The resort’s inaugural ‘Passion for Perfume’ programme in April was such a success, the resort says, that it will repeat it in August, with two two-day courses, on August 19/20 ad 21/22.

As in April, ‘Passion for Perfume’ will be hosted by perfumer Stephen Dowthwaite, founder of Perfumers World in Bangkok. “Over the two days,” the resort explains, “guests will experiment with fragrances and understand the connection between scents and emotions. In the end, couples can create their own signature perfume, a pheromone-sparking fragrance that sets pulses racing and sends a shiver down the spine.”

Steven Dowthwaite of Perfumers World in Bangkok will teach the courses.

Each day the ‘Passion for Perfume’ programme will consist of a two-hour morning session followed by a three-hour practical afternoon workshop.

Day 1 – In the morning, guests will be introduced to the ABCs of perfumery, learning the basics of blending and beginning to identify a fragrance’s key notes. After lunch, using their newfound knowledge, they will reproduce their favorite perfume using a selection of 26 base fragrances.

Day 2 – In the morning participants blend their own perfume to convey a feeling, place or atmosphere, and in the afternoon, once they understand the senses-stirring ability of essential oils and natural extracts, they will create their own personal aphrodisiac.

Along with a bottle of their signature scent, at the end of the two-day escape couples will receive a 40-page guide to perfumery and a certificate.

The price for the two-day programme, which includes lunch and snacks on both days, is B7,000 per person (about US$260), plus tax. For more information or to book, go here.

If you can’t make it this time around, the course will be repeated in October.

Naiharn Beach - one of four Phuket beaches where you'll find an Accor hotel.

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.

“Accor is coordinating this campaign to help give tourism a helping hand,” said Oswald Pichler – Accor’s Vice President of Operations for Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. “As the country regains stability [after the political violence in Bangkok], tourists will be looking to take advantage of deals for travel to locations such as … Phuket.

“With hotels and resorts in all key city and leisure locations, the Accor network when combined with these ‘cash back’ incentives provides a very strong proposition.”

Until September 30, guests staying at participating Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Mercure, All Seasons or ibis hotels will receive:

• B500 at any Pullman, MGallery and Novotel per room per night to spend in the hotel
• B250 at any Grand Mercure and Mercure per room per night to spend in the hotel
• B150 at any ibis and all seasons per room per night to spend in the hotels

Ibis Patong Hotel

Accor manages six hotels on Phuket. They are the Novotel Phuket Resort in Patong; the Novotel Phuket Beach Resort Panwa on Cape Panwa; the All Seasons Naiharn; the Mercure Patong; the Ibis Patong and the Ibis Kata.

For more on these hotels, go here.

All rooms at the Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa have sea-and-island views.

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 promotion is valid for bookings before 30 September 2010 and stays between August 1 and October 31. The introductory rate is for rooms only, with taxes and service charge taking the checkout price to B2,386, or about US$70 a night.

The resort will be the first Westin resort to open in Thailand. Located on Siray Island, on the east side of the island, the resort overlooks Siray Bay and boasts a secluded beach with direct access.

Siray Island is connected to the Phuket mainland via a bridge. It is a 10-minute drive from Phuket Town and about 45 minutes  from Phuket International Airport.

The beach near the resort is usually much quieter than beaches on the west coast of Phuket.

“We are excited to introduce the first Westin resort in Thailand! We are looking forward to offering travelers an exclusive retreat with our Westin services, products and amenities that will allow them to relax, rejuvenate and recharge,” said Greg Findlay, the resort’s General Manager.

“At Westin our focus is on well being and wellness to ensure our guests leave feeling better than when they arrived.”

The new-build resort will offer 261 guest rooms, suites and villas, all with ocean views and open outdoor balconies.

The hotel website is here.

The lingering global financial crisis, the recent political turmoil in Bangkok and the sometimes wet weather of this time of the year in Phuket all add up to leave a delightfully empty beach in Patong.

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). On top of this, anyone booking the package before June 30 will also get buffet breakfast free. The offer is valid for stays before October 31.

Children under 12 stay free, with a maximum of two sharing their parents’ room and bed. An extra bed can be provided at B600++ per night.

The Centara Sawaddi Patong Resort Phuket is located a short stroll from Patong’s renowned entertainment heartland and renowned beach, the Jungceylon Shopping and Entertainment Complex and the popular Bangla Walking Street.

The resort is about 40 minutes’ drive from Phuket International Airport and about 20 minutes from the island’s capital, Phuket Town. The resort website is here.

The design of the new Centara echoes the Sino-Portuguese architecture of old Phuket Town.

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

The resort will have 262 guestrooms and villas, divided between 108 deluxe rooms, 81 deluxe spa rooms, 45 pool premium rooms, 18 pool suites, six one-bed pool villas and four two-bed pool villas, along with four F&B outlets: the all-day restaurant, The Cove; the Mare Italian restaurant and bar; the Luna Chill-Out Bar and Lounge; and a Beachcomber Beach Bar.

Other facilities at the resort, the design of which references Phuket Sino-Portuguese architecture, will include a tennis court, fitness centre, a spa, a playground and two playrooms for children, one for ages 4-10 and another for ages 10-16.

Centara is part of the family-owned Thai giant Central Group, which also owns the Central Department stores (including Central Festival in Phuket and the ill-fated Central World in Bangkok, destroyed by arson in the wake of the recent Red Shirt violence); Robinson department stores; B2S bookstores; electronics retail chain PowerBuy; DIY chain Homeworks and sporting goods store chain Supersports; and a minority stake in Big C supermarkets; .

It also operates the Thailand franchises of brands such as Hong Kong drugstore chain Watson and UK retailer Marks & Spencer.

Dewa Resort, at Nai Yang Beach, is the latest to sign up LaTour for its management expertise.

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.

In a public statement, Phuket landmark Lars Ydmark, the boss of Tri-Asia, which developed and owns the hotel, explained, “We’re excited to put Dewa Phuket Resort into LaTour Hotels & Resorts’ group of managed properties and welcome their team’s expertise and guidance in providing premier services.

“By introducing Latour, we will only enhance further what we have already achieved and thereby add more value for all our individual home owners at Dewa Phuket. As the saying goes, more tools in the tool box.”

LaTour is a new name in the hotel business, founded just a couple of years ago, and with just nine properties in its portfolio – four in the US, three in Mexico and, now, two in Thailand.

However, it does have a great deal of experience in it’s senior management team. Founder, chairman and CEO Thomas LaTour was for many years the boss of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, growing it from one hotel to 45 during his tenure. He is also a big wheel in ResortCom International.

In fact, most of the top management of LaTour and ResortCom are the same people.

In case you were wondering, ResortCom International – despite the coincidence of names – is not affiliated to timeshare exchange giant RCI, though John Small, chairman of ResortCom and vice-chairman of LaTour, once worked for RCI Management – an RCI subsidiary which manages timeshare properties, but doesn’t sell timeshare. And ResortCom also boats that it “can provide a fully integrated platform and 100% of the operational and back office services for a timeshare or fractional resort developer” Clear?

Be that as it may, Ydmark says that there will be no timeshare at Dewa, which is part-resort, part-privately owned apartments. “LaTour is a manager of high-end mixed-use boutique resorts so that fits perfectly with what we have. That’s why we’re delighted to get in bed with them,” he said.

Minimalist architecture and maximalist views: The pool at B-Lay Tong.

Over the past couple of years, Patong has been shifting gradually away from its image as the centre of down-and-dirty vacationing into something rather more chic. That’s not to say you can’t get down and very dirty if you want to – but there’s no longer the sense that that’s the only thing to do there and that, basically, if you go to Patong that’s what you have to do.

Just the place for a summit meeting - the dining table in the B-Lay Tong Presidential Suite

Now there is a rising number of chic places to go to. Places where you might have to think a bit further than flipflops, Singha T-shirt and shorts with 17 pockets. Places where you might actually feel out of place if you don’t dress up a bit.

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.

Beat Club is ready – it’s just not operating full-on yet. It can, however, be booked for private parties, taking advantage of the high-tech sound system and neon-lit bar; call K. Tik at +66 (0) 76 344 999.

The resort opened quietly in March, and will have its official opening in the next few months – it’s not yet certain just when, but before the next “high” season. In the meantime everything is ready – two restaurants serving Mediterranean and Thai food, an oyster and sushi bar, the lobby bar and the pool bar, along with a library and fitness room. In-room facilities include audio system, LCD TV with satellite reception, and WiFi or LAN connection for Internet. Free.

Following the trend away from Thai temple-style roofs and a great deal of ornate woodwork, the exterior design of B-Lay Tong is starkly rectangular, with dark grey dressed concrete surfaces. Indoors, things are slick, chic minimalist with dark shades contrasting with splashes of bright colour. In the rooms, the opposite prevails, with bright white being dominant.

Beat Club - not fully open yet, but bring your private dancers for a private party.

The resort is owned by B-Resort Group of Bangkok, and is managed by the InVision Group, headed by former Marriott exec Kevin Beauvais, whose portfolio now includes such chic inns as Zeavola in Phuket along with Villa Maroc on Pranburi Beach, and Glow and Swiss Park in Bangkok. The GM of B-Lay Tong will be Daniel Meury, formerly boss of The Chedi in Phuket.

Room rates until October 31 this year run from B4,900 a night for a Superior Garden View Room to 46,900 for the Presidential Suite with its two bedrooms and enormous living/dining area, sprawling over a total of 145 sqm.

Expect B-Lay Tong to be mentioned soon by the cognoscenti in the same breath as, say, Twin Palms on Surin Beach. For more info, see the B-Lay Tong website here.

Pool suite at Andara. In this case, the pool has a blue bottom.

In Phuket, the magazine chose Andara Resort & Villas in Kamala, which opened officially just two months ago. The reviewer seems most impressed with the electronics, particularly the “wicked 52-inch LCD television in [the] living room”, and goes on to drool over the Bose stereo system and the Gaggia coffee machine.

The writer finally turns to the more pedestrian delights of five-star travel – the “black-bottom infinity pool [that] attracts an array of beautiful bodies”, the beach club and the motor yachts.

The JW Marriott Khao Lak - not actually in Khao Lak, but close.

The second local resort in the list is the new JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa at Khuk Kak Beach in Phang Nga, just north of Khao Lak, which opened in November last year. The reviewer more conventionally highlights the “postcard-perfect setting”, noting that “the resort itself is up to snuff”. That’s a relief.

But this reviewer is definitely a foodie. Counting the words, around 40% are reserved for restaurant descriptions. The electronics are not mentioned.

Finally, Traveler chose the new Phulay Bay all-suites/villas resort at Phulay Bay, about 10km (as the crow flies) to the northwest of Ao Nang in Krabi. The resort, which opened just before Christmas, and which is managed by Ritz-Carlton – it’s the first in the world to carry the group’s Reserve brand -  makes the list despite the “disappointing” beach, the “rocky” shallows and the “unsightly dredging complex” offshore.

Don't spill your coffee, please - living area in one of the Phulay Bay suites.

But it does have all that’s required for personal hygiene, the reviewer writes: “lotus-shaped sinks, double-headed rain showers, and outdoor tubs.” Very good for washing off Icelandic volcano ash.

Sadly, no local venues made the nightlife or spa Hot Lists this year. But then, three local resorts out of a worldwide list of 134 (in 55 countries) is still impressive.

It should be noted, too, that the Traveler reviewers slip in and out without telling anyone they are coming, and paying their own hotel bills – so this is one of the most honest lists out there, and therefore one that carries enormous promotional weight for the properties that are featured. For all the lists, go here.

One-bedroom beachfront pool villa at the Renaissance.

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.

The four-floor Renaissance, which has 150 guest rooms and 30 pool villas, is just south of the Sala Phuket Resort and not far from its sister hotel. Apart from the guest rooms and suites it has six meeting rooms totaling 2,917 sq ft of space.

It also has five F&B outlets. These are the Seakram Thai restaurant; the beachside Sandbox with barbecue; Loca Vore, “a contemporary restaurant with rustic appeal driven by the concept of ‘fresh ingredients’,” with diners choosing from among the ingredients and deciding how they would like them cooked;  The Lounge pub next to the lobby; and the Doppio coffee house and bakery.

To “celebrate the opening” the resort is offering its deluxe rooms at B5,555 a night and pool villas at B8,888. The offer is valid until May 31. For more details, see the resort website.

Even with the lights on, the Dusit Trattoria's terrace is not exactly overlit.

Cities around the world pledged to cut off all the public lights to back Earth Hour, which is organised by the highly respected World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a way for people to support actions to reduce global climate change.

Of course, in all countries there would have been right-wing ostriches who believe that climate change theories are some Commie plot to interfere with the right to make as much money as possible, right now. They were probably running around turning on every light they could find and cranking up the heating or AC.

And many might argue that even if everyone in the world turned off their power for an hour, that would only put off the evil hour when the oil runs out by, yes, one hour. That’s disingenuous, of course; the idea is to raise awareness. Hopefully, people will be more careful about their use of power year-round.

In Thailand, support was, shall we say, patchy. For a start, in Bangkok, no one was going to turn off the lights with 80,000 Red Shirts on the streets. You can imagine Bangkokians muttering, “Are you insane? Lord knows what they might get up to in the dark!”

It would also have meant millions of people missing all or part of their favourite soap operas. We noticed that TV stations did not turn off for an hour. Imagine if they did join in, broadcasting a black screen with the words “Turn off your TV now!” The Red Shirt demos would look like the teddy bears’ picnic compared with the backlash that would prompt.

But some people did make an effort. Phuket Observer was invited to join the Dusit Laguna Resort’s Earth Hour Candle Light Dinner. The idea was simple: turn off the power at home and dine by candle light at the Dusit’s Trattoria restaurant, with 20% of the proceeds going to the WWF.

As a quiet finale to the dinner, some of the guests were invited to launch hot-air balloons. Strictly non-electrical.

The Trattoria is a delightful restaurant – comfortable, smart without being over-chic, definitely a a place to relax. Exec Chef Silvano Amolini served up a thoroughly electrifying menu of Hokkaido scallops; pasta with chunks of stewed beef in Chianti sauce; and Tasmanian salmon, finished off with a slice of Caprese tart. The last course was served with the kitchen staff working by candle light, which may explain why my Caprese tart was served with gravy.

I’m joking. It wasn’t. It was perfect.

Dinner began at 7pm, so no one had to sit in the dark with the AC turned off until the meal was just about finished. In fact, sitting on the terrazzo with a mild sea breeze was perfectly comfortable.

All in all, a thoroughly civilised and enjoyable way of doing one’s bit for the planet, demonstrating that one doesn’t have to suffer to do little a good for the environment.