In the blue corner, Absolute Resort Management. In the red corner, the other Absolute, from Bangkok, Absolute Hotel Services.

Plenty of hotels in Phuket have Thai cooking lessons. Others teach wine appreciation or Thai-style fruit carving. But to our knowledge, The Pavilions, a high-end all-pool-villas resort in the Layan area of Phuket, is the only one that has a perfume-making course.

Accor hotels throughout Thailand – including Phuket – are now offering guests “cash back” incentives during their stays. The “cash back” credits can be used on services within the hotel such as restaurants, bars or even on treatments in the spa.

The Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa Phuket is offering room nights for B2,010++ (or US$59++) a night in the lead-up to its official opening, scheduled for August.

The Centara Sawaddi Patong Resort Phuket has launched a “Discover Patong Phuket – Introductory Sale” with rates starting from just B1,200++ per room-night (two people).

Centara Hotels & Resorts will open its new Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket at Karon Beach in October this year, its fourth hotel in Phuket.

LaTour Hotels & Resorts of San Diego, California, which recently signed up to manage the Indochine Resort in Kalim, has signed up its second property in Phuket: The Dewa at Nai Yang.

Names in Patong that come to mind include Club Lime, Climax, BYD Lofts or White Box. Now there’s another to put on your list and in the back of your mind: Beat Club at the new 123-room B-Lay Tong Resort, at the north end of Patong Beach. It’s just opposite the Novotel, close to the junction of the beach road and Phra Barami Rd.

Three new resorts in Phuket or close by have been selected by Condé Nast Traveler magazine for inclusion in its 2010 Hot List.

The new Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa, which held its soft opening recently, is the second resort on the 11km-long beach to be managed by Marriott International. The first was the well-established JW Marriot Phuket Resort & Spa, which opened eight years ago.