www.shaproperty.com

(SINGAPORE) Some guests who check into luxury resorts never want to leave. And now, at Pontiac Land Group's upcoming 'ultra-luxury' resort on Sentosa, they can choose not to.

The Capella Singapore hotel will have 110 villas and suites - and guests will have the option of staying for up to 20 years.

The resort hotel is still three years from completion and details of how such long stays can be booked have not been finalised. But a spokesman for the group clarified that there are no plans to sell the villas.

Short-stay hotel guests can expect to pay upwards of US$500 a night for a suite, with villas costing more. The Pontiac Land Group spokesman added: 'As it is still too premature, we will decide on the rates as we get closer to the opening of the hotel. The same with regards to the question about the long-term stays.'

The villas will be huge. All will have 3+1 room layouts with built-up areas ranging between 3,500 and 5,000 sq ft. 'Including the private pools, terrace areas and garden space, the square footage will be doubled,' it said.

The Pontiac Land Group owns The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore, Conrad Centennial Singapore and The Regent Singapore.

Spread over 1.3 million sq ft of land, the Capella Singapore will cost $250 million to develop.

In keeping with the upmarket positioning, Capella Hotels & Resorts (CHR) has been appointed to operate the hotel. CHR is led by Horst Schulze, the former president, COO and vice-chairman of Ritz-Carlton Hotels.

Like many luxury hotels, guests at Capella Singapore will have appointed 'personal assistants' to see to their every need. In addition, the resort will pay special attention to up to 60 guests who choose to stay on a long-term basis. Said Mr Schulze: 'At a touch of a button, our long-staying guests will enjoy any of the resort's services.'

Whether the Capella Singapore could be a new hotel hybrid is unclear.

Chee Hok Yean, vice-president at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, says that although there is nothing to stop a hotel from renting rooms on a long-term basis, a more common practice is for a hotel to have 'corporate contracts'. 'But these usually last for about a year,' she said.

There are other hotel hybrids like time-shares and condotels, but these concepts are not popular in Asia, she said.

Ms Chee also noted that Capella Singapore's long-stay villas and suites could be a form of branded service residences, in which case the issue of contractual leases will probably have to be cleared by landlord Sentosa Development Corporation.