PETALING JAYA: Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd is planning to establish five hotels in Malaysia mainly in the Klang Valley and Sabah in the next few years, making its foray into the hospitality sector.

       Hap Seng Land Sdn Bhd chief operating officer David Khor said the diversification into the hotel industry is to diversify the group revenue stream and additional recurring income for the group.

       Hap Seng Land is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hap Seng Consolidated.

       Khor said the group has identified three locations for the hotels, namely, on Jalan Kia Peng, in KL Metropolis development located near the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre, and at Wisma KFC building in Jalan Sultan Ismail that it recently acquired last month. The remaining two hotels will be in Sabah.

       "Four of the hotels will be managed by inter Hyatt and the one Mariott,” he told reporters at the sideline after the certificate presentation ceremony by Malaysia Book of Records on Wednesday.

       At the ceremony, Hap Seng Land Sdn Bhd has bagged the Malaysia Book of Records for the “Highest Indoor Green Wall”.

       The green wall is located in Menara Hap Seng 3 featuring a 91.55 high indoor green wall, spanning vertically across all 20 levels of office space. The green wall houses 10 different species of plants with over 27,000 individual pots.

       “We made some reference to the green wall in Australia and Singapore. We also met with several agriculture specialists to bring the outdoor green wall indoors. When people walk into the building they can feel the air is fresher as some of the plants here can remove toxins,” Khor said.