Aston launches Hotel NEO in Indonesia

Norbert Vas launches Hotel NEO

Indonesian hotel management company Aston International has unveiled a new select service brand, Hotel NEO.

The new brand, officially named ‘Hotel NEO by Aston’, will launch with a significant portfolio of 20 properties, all of which are currently under development across Indonesia. 

According to Aston, the Hotel NEO brand will be “hip and new”, offering a “light-filled, visitor-friendly atmosphere”. Properties will be designed with a contemporary style with open spaces and modern amenities, but will be priced at the level of an economy hotel.

Speaking of the differentiation between Hotel NEO and other Indonesian budget hotel brands, including Aston’s own favehotel label, the company’s Vice President of Sales & Marketing Norbert Vas told Travel Daily that NEO would be more design-led, bridging the gap between traditional hotel tiers.

Hotel NEO

“I would say a NEO is a two-star for grown-ups,” Vas told Travel Daily today (Sunday 7 October 2012). “[It] recognises a global trend as per which travellers are willing to move from luxury hotels to economy class hotels as long as they are well designed and do not have a cookie-cutter feel to them.”

Vas also said that Indonesia’s market demographics meant there was room for Aston to operate more than one budget brand.

“The Indonesian middle class was 1.6 million people in 2004 then 50m in 2011 and is estimated to reach 150m by 2015,” Vas stated. “There are right now about 120 branded budget hotels either open or under development in Indonesia out of which more than 60 are ours. This compares to the US or China where there are several thousand.

“We believe that Indonesia needs around 1,000 of these hotels and has still a long way to go. By offering a second brand that is best described as a ‘superior select service’ versus a ‘basic select service’ we have more leverage and the ability to offer the right product for the right market,” Vas added.

The first Hotel NEO will open by the end of November 2012 in the Legian area of Bali. Five other NEOs will follow in Bali, along with six in and around Jakarta, and further secondary and tertiary cities across Indonesia, including Yogyakarta, Medan, Surabaya, Semarang, Makassar and Balikpapan.

Hotel NEO becomes Aston’s sixth brand and joins its existing favehotel collection in the select service market.

By Mark Elliott, 7 October 2012, Sunday 9:20 AM