Holiday Inn Express has opened their first property on Phuket Island, providing savvy leisure travellers with affordable comfort in a prime central location. Offering relaxed, hassle-free accommodation without comprising on quality, Holiday Inn Express Phuket Patong Beach Central has all the characteristics that guests expect of the trusted global brand.
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms, today announced the signing of InterContinental Phuket Rawai Beach Resort, the first for the brand in Phuket, with JTM (Thailand) Limited, a member company of the L.C. Development Ltd (LC Dev) Group.Designed by renowned and award-winning architect Bill Bensley, who also designed IHG's award-winning InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort in Vietnam, the resort will be a redevelopment of the former Evason Phuket and Bon Island. When completed, the resort will have approximately 240 keys comprising both rooms and villas. It is scheduled to open in 2014 and will become the flagship property for the InterContinental brand in Thailand.A 50-minute drive from Phuket International Airport and located on the south-eastern Rawai beach, the resort will offer an extensive range of facilities within its 180,000 square metres of landscaped tropical gardens facing the Andaman Sea, fully catering to luxury travellers in both the business and leisure segment. The property is also 30 minutes from Phuket Town and 20 minutes from the popular nightlife area of Patong Beach.LC Dev also owns the Holiday Inn Resort Phuket and Crowne Plaza London Kensington.On behalf of LC Dev, Kelvin Lum, Managing Director said, "We have had a great partnership with IHG for more than two decades and the signing of the hotel management agreement for InterContinental Phuket Rawai Beach Resort cements this relationship further. The resort, when operational, will be our second hotel managed by IHG in Thailand after the Holiday Inn Resort Phuket in Patong. With IHG's established presence in Thailand, we are confident that IHG is the ideal operator for this unique hotel in Rawai, Phuket. We are excited about the possibilities this latest collaboration brings and are looking forward to seeing our first InterContinental come to life in Phuket." Added Jan Smits, Chief Executive Officer, IHG Asia, Middle East and Africa, "Having already established our Holiday Inn brand in Phuket, we've been looking for the right partner and right opportunity to add a luxury resort offering to meet the demand on the island. ""We are delighted that LC Dev has made this agreement with us and are looking forward to the InterContinental Phuket Rawai Beach Resort in 2014."IHG currently has 14 hotels and resorts in Thailand with 3 in Phuket. These include the Holiday Inn Resort Phuket, Holiday Inn Phuket Mai Khao and the brand new Holiday Inn Express Patong Beach, which is set to open this month. 9 more are in the pipeline for Thailand, including hotel and resort properties for InterContinental, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express.
Christoph Berger, General Manager, Outrigger Phuket Beach Resort, is pleased to announce the appointment of Selina Chan as Director of Sales & Marketing for the property, which is scheduled to open 15 March 2013, following a major renovation of the resort.
McGrath’s career in hospitality spans over 30 years and he was most recently the director of business development with the Hilton Adelaide in Australia.
Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas has announced the appointment of Viktoria Riley as Cluster Director of Sales & Marketing for Anantara Phuket Villas, as well as the new Anantara Phuket Layan Resort & Spa opening in 2013. Viktoria joins the renowned Anantara brand with almost 20 years of leisure and hospitality experience, during which she has been with Sol Meliá Hotels and Marriott International, amongst others. Prior to joining the Anantara team, Viktoria served as the Director of Sales & Marketing at the Sheraton Phoenix Airport Hotel in Arizona.
Hilton Worldwide today announced the opening of its first DoubleTree by Hilton property in Phuket, Thailand. The 250-room DoubleTree Resort by Hilton – Surin Beachis located on the west coast of the island on Surin Beach, which is approximately 24 kilometers from Phuket International Airport. "Hilton Worldwide has been in Thailand since 1983 and we currently operate six hotels in key destinations including Bangkok, Pattaya, Koh Samui, Hua Hin and Phuket. Thailand is a key focus market for us due to its enormous potential for growth and as we continue to expand our footprint here, the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton – Surin Beach marks the entry of one of our fastest growing brands, DoubleTree by Hilton, into Thailand," said Martin Rinck, president, Asia Pacific, Hilton Worldwide.
Located in the secluded bay of Cape Panwa next to its own private beach and looking out to the Andaman Sea, Regent Phuket Cape Panwa will offer a new luxury experience in a breathtaking location in Southern Thailand. A result of Regent's vision for establishing attractive and personable resorts in the most beautiful parts of the world, the resort will present a superb private retreat, sensitively designed to harmonise with one of the most enchanting locales on Earth. Regent Phuket, the first of Regent's several new concepts for forward-thinking luxury lifestyle destinations, is to open 1 December 2012.
The next step in Rosewood Hotels & Resorts®' ambitious Asia expansion plan will be the end-2014 opening of Rosewood Phuket, as the second Rosewood property in Asia following Rosewood Beijing's Summer 2013 opening. The resort, including 87 villas, 20 residences and six hideaway homes, will be located on the 1,968-foot (600-metre) Emerald Bay beachfront in Western Phuket, one of the island's last remaining areas for a secluded beach resort enclave. Here, Rosewood's A Sense of Place® philosophy will celebrate the landscape, culture and sensibilities of its special new home.
The 255-key resort, formerly the Laguna Beach Resort (LBR), was bought from Banyan Tree in July this year and then closed for extensive renovations. It is set to reopen on April 1 next year. Mr Berger, a German national and lifetime hotelier, has a long history with the resort. He was executive assistant manager from 2002 to 2004. He then worked for three years at the Sukhothai Bangkok and the Al Bustan Rotan Hotel in Dubai, before returning as GM of the LBR in 2007.
Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts is pleased to announce the appointment of Kevin Furrer, as General Manager of Swissôtel Resort Phuket with immediate effect. He has been with the company since 2004 and was most recently Acting General Manager at Swissôtel Nai Lert Park, Bangkok.
Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels is predicting the island resort of Phuket to be one of Asia Pacific's hotel investment hot spots in 2012, following record sales in the first half of the year. Investment in the hotel property sector in Phuket is expected to exceed THB10bn (US$315m) for the full year for first time ever in 2012.Mike Batchelor, Managing Director of Investment Sales at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels said: "Phuket has seen record investment in the first half of 2012 and the market looks on track to enter a renewed period of growth as savvy international investors strategically secure landmark properties in Asia's premier resort destination."Since the start of the year, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels has advised on and managed the sale of three prominent properties in Phuket, including the acquisition of the:
Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Asia Pacific has appointed Mr Chris Adams as General Manager of the Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort and Villas, effective immediately.
Absolute Hotel Services has announced the appointment of Martin Fabiano as U Sunsuri Phuket’s general manager. Fabiano, who has a background in hotel event/banquet management, formerly worked in Asia, Canada and Europe with international hotel chains including Hilton, Mandarin Oriental and Four Seasons. Prior to his new assignment as the general manager of U Sunsuri Phuket, he was general manager at the Park Plaza Bangok Soi 18.U Sunsuri Phuket will open its doors to guests on November 1.
Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts is about to add its first property in Phuket to its portfolio. The international hotel group has been appointed the manager of the existing Courtyard by Marriott at Kamala Beach, which will be re-branded as Swissôtel Resort Phuket on 1 April 2012. This will be the group's third property in Thailand and its first resort property in Southeast Asia.
Khun Apichart has enjoyed an extensive hospitality career in Thailand that began as a receptionist. He has progressed through the ranks of rooms division to the position of General Manager, working at a number of popular resort destinations in Krabi, Koh Samui and Phuket in southern Thailand. Prior to joining Outrigger in 2011, Apichart was General Manager at the Metadee Resort in Phuket. Community responsibilities have been a recurring theme of Apichart's hotel career. Apichart has been a committee member and registrar for the Patong Hotel Association and served on the sub-committee of the Phuket Tourist Association. He has also served on the executive committee of the Thai Hotels Association, Southern Thailand Chapter, and as a community committee member of the Chalong Police Station in Phuket. He also enjoys networking with B2B peers at Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) events and has regularly attended the Asean Tourism Forum in Southeast Asia and the World Travel Market in London.
Mr. Gerd Steeb, President of Centara Hotels & Resorts has announced the appointment of Mr. Andreas Korf as General Manager of Centara Grand West Sands Resort & Villas Phuket, with effect from 1 December 2011. Andreas Korf, who is a German national, has many years of experience in hotel management in Germany, USA, Switzerland, England and China. In 2008, he started his career with Centara Hotels & Resorts in the position of Resident Manager at Sofitel Centara Grand Bangkok.
Antoine is a graduate of the Lausanne Hotel School, with a Diploma for Higher Studies in Hotel & Restaurant Management. He embarked on his distinguished career in the hospitality industry with Meridien Balmoral Hotel in Scotland. From there he moved to Conran Restaurants Limited in London, where he excelled as Operations Manager in several of the Group’s restaurants.
Friedl brings more than 20 years of hospitality experience to his new position, with several of them spent in Thailand. Most recently as Hotel Manager of The Westin Kuala Lumpur and Director of Food and Beverage at The Westin Grande Sukhumvit Bangkok before that, Friedl’s initial step towards a hospitality career was a five year apprenticeship in Salzburg, before he switched gears and moved to a Swiss restaurant in Zurich. His passion for the culinary arts peaked when he joined a five star cruise liner where he explored fresh, exotic ingredients. Prior positions include posting at an international hotel in Australia, where he led his culinary team to win the ‘Most Outstanding Three Course Australian Themed Menu’ in the Salon Culinaire in Cairns; Executive Chef at the former Sheraton Sydney Airport and Executive Chef in charge of Food and Beverage at Four Points by Sheraton Darling Harbour.
Sean Raine has been appointed general manager of The Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa, Phuket. Raine’s career with Starwood began as financial controller at Sheraton Fiji, after which taking the post as director of finance Asia Pacific in the Starwood Asia Pacific Divisional office. He then joined the opening team at The Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa Phuket as hotel manger. The Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa, Phuket opened in August 2010 and is the first Westin resort to open in Thailand.
Holiday Inn Express, one of the fastest growing hotel brands in the world, continues its expansion in Thailand with a new signing in Phuket. This marks the brand's debut in Phuket, and also the first Holiday Inn Express in a beach resort location.