Seafarers' union opens Seacare Hotel in Chinatown

The first hotel in Singapore owned by a labour co-operative was officially opened on Wednesday.

The 103-room Seacare Hotel on Chin Swee Road, near Chinatown, is run by the hospitality arm of Seacare Co-operative Limited, a co-operative set up by the National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore Organisation of Seamen (SOS), a maritime trade union.

The 16-storey hotel has facilities such as a business centre, gym, sauna, gaming room with jackpot machines, and a rooftop wine bar.

The hotel aims to attract business travellers, but will also offer discounted rates to seafarers. The project was conceived in 2008 "to make affordable hotel accommodation more readily available for seamen" when they are in Singapore, SOS president Mohamed Idris Mohamed Ibrahim said on Wednesday.