Experience Sino-Portuguese luxury

The Andaman Embrace Resort & Spa, due to open in December, will be Patong’s new Sino-Portuguese resort.

It will be the four-star Club Anadaman Beach Resort revitalised. The Resort closed on 30 April after 20 years for major renovations to transform it into a more traditional style in keeping with Phuket’s colourful past.

Phuket Town, the capital, features many Sino-Portuguese style buildings, reflecting early settlement by the Chinese and the subsequent arrival of the Portuguese on Phuket to exploit the tin mining industry of those days.

But Patong, the tourist centre of Phuket, is more modern, so the new resort will bring a little of that history closer to the sea and expose its architecture to guests. Phuket T.

Renovations to the 200 guest room resort will include addition of a 570 sq.m. swimming, an independently operated spa and a new restaurant. Remaining will be the old resort’s tropical garden dotted with 18 “lotus cottages” surrounding an ornamental pond, but they will be revamped to reflect the Sino-Portuguese architectural theme.

According to the resort Managing Director Salisa Limsakul the new resort will have new staff and offer “five star services at four star prices” with low season rates through out the 2011-2012 peak season.

The resort will also feature a Sino-Portuguese style shopping arcade–a modern version of Phuket Town–with 13 boutique shops.

Ms Salisa expects 78 guest rooms on the lower floors to be operational in time for peak season guests.

Andaman Embrace – new Sino-Portuguese style resort for Patong is an article from: Phuket Observer - Phuket lifestyle magazine.

More than just ice cream

Swiss hotel operator Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will open a second hotel on Phuket’s Bang Tao Beach West Coast at the resort formerly known as The Palm Beach Club.

The rebranded Mövenpick Residences Bang Tao Beach Phuket property will join the Movenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket.

Mövenpick has plans to increase its Thailand portfolio to six hotels by 2014. It operates 69 hotels in 26 countries with 19 new properties under construction.

The new resort has 39 suites and penthouses with a small number of units having private swimming pools or a Jacuzzi. There is a large communal swimming pool, restaurant, fitness centre and spa.

The Mövenpick at Karon Beach comprises 159 suites with sundecks, outdoor rain showers and some have plunge pools. It also has 175 renovated rooms.

Mövenpick Group was founded in Switzerland in 1948. It is also famous for its  food, Mövenpick particularly ice cream.

Mövenpick to open second Phuket hotel is an article from: Phuket Observer - Phuket lifestyle magazine.

Gone to a new home

Laguna Hotels & Resorts Plc., which jointly owns Laguna Beach Resort, is to sell its shareholding in the hotel for B723.56 million to Laguna Phuket Club Co. Ltd, a Thai company controlled by Real Estate Equity Partners, an Asian focused real estate private equity fund.

The 252-room deluxe beachfront property opened in 1992 as the second hotel in the Laguna Phuket complex. The hotel is popular with family groups.

Laguna Phuket has publicly stated it wishes to divest part of its interests in Thailand to focus on emerging opportunities elsewhere in Asia, such as China and Vietnam. Laguna Phuket last year divested its interest in the Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket hotel, one of the seven deluxe hotel and villa properties at its complex, which started more than 20 years ago built around a disused tin mine.

Laguna also recently announced that Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts would take over operations of the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket hotel from July, 2011. The property will close for a five month, B500 million refurbishment and reopen in December as the Angsana Laguna Phuket.

Laguna Phuket’s hive of activity in recent months reflects the continuing changes in Phuket’s hotel industry as more resorts are opened and plans for new properties announced.

InterContinental Hotels Group is to add an additional Hotel Indigo on the island, set for opening in Summer 2014. Located at the north end of beautiful Nai Thon beach, it will be only 15 minutes from Phuket International Airport. InterContinental is aggressively rolling out the Hotel Indigo brand across the world, with 38 current properties and a further 62 being developed.

And Royal Coast Company recently launched Jindarin Beach Club & Resort on Coconut Island, a two minute boat ride from Phuket. The resort is environmentally friendly with solar power, water recycling and use of natural local materials whenever possible.

The developer, who has built the high-end Cape Yamu and Yamu Hills properties, envisions Jindarin as a beach side “village” with “cottages” ranging in price from B1.5-B5.5 million for land lots plus cottage construction costs of B1-B4.5 million.

The resort will have a private beach and pier.

Laguna Beach Resort Changing Ownership is an article from: Phuket Observer - Phuket lifestyle magazine.

Amari Estates is expanding

Amari Estates, an established Thai hotel and resort group, will build two new developments, one in Patong and the other at Nai Harn in the south of the island.

The Patong residential development will add 190 condominiums and 10 pool villas on the current site of the Amari Coral Beach Resort at the southern end of the town.

The Nai Harn development will be an eco-friendly set of bungalows at Baan Krating, on the hillside adjacent to the Baan Krating Khao Lak Resort.

Khun Yuthachai Charanachitta, CEO and President of Amari Estates said there was “significant growth opportunities for real estate markets in tourist areas” in Phuket.

The new Phuket condominiums will be marketed to both Thai and foreign investors as part of the group’s new Onyx Hospitality brand.

Prices will start around B7 million for sea view condos with villas selling up to B50 million, with full access to the Coral Beach Resort facilities.

Work will start on the Nai Harn Baan Krating Resort boutique residences once the Amari Coral Beach Resort condos are complete.

Amari Plans Two New Hotel Developments in Phuket is an article from: Phuket Observer - Phuket lifestyle magazine.

Robinson Crusoe Country: Khao Lak

The expansion into Khao Lak in Phang Nga, north of Phuket, by Phuket resort developers continues with the Kata Group announcing plans for a B1.2 billion resort–the Khaolak Cassaway Resort and Spa–to be built in this growing area for destinational resorts.

The four star resort will be the fifth such hotel under the Kata Group brand and is a joint venture with backing from the K Bank.

The other four star resorts in the Kata Group are Phuket Orchid Resort, Kata Beach Resort, Karon Beach Resort and Kandaburi Samui Resort.

The new development should open in November this year, in time for the high season.

It joins a growing list of new developments at Khao Lak, which still has considerably more room than Phuket. Khao Lak has more than 50 hotels of various descriptions.

According to the locally produced Takola Magazine, which reports on events and property developments in Khao Lak, property development in the area has “really picked up.”  Most of the developments are low scale.

Takola Magazine extols the benefits of investing in Khao Lak because of the abundant space, compared to Phuket.  It also has many attractive, relatively unspoiled, beaches such as Thai Maung, Bangnieng, Khaolak and Bangsak Beaches.

The area is much quieter than Phuket and charter boats leave daily for great scuba diving and snorkeling spots such as the Similan and Surin Islands. The three hour boat trip is worth the wait for the crystal clear waters and teeming marine life.

Khaolak Cassaway Resort – New Development by Kata Group is an article from: Phuket Observer - Phuket lifestyle magazine.

The 419-room Sheraton Grande, one of the longest established five-star hotels on Phuket, will close from 1 July, 2011 for B500 million worth of extensive renovations and refurbishment covering all rooms and public areas and re-open as Angsana Laguna Phuket on 1 December, 2011.

The opening of an Angsana on Phuket will fill a long held desire by Banyan Tree to have an Angsana branded hotel under its group on the island. It consolidates Banyan Tree’s Phuket property as the flagship of a company continuing to expand in Asia, particularly in China.

Angsana's Morocco Hotel has won numerous awards.

Angsana Hotels & Resorts operates more than 10 resorts and hotels, over 40 spas and retail galleries. It is a member of the The Leading Small Hotels of the World and The Leading Hotels of the World. The group has won numerous awards, including the Conde Nast Traveler USA Hot List 2008 for its Angsana Riads Collection in Morocco.

The Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket was also on Conde Nast’s Traveler Readers’ Choice top 10 resorts in 2007. It is a member of The Luxury Collection, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. It commands a large Bang Tao Bay beachfront location close to Laguna Phuket Golf Club.

Banyan Tree’s Laguna Phuket property is the flagship of the Singapore based company which in 2010 had more than 26 resorts and hotels, 65 spas, 70 retail galleries and three golf courses under its management or ownership. In Phuket its Angsana spas and galleriesd are already well established within the Laguna Phuket resort area.

Banyan Tree was founded by Ho KwonPing, executive chairman, and has expanded rapidly beyond its Phuket base. It has plans for eight new developments in China between 2011 and 2013 and others in Macau, Indonesia, Vietnam, Portugal, Greece, Morroco and Oman in the same period..

Laguna Sheraton to Become Angsana Laguna Phuket is an article from: Phuket Observer - Phuket lifestyle magazine.

Computer generated image of The Yamu, as envisaged before the arrival of the global financial crisis. The final result may look very different.

Construction has resumed on The Yamu, the five-star-plus resort on the east coast of Phuket, which was stalled by the Global Financial Crisis, after developers Campbell Kane (CK) found a new backer, Singapore’s Hotel Properties Ltd (HPL).

HPL is controlled by Ong Beng Seng, and already has Four Seasons and Hard Rock Hotels in Asia in its portfolio. Ong also owns the rights to the Singapore Grand Prix and the city-state’s first Ferrari dealership.

Originally, the hotel was to have been run by Adrian Zecha’s GHM (Zecha is the man behind Aman Resorts), but CK and GHM parted ways about a year ago. It has now been announced that a management agreement has been signed with Como Hotels and Resorts, also based in Singapore, which already runs high-end resorts and hotels in London, Bangkok, Bali, Bhutan, the Maldives and the Turks & Caicos Islands.

The hotel, which will be known as The Yamu by Como, is now set to open in September next year.

‘”The addition of this Phuket property is aligned with Como Hotels and Resorts’ expansion plans within the region, supporting our growth strategy to include key destinations within the Como portfolio,” says Harry Apostolides, Vice President of Business Development, Como Hotels and Resorts.

Original design by Philippe Starck for a room at The Yamu. Whether Starck will come back on board under the new ownership is "not yet decided".

“This new Como resort will be our second Thai property, after the Metropolitan in Bangkok. These two properties will, in concert, showcase both the vibrancy and serenity of Thailand. Phuket is one of the top tourist destinations in the region, and we have focused on its east coast— an area of outstanding natural beauty and great biodiversity.”

Peter Hamilton, Managing Director of Campbell Kane, added, “We are pleased to be working with Como Hotels and Resorts on this venture. Como’s range of properties and the experiences they offer continue to redefine luxury travel.”

The hotel may end up looking very different from the original concept. For example, the original plan included an exclusive hotel within the hotel, the Club Villas, with its own dedicated hotel facilities. Hamilton told the Observer that there will be pool villas, but whether they will be run as a separate enclave is “not yet decided”.

Also not yet decided is whether the property will have a state-of-the-art recording studio, as was originally planned.

The earlier concept also included gorgeous design by Philippe Starck, probably the world’s best-known designer. Whether he will be involved now, Hamilton said, is also “not yet decided”.

One facility that has survived the ups and downs, however, is the 100-metre pool, hanging in thin air at one end.

Singapore’s Como to run Yamu hotel on Phuket’s east coast is an article from: Phuket Observer - Phuket lifestyle magazine.

The Boathouse, from Kata Bay.

Mom Tri’s Boathouse, the island’s first five-star boutique hotel, which opened 21 years ago on Kata Beach, has been sold to the owners of the luxury Trisara resort.

Narong Pattamasaevi, Executive Chairman of Three Dolphins Co, which owns and operates the very-high-end Trisara hotel and property development, announced yesterday that Three Dolphins had signed contracts to complete its acquisition of 100% of shares in The Boathouse Inn and Restaurant Co, plus other related real estate properties in Phuket including the Oasis restaurant next to the Boathouse.

Mom Tri’s Villa Royale, the small upmarket resort and restaurant on the headland just south of the Boathouse, is not part of the deal.

The Boathouse – the name was changed a few years ago to “Mom Tri’s Boathouse”, though the new name never really stuck – will now be called The Boathouse Phuket & Oasis. It has just 33 rooms, three suites and two pool villas, but has established an international reputation thanks to its standards of service and its excellent cellar.

For many years it was the centre for Phuket’s tiny group of  intelligentsia and literati,  thanks to its Chaophraya Literary Society, which had regular meetings featuring known writers from around Thailand. The hotel still occasionally stages such events.

The hotel can also justly claim to have launched wine drinking in Phuket, by selling excellent wines in the 1990s at almost no mark-up in order to foster oenophilia on the island. It has since won international awards for the quality of its cellar, including Wine Spectator Awards of Excellence from 1995 to 2004, and Best of Award of Excellence plaudits from 2006 to 2010 – the only place in Thailand to win the “two glasses” accolade since 2006.

To go with the wine, the  Boathouse Wine & Grill restaurant is known for its gourmet Thai and French Mediterranean cuisine, under the spoon of Executive Chef Jean-Nöel Lumineau, the only Maître Cuisinier de France working in Thailand.

Narong said the new owners are dedicated to continuing in the same tradition. “More than just a hotel on the beach, The Boathouse, remaining under the management of [General Manager] Louis Bronner, has inspired a loyal following of visitors, appreciating its friendly superb service, gourmet food, the best wine collection in Phuket and one of the best wine cellars in the Kingdom of Thailand,” his announcement added.

Mom Luang Tridosyudh Devakul, better known as “Mom Tri”, told the Observer, “The reason behind selling most of my assets in Phuket, of which the Boathouse is only a minor part, is that I’ll be 70 in just over a year. It is time to retire!

“I will devote my time and the proceeds from the Phuket sales to developing the Traidhos 3-Generation Community in Chiang Mai.

“The Boathouse was sold to K Narong because he has a similar vision for it’s future as I do. Funds will be invested to bring the hotel and restaurant back up to its past glory, and the Boathouse staff and present management will be in good hands.”

Phuket’s iconic Boathouse sold to Trisara owners is an article from: Phuket Observer - Phuket lifestyle magazine.

Jao Por Shanghai, aka Suthikiati Chirathivat.

The Chairman of Central Plaza Hotels Suthikiati Chirathivat – who’s also a director of Central Pattana, which owns Central Festival Phuket among other things – came to Phuket at the weekend with a couple of dozen Bangkok journalists to check out his latest creation, the 262-room 2.3-billion-baht Centara Grand Beach Resort on Karon Beach.

Dressed in an embroidered high-neck Chinese jacket topped off with a black homberg, the 67-year-old tycoon clowned around for photographers, striking Big Boss Shanghai poses with a midnight black pistol, something he apparently does at the drop of a hat. It only took one shooter to call, “Where’s your gun?” and he went into action.

But then this is a man who’s used to the limelight – he was once married to 1960s mega celebrity Apasara Hongsakula, the first Thai to win the Miss Universe crown.

He can afford to clown around. He was recently ranked by Forbes magazine as the 37th richest man in Thailand, with an estimated wealth of US$140 million. Impressive until you realise that other family members ranked 13, 25 and 36 in the list, giving the family as a whole a total of 770 million moolas.

Apart from the resorts and hotels and the Central malls, the family controls such brands as Robinson, Tops, Power Buy, Super Sport, B2S, HomeWorks and Office Depot. It also holds the Thailand franchises for Office Depot, Watson’s and Mark & Spencer. It also has a large chunk of Big C. And of course, it owns CentralWorld, notoriously torched earlier this year, allegedly by Red Shirt arsonists, and recently part-reopened.

And the companies the family controls are making money so fast it’s almost as if they have trouble putting it all to work. Dr Ronnachit Mahattanapreut, the hotel company’s senior VP for finance and admin, said the Karon resort was funded “mostly from internal capital. We did get a bank credit line of 1.6 billion baht,” he added with a smile, “but we ended up using only 10 million of that.”

The resort's architecture echoes old Phuket Town's Sino-Portuguese style.

Did they have any worries about sinking so much of the company’s money into a venture, especially when, soon after they did so, the entire world economy disappeared into a sinkhole? No, said Ronnachit. “We were convinced that the Thai economy has come through so many ups and downs and has always come out on top.”

In the pink: view from one of the resort's pool suites.

The resort, which welcomed its first guests just two weeks ago, is booked solid for Christmas/New Year and is predicted by its owners to finish next year with an average 60 percent occupancy. At an average of B7,400 per room night, that would bring in revenue of more than B400 million, so the investment’s looking pretty solid.

The resort sprawls across 40 rai of absolute beachfront land – the only one in Karon to do so – and takes its design from the Sino-Portuguese and Sino-Colonial architecture of old Phuket Town. It’s bright pink, which has apparently won local hearts and has had tour agents clamouring to represent the property.

Guests enjoy the lazy river that winds through the resort.

Suthikiati and family trace their roots back to the Chinese tropical island of Hainan. Are there any plans to have a resort there? “One day, maybe,” Suthikiati told the Observer.

Meanwhile, the resort has already become involved with the local community, signing on as a sponsor of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, which starts next Saturday (December 4).

Factoid: Forbes ranks the three richest men in Thailand as, respectively, the founder of Red Bull; the boss of ThaiBev, which makes Chang Beer; and the boss of CP, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of chicken and animal feed. Wonder if one can draw any conclusions about Thailand from that?

Big Boss visits Centara Grand Phuket is an article from: Phuket Observer - Phuket lifestyle magazine.

Vindicated: The award is justification for the resort owner's decision to completely remake the Indigo Pearl.

The Indigo Pearl Resort on Nai Yang Beach has won the accolade of “Asia’s Leading Design Hotel” in the annual “Oscars of the travel world” – the World Travel Awards.

The award is a vindication of the decision by the resort’s owner, Vichit Na Ranong, to completely overhaul the hotel’s design. He closed the place down so that it could receive a major makeover at the hands of architect and designer Bill Bensley, with a theme based on K. Vichit’s family’s tin-mining background.

Reaction, when the resort reopened in December 2006, ranged from delighted applause at the audacity of the design to disgust (mainly from regular guests of the resort’s previous incarnation as the Pearl Nai Yang Resort).

“This award is an immense accolade recognising Indigo Pearl’s unparalleled architecture marvels. It is a further reflection of the team’s continued efforts in enhancing our guests’ overall experience at the resort,” said Arnaud Girodon, the resort’s GM.

“We are proud and privileged to have received this recognition conferred by guests and travel trade industry players.”

Also scoring high in the World Travel Awards was the Dusit Laguna Resort, which scooped up three awards out of six in the section for Thailand – leading beach resort, leading golf resort and leading spa resort.

Phuket resorts score in World Travel Awards is an article from: Phuket Observer - Phuket lifestyle magazine.