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YTL Hotels incoming president James McBride has set his sights on global expansion to enlarge the company's footprint and further bolster its operations in the next two to three years.
Starting Aug 10, Mr McBride will head YTL Hotels, the hospitality arm of one of Malaysia's largest conglomerates, YTL Corporation. He will be based in Singapore for his new position.
YTL Hotels owns and manages a collection of hotels, resorts and spas, with the Kuala Lumpur JW Marriott Hotel and Ritz-Carlton Hotel under its wing.
Speaking to BT in an interview, Mr McBride said that the company will be evaluating strategic locations globally, starting closer to home, possibly in Australia and South-east Asia. He will also look into opportunities in the US, where he is most familiar with. 'As long as the location is strategic and has potential, we will evaluate it regardless of its size or scale,' he added.
Looking forward to leveraging on his industry experience and global connectivity to lead YTL Hotels into realising its ambitions, Mr McBride thinks that the company is in a very exciting period of time, when enormous value can be explored through strategic acquisitions. 'Hotel and real estate prices have been excessive in the past years; there is now a correction and it will continue in this trend for the next two to three years,' he told BT.
Mr McBride has working experience in many hotels around the world, the most recent of which is the Carlyle Hotel in New York, where he was managing director.
He was also general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur 10 years ago, when he was with YTL Hotels. 'We are delighted that James has returned to YTL Hotels, bringing with him both a global industry perspective and hands-on hotel management knowledge,' said Mark Yeoh, executive director of YTL Hotels.
A native of South Africa, Mr McBride received his diploma in Hotel Management before furthering his education at Cornell University.
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