AP Hospitality Bulletin Asia Pacific - July 2026

‍Deal Watch.

OKO Group & Shinsegae Group Joint Venture

Vladislav Doronin, the US-based OKO Group CEO and the owner of Aman Group, has his OKO Group partnered up with Shinsegae Group, the South Korean conglomerate, to form a joint venture with an initial shared investment of US$500 million. The joint venture will focus on further building Aman group’s Aman and Janu Hotels and branded residences across Asia, North America, and the Middle East. The new joint venture will keep Aman Group more asset light as it scales up. OKO Group and Shinsegae Group will carry the development risk while Aman group comes in purely as a brand and operator.

Transactions that matter.

218 Apartment, Hong Kong

JD.com, a Chinese e-commerce company, acquired the 218 Apartment located in Wan Chai, Hong Kong from Beijing Capital Development Holding, a municipal state-owned enterprise from China focusing on real estate development. The property is a 59-key suite service apartment with a GFA of 3,037m². JD.com acquired the property for around HK$280 million (US$35.8 million) which equates to HK$4.74 million (US$605,000) per key or HK$91,900 (US$11,800) per square meter.

In 2007, Beijing Capital Development acquired the commercial building for HK$178 million and converted it into the 218 Apartments and sold it after a 19-year holding period posting a capital gain of HK$102 million. After the transaction between Beijing Capital Development and JD.com, JD.com announced that they will be converting the hotel into student housing, which remains the major theme in the Hong Kong commercial real estate space.

Sheraton Ningbo Hotel, China

As mentioned in our previous article, the real estate market in China is facing an issue where owners are selling their hotels at steep discounts due to debt issues in the face of oversupply in the market, Sheraton Ningbo Hotel is another example of it.

Ningbo Lushun Group, a century old Ningbo-based food manufacturing group, acquired the 379-key Sheraton Ningbo Hotel in an auction on Alibaba’s asset platform. The property was first auctioned in June 2026 with a price of RMB452 million (US$66.8 million), but resulted in a failed auction with no buyers. It was then auctioned off again one month late for RMB361 million (US$53.2 million) or RMB950,000 (US$141,000) per key, which was reportedly a 45% discount from the original appraised value of RMB645 million (US$95.3 million).

Japan Hotel REIT, Japan

Japan Hotel REIT (JHR), Japan’s largest hospitality REIT, is recycling capital through two transactions:

• JHR sold the 280-key The Beach Tower Okinawa to Mihama Terroir for JPY30.9 billion (US$189.8 million) or JPY110.6 million (US$678,000) per key. Its reportedly the sale price is nearly three times the property’s original acquisition price of JPY10.4 billion and almost five times the property’s book value of JPY6.3 billion.
• To replace the asset in JHR’s portfolio and strengthen their financial position, the firm is acquiring the 496-key Candeo Hotels Osaka Namba from Hotel Hikari GK for JPY14.3 billion (US$88 million) - slightly below the appraisal value of JPY14.9 billion.