Ascott, CapitaLand's wholly owned subsidiary, has said it plans to have 2,000 units under its new Tujia Somerset brand of serviced apartments in China by the end of 2016.
Tujia International is China's largest online apartment sharing platform. Ascott said its joint venture company with Tujia has completed a deal to manage six properties to be operated under the Tujia Somerset brand.
This move will help Ascott raise its China portfolio from 1,005 units currently.
"Our aim is to have 2,000 units under Tujia Somerset by the end of 2016 and this will give us the added impetus to achieve Ascott's target of 20,000 units in China and 80,000 units globally by 2020," Ascott's chief executive officer Lee Chee Koon said in Shanghai, the Business Times reported.
Two of the six Tujia Somerset serviced residences, the 76-unit Tujia Somerset Baiyue Dalian and 355-unit Tujia Somerset Xinhui Shenyang, are in operation, the company said.
The other four properties are the 154-unit Tujia Somerset West Coast Haikou, 140-unit Tujia Somerset Shining City Wuxi, 102-unit Tujia Somerset Weilian Tianjin and 178-unit Tujia Somerset South Nanjing.
Chinese apartment sharing site Tujia.com is valued at more than $1 billion. Ascott said its investment in Tujia will help it tap Tujia's online capabilities in offering guests a seamless Offline-to-Online and Online-to-Offline experience.
