CURTAINS FALL ON REGAL HOTEL, MELAKA.

REGAL HOTEL ( 1969 TO 2010 )

Regal Hotel at Jalan Bendahara, Melaka, which was once THE HOTEL in Malacca, in early 1970's has been sold to a Singaporean investor.

The original owners of Regal Hotel viz. the family members of Woh Chun Hardware, started Regal Hotel in 1969.

During that time, the 5 storeys hotel with room airconditioners in each room and a lift to the Chinese Restaurant on the top floor, was the hotel Malaccans can be proud of.

Various dinners and functions were held at this Chinese Restaurant there.

However, over the years, especially during the 1980s, multi-storey high rise hotels were built.

The most notable one is the Ramada Hotel (later Renaissance Hotel, Melaka) opened in 1984 operated and managed by the Ramada Hotel chain. Later, the Ramada Hotel chain terminated their contract and the Ramada Hotel was renamed Renaissance Hotel, Melaka.

To date, Renaissance Hotel, Melaka is managed by JW Marriot and is a 5 Star hotel in the heart of Malacca.

Regal Hotel original owners later disposed the property to a local hotel operator in 1990s and was renamed "New Regal Hotel".

Some effort was made to spruce up the hotel in later 1990s but "New Regal Hotel" was not able to compete with new entrants of budget hotels in Melaka.

In late May 2010, the "New Regal Hotel" was sold to a Singaporean hotelier who operates the "Hallmark Hotel" at Jalan Kubu.

Since then, the premises have been shut for renovation and refurbishment. It remains to be seen how the new refurbished hotel will look like but all Malaccans will want it to remain an affordable hotel to visitors.

The new name should also be known when the refurbishment are completed by the end of 2010.

Malaccans look forward to long term investors to Malacca and other investments in the tourism sectors.