Category Archives: General

Misrepresentation in property ads

Posted on 17 Feb 2010 | Comments Off on Misrepresentation in property ads

Low Keng Fatt thinks developers may be stretching the truth with their ads.

EVERYONE wants to buy that dream home, and is willing to plonk down big bucks to live in serene, secluded surroundings.

Property developers understand that sentiment well.

Take a look at their advertisements and you will see the lengths they go to, to make you believe you are buying into something very scarce and private.

I am okay if their ad shows a profusion of greenery and amenities on the grounds of their projects.

Everyone loves flowers, nature and can identify with the ads that show happy people strolling, playing or barbecuing on the grounds.

Plenty of ads also show balconies of units draped with plants while birds circle lazily overhead as the morning, or evening, sun shines brilliantly or sets in dramatic romantic hues.

But truth is severely stretched when the artist’s rendition shows the condo sitting virtually alone in this paradise, with neighbouring buildings all set at some considerable distance away.

The space in between is filled up with more alluring swathes of greenery – and with more birds cruising above such Eden-like domains.

The reality is very far from this though.

In an urban jungle like Singapore, very few plots of land are deprived of neighbours, roads, noise and clutter.
It’s worse when the new project is taking off on space which once housed another estate but which was sold in a collective sale.

Chances are very high here that this neighbourhood is dense with people and homes.

But developers obviously do not want you to dwell on such facts.

Still, there is also something not quite right about their conjuring up vistas that are so far removed from reality.
I wonder why Singaporeans have not spoken up against such misrepresentation of facts.

Or is it because most people already know Singapore so well that they are not fooled by what they see in the ads?

Still, even if, say, 10 per cent of would-be buyers were lured to visit the showflat, based on the hooks in the ad, that is already quite a big number of misled folks.

My solution to really know the ground?

Easy, go look up the area via Google Street View.

Source : Straits Times – 17 Feb 2010

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Holiday Inn Park View completes overhaul

Posted on 19 Nov 2009 | Comments Off on Holiday Inn Park View completes overhaul

The Holiday Inn Park View, which opened here in 1985, has been renamed Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre as part of a $25 million refurbishment exercise.

Its signage, reception area, guest rooms and food and beverage outlets have been overhauled. Despite the downturn, the decision was made to go ahead with renovating the 319-room hotel over a 15 month period. This was done in conjunction with InterContinental Hotels Group’s Holiday Inn global relaunch programme.

‘We’re long term players. For us to refurbish in slightly more difficult economic times actually makes greater sense. If you do it in good times, you essentially take rooms out of the inventory,’ said Aron Harilela, director of Hong-Kong based property developer The Harilela Group, which owns the Holiday Inn in Singapore as well as other properties in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The group also owns three transit hotels here at Changi Airport, as well as a 20 per cent stake in Thomson Medical Centre.

Looking ahead, The Harilela Group is expanding its portfolio with the launch of two hotels in Tier 2 and 3 cities in China – the first of which will open in the second quarter of 2010 and the second in Q3 2011.

The two hotels, each costing US$15 million, will be funded by a mix of debt and equity. ‘We’re looking to do five hotels in China. There’s a big market for internationally branded, standardised products,’ said Dr Harilela, adding that land in Tier 1 cities tends to be priced exorbitantly.

Meanwhile, the Holiday Inn has out-performed the industry this year, according to general manager Shantha de Silva, with occupancy rates in the mid-80s, down from the low 90s in 2007-08.

Room rates this year have come down about 20 per cent compared to last year but remain in the low $200s.

‘We’ve been trading fairly robustly even, this year,’ said Mr de Silva. Business travellers make up 60-70 per cent of the clientele.

And Mr de Silva is confident that the hotel industry is likely to pick up soon.

Source : Business Times – 19 Nov 2009

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