Katrina Group has appointed Andreas Lorenz as its chief operating officer (COO) of ST Hospitality, the group’s hospitality subsidiary.
The appointment is an internal one; Lorenz was serving as ST Hospitality’s general manager since February. Prior to joining the group, the German citizen was running luxury hotels in Singapore, China and the US. These include the Singapore hotels of both The Garcha Group and the Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, The St. Regis in China’s Chengdu city, and The Westin Resort in Guam.
According to the group, the appointment is aimed at rekindling the group’s accommodation business as international travel rebounds from the Covid-19 lull.
ST Hospitality operates four boutique co-living hotels, a block of serviced apartments comprising 38 units, and more than 50 fully serviced condominium rental units in Singapore.
The subsidiary expects to add more fully serviced condo units and hotel rooms to its Singapore portfolio before the year's end.
The group diversified into the hospitality business in 2018 after acquiring ST Hospitality, which was formerly known as Straits Organisation.
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“Andreas is a seasoned professional in the hospitality trade, having worked from the ground up to lead the entire operations of several big-name hotels and resorts in major cities,” says Alan Goh, Katrina Group’s executive chairman and CEO.
“Besides being familiar with all frontline and backend operations, he is also able to identify and spearhead initiatives that drive sales and revenue. His experience will be instrumental in pushing forward our hospitality business, where growth is promising as international travel is taking off again,” he adds.
“Monthly visitor arrivals to Singapore have been going up since the first quarter of this year as travel borders reopened. Hotel room rates and occupancies are also rising across the board. This bodes well for ST Hospitality. We are already seeing very healthy occupancy for our hotels, serviced apartments and fully serviced condo units,” says Lorenz.
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“Beyond raising our service standards further, we want to expand our accommodation portfolio, and do so sustainably, to give travellers to Singapore more options and greater value for money. Our expansion plans are on track and we have the full support of all our business partners. We expect to unveil more details in the months ahead,” he adds.
Lorenz’s appointment comes almost a month after two employees of ST Hospitality received a notice from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on June 16.
The notice requested the same employees to assist with investigations pertaining to possible breaches of the minimum stay requirement in respect of the provision of short-term accommodation provided by ST Hospitality.
According to the group, the investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed.
Shares in Katrina Group closed at 3.3 cents on July 14.
