SINGAPORE (June 27): The Ascott Limited, CapitaLand’s wholly-owned residence business unit, has secured seven new contracts to manage over 1,300 apartments across six cities in China.

These properties mark Ascott’s first step into managing properties in Kunming and Yichang, while expanding its presence in Chongqing, Dalian, Shenzhen and Xuzhou.

This year, Ascott has added to its portfolio more than 2,700 units across 15 properties in China, a 56% increase compared to about 1,700 units and 10 properties secured in 1H16.

Lee Chee Koon, CEO of Ascott, said: “China remains Ascott’s biggest market and we are excited to be surpassing our 100th property milestone in China this year. Chinese are amongst Ascott’s top customers at our properties globally with revenue surging by 35% year-on-year.”

Ascott has also leveraged on Alibaba’s online travel service platform, Fliggy, and listed about 15,000 serviced apartments on the site, covering over 20 popular destinations favoured by Chinese travellers, such as Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo, Paris and London.

“We now have one of the largest serviced apartment listings on Fliggy, which has more than 200 million users. Our penetration of the Chinese market both offline and online is already contributing to Ascott’s business worldwide,” added Lee.

In the recent 2017 World Travel Awards Asia & Australasia ceremony in Shanghai, Ascott took home several awards, including Asia’s Leading Serviced Apartment Brand, Leading Serviced Apartments in Asia and China, as well as nine accolades for these categories across Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

Shares in CapitaLand closed 2 Singapore cents lower at S$3.52.