Billionaire Choo Opens The World’s Largest Mercure Hotel In Singapore

Worldwide Hotels, founded by Singaporean billionaire Choo Chong Ngen, has opened its latest development, the Mercure ICON, along the city-state’s trendy Club Street in the central business district. With 989 rooms, it is the largest Mercure hotel globally, according to a joint statement on Tuesday.

Choo’s daughter, Carolyn, Worldwide Hotels CEO and managing director, said in the statement that the Mercure ICON is the group’s new flagship hotel. “From the charming shophouses and rich cultural sights to the myriad of cafes, restaurants and bars at its doorstep, the Mercure ICON Singapore invites travellers to live like a local and experience Singapore in its most authentic and vibrant light,” she said.

Managed by Mercure, a midscale brand owned by French hospitality group Accor, the new hotel is the third that Worldwide Hotels has opened in Singapore over the past six months. The other two hotels are Novotel Singapore on Kitchener and Hotel Mi Rochor. The collective price tag of the three hotels totaled S$1.6 billion, as disclosed in an earlier Forbes Asia report.

The latest additions bring the group’s overall number of rooms in Singapore to more than 8,600, making it one of the city-state’s largest hotel groups along with Accor and Far East Organization, controlled by billionaire brothers Robert and Philip Ng. In Singapore, Worldwide Hotels owns 41 hotels and seven brands, including Hotel 81, Hotel Boss and Value Hotel.

Since its first foray overseas in 2017, the group has acquired 11 hotels in Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Australia. All are managed by brands like Holiday Inn, Travelodge and Ibis.

Choo, 71, a former fishmonger and textile trader, who made his early fortune from budget chain Hotel 81 in Singapore’s red-light district, is the 17th wealthiest person in Singapore according to Forbes Asia’s 2023 Singapore’s 50 Richest List, published in September, on a net worth of $2.6 billion.