GLOW Hotels & Resorts

May 6, 2021

Fusion Hotels & Resorts makes strategic acquisition to create leading regional platform 06/05/2021 Fusion Hotels & Resorts has announced today that it has acquired GLOW Hotels & Resorts in a transaction that aims to create one of the region’s strongest hospitality brand and management platforms. The strategic move will solidify Fusion Hotels & Resorts’ standing as a leading hotel brand and management company and position it well for future growth in the highly dynamic and fast-growing Southeast Asian tourism markets. The newly-merged group will operate under the Fusion brand with up to 4,000 combined rooms under management Fusion is Vietnam’s most-recognised domestic hotel brand and management company. Meanwhile, Thailand-based GLOW is operating hotels in Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The newly-merged group will operate under the Fusion brand with up to 4,000 combined rooms under management. The strategic move will solidify Fusion Hotels & Resorts’ standing as a leading hotel brand and management company and position it well for future growth. As CEO of Fusion, Kevin Beauvais is expected to bring extensive experience in hotel operation and executive management, most recently as founder and CEO of InVision Hospitality and GLOW Hotels & Resorts, to ensure non-stop development for the newly-merged group. Previously, he also held senior executive positions at Minor Group PLC and Marriott International for 25 years. Following the merger, Fusion will continue to focus on deepening its presence in Vietnam as well as capitalising on its new Thailand foothold seeking other attractive growth opportunities in Southeast Asia through both post-pandemic consolidation and organic growth. Kevin Beauvais, CEO of Fusion “The union marks a new chapter for both Fusion and GLOW, allowing them to continue enhancing services to their customers, driving future growth, and delivering value to shareholders,” said Kevin Beauvais. Lodgis Hospitality Holdings, a fully-integrated lodging investment platform and owner of Fusion, will continue to provide substantial financial resources to support the growth of Fusion. Peter Meyer, CEO of Lodgis Hospitality Holdings said, “We are pleased to welcome Kevin to the leadership role of Fusion and integrate GLOW into the broader platform. The high calibre of the leadership team and the strong resiliency of Fusion in the face of the most unprecedented challenges for the industry bolsters the business in Asia’s most attractive tourist destinations.” Christopher Hur, CIO for Lodgis Hospitality Holdings commented, “Through this investment, we significantly grow our management company and brand portfolio while creating a framework for future growth opportunities in our target investment markets.” By Ha Thuy With an increasing number of brand names of Vietnamese enterprises such as Pho Thin 13 Lo Duc and ST25 rice recently taken advantage of in the US market, protection of trademarks in the States through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) becomes crucial. Le Quang Vinh, intellectual property attorney from law firm Bross & Partners, writes about how enterprises can shun such a predicament in foreign markets, especially the US. In addition to recommending against an increase in wages this year, many experts and businesses have also opposed proposals to change the timing of regional minimum wage changes from January 1 to July in order to protect businesses and avoid operational issues as they attempt to wade through the pandemic period. Hospital autonomy is proving to be an optimal solution to enable state-run hospitals to increase their operational efficiency, thus better benefiting locals. Nguyen Truong Son, Deputy Minister of Health, discussed with VIR’s Bich Thuy the solutions and lessons from other countries, as well as any complexities in the way. Vietnam’s e-commerce development is a bright spot for Industry 4.0 with a high growth rate of 20-30 per cent. Dang Hoang Hai, director of the Vietnam e-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, told VIR’s Nguyen Thu about the ambitions contained in the national plan on e-commerce development in Vietnam for the next few years. Trade protection and brand building have become an imperative for product distinction of local businesses in overseas markets. Wolfgang Friess and Trung Trinh Hien from Austrian-backed company Live Forever Young, based in Hanoi, look into the current situation and the causes behind it, as well as suggest the way forward for true brands to make a mark in the global market. The eye-opening events in India are concerning people all over the globe as leaders lose control of the pandemic, leading to tragedy on a massive scale – and the knock-on effects to global supply chains and economic recovery are there for all to see. Unlike regional competition, Vietnamese branding approaches of well-established rice varieties could still see some improvements because of existing ambiguities in the product development strategies of the responsible government agenies. Nevertheless, the renowned ST25 rice could still participate in next year’s World Rice competition, and thus secure fame for one of the most important export goods of the nation. A report from Vietnam’s General Statistics Office on the country’s employment situation over the first quarter of 2021 has uncovered the breadth and depth of the pandemic’s effects, despite the impressive work carried out to keep the coronavirus away from its people.