Centara Hotels & Resorts has signed a contract to manage the first property under its new budget Centra brand.

The Centra Ashlee Hotel Patong will open at the end of this year, bringing the total number of properties under Centara management in Phuket to six.

The owners of the Phuket International Academy (PIA) are to open, not one, but three boutique hotels in the next 13 months.

When it begins to pour with rain in Phuket and then sunbirds fly back to their homes in the west or north, hoteliers’ hopes turn fondly to those of us who live here. “How about a weekend away from the housework?” they ask. “Or how about a special deal at our restaurants?”

Phuket has scored a number of useful hits in the sixth Smart Travel Asia poll. The Hong Kong-based online travel magazine (run by writer Vijay “He’s Everywhere” Verghese), asks visitors to rank a variety of business hotels, luxury resorts, spas, destinations, business cities, shopping spots, airlines and airports.

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.