"'Anto' is a resort where you can enjoy nature in downtown Seoul. By adding Hanwha Hotel & Resort's sales know-how to the synergy of Hanwha Group's affiliates, we will push membership sales and attract foreign tourists to achieve more than 200% revenue growth next year."
Cho Sung-il, CEO of Anto, said this at a press briefing held on the 23rd at the premium resort Anto in Ui-dong, Gangbuk District, Seoul. Anto is a newly branded property after Hanwha Hotel & Resort acquired the five-star hotel and resort 'Paraspura Seoul' last month. The brand name combines 'an (安),' meaning comfortable, and 'to (土),' meaning soil, to convey the meaning of "a comfortable life on that land."
The parent company of the existing Paraspura Seoul is construction firm Samjeong corporations. Until last month, Josun Hotels & Resorts had operated it under contract. However, as Samjeong corporations entered corporate rehabilitation, Paraspura Seoul was put up for sale, and Hanwha Hotel & Resort, which was planning to expand its business portfolio, acquired it last month. Jeongsang Bukhansan Resort Co., the operator of Paraspura Seoul, posted 55.5 billion won in revenue and an operating loss of 6.9 billion won last year. Compared with the same period a year earlier, revenue fell 10.5%, and it swung to a deficit.
Hanwha Hotel & Resort has operated 12 resort and lodging facilities in major tourist destinations nationwide, but it had no five-star premium resort in the greater Seoul area. With this acquisition, Hanwha Hotel & Resort has become corporations that simultaneously operates a five-star hotel (The Plaza) and a premium resort in Seoul.
Paraspura Seoul, which opened in Aug. 2021, was designed so that nearly all rooms have views of Bukhansan and Dobongsan. Hanwha Hotel & Resort plans to retain most of the existing auxiliary facilities while completely overhauling some facilities and services to offer a differentiated customer experience.
Starting next month, Hanwha Hotel & Resort will fully launch membership sales and efforts to attract foreign tourists. It will maintain the existing membership system but plans to raise utilization by enhancing service quality. Anto has a total of 334 rooms, of which 224 are operated exclusively for customers who hold membership rights.
Anto members can also use various facilities open only to members, such as the infinity pool, garden pool, and lawn garden. The price of the sales rights varies depending on the room and annual usage period, but it is known to range from as low as 2 billion won to over 1 billion won. Cho said, "By strengthening The Plaza's existing global sales network and Anto's brand marketing, we will raise the current 24% membership sales rate to 60% next year."
To acquire Anto, Hanwha Hotel & Resort invested a total of 30 billion won, including 29.5 billion won in paid-in capital increase. It said this is far below the market estimated value (600 billion won). Cho said, "Although we took on about 390 billion won in existing debt in the process of acquiring Anto, compared with Anto's market estimated value of 600 billion won, it effectively realized a gain of about 200 billion won."
◇ Hanwha third son Kim Dong-seon accelerates business reshuffle from dining to resorts
Kim Dong-seon, the third son of Hanwha Group and executive vice president overseeing future vision at Hanwha Hotel & Resort, Hanwha Galleria, and Hanwha Vision, has recently been aggressively reshaping his business portfolio. The U.S. hamburger franchise Five Guys, brought in 2023, is now being put up for sale, and PastaX, a store with robot chefs that opened in Apr. last year, closed just over a year later. Yudong, a 24-hour robot udon shop, also closed in Jun., a month after opening.
Last year, he acquired the U.S. robot pizza brand Stellar Pizza and beverage manufacturer Pureplus. In May this year, he acquired a 58.62% equity stake in foodservice and ingredient distributor OURHOME for about 869.5 billion won, and also launched the premium ice cream brand Benson. Last month, he also acquired Shinsegae Food's institutional sector of group catering business for about 120 billion won.
The Anto acquisition is also said to reflect Kim's wishes. Hanwha Hotel & Resort plans to expand its premium resort brand starting with Anto and pursue the addition of top-tier resorts in major domestic tourist destinations.
Cho said, "After comprehensively reviewing business portfolio diversification and enhancing the premium image, we concluded that acquiring Anto was appropriate," adding, "With demand for premium resorts continuing to rise, Anto will become a new benchmark for the market."