Start-up Dash Living helps Hong Kong hotels switch to monthly leases, ride out pandemic slump

Dash Living, a Hong Kong co-living start-up, is helping hotels switch to monthly leases to survive the unprecedented downturn in the city’s tourism sector.

More business opportunities have emerged for Dash since the coronavirus outbreak and it is collaborating with six hotels. “We did not have third-party hotel partners before Covid-19, and we [have grown] pretty quickly over the last three months, actually,” said Eddie Sit, Dash’s head of marketing. “Everyone knows about the difficulties faced by the hotel industry during the coronavirus outbreak. Some of those who discussed with us thought long leases could be a way out,” he added.

Dash’s link up with hotels comes at a time when visitor arrivals in Hong Kong have all but dried up. They fell 97.2 per cent year on year last month, according to Hong Kong Tourism Board. The average hotel occupancy rate stood at 51 per cent in January, compared with 59 per cent a year earlier and 92 per cent in January 2019.

Dash, which was founded by entrepreneur Aaron Lee in 2014 and is backed by MindWorks Ventures, manages and operates more than 1,300 units that include co-living homes, serviced apartments and hotel rooms in Hong Kong and Singapore. It has more than 1,000 tenants and 250,000 sq ft under management.

Among the hotels working with Dash are The Aberdeen by Dash Living, which is being converted from The Aberdeen by Ovolo, as well as The Sheung Wan By Ovolo and the Figo. Some of these hotels might not have the manpower or amenities for long leases, and found Dash’s practice “quite mature”, Sit added.

The two Ovolo Group properties will start offering monthly leases from next month, with rents starting at about HK$7,500 (US$966) a month for a room measuring about 215 sq ft at The Aberdeen, depending on the duration of lease. The most expensive unit will cost about HK$27,000 a month. The Aberdeen was purposed for quarantine earlier before undergoing renovation.