala, says, “Consumer tastes have change. They do not want to stay in the same hotel that their neighbour is staying in. They want to be different.
“The big boys, with 400 to 500 room hotels, are excellent at doing what they do, but they really cannot provide the personal service.”
Jhunjhunwala feels the time is right to tap into the boutique business market.
“For a boutique hotel to make economic sense, it has to charge a little more than the normal mainstream hotel. Of late, Singapore’s room rates have gone up to a level where the boutique hotels can operate and can make decent money without having to make a loss.”
