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

Michael Ma’s getting pretty fit these days. It’s all that climbing up and down steps at his latest acquisition, the hillside Indochine Resort in Phuket, formerly the troubled Villa Santi property development.

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.

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.

The latest Absolute property is the Nakalay Beach Resort in Phuket, which opened officially on January 27. Halfway between Patong and Kamala, on the west coast.

Three resorts in Phuket appear is this year’s Condé Nast Traveler magazine Gold List, which lists the “best places to stay in the world, selected by the readers”.

Cape Sienna, the chic cliff-top resort on Millionaires’ Mile, Kamala, is the most romantic hotel in Asia, and the fourth-most romantic in the world, according to the 2010 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice survey.

Andara Resort & Villas, the recently opened resort element at the Andara villa development in Kamala, is already drawing rave reviews, despite being a month or so away from its official opening.

The Mangosteen Resort in Rawai has signed a management agreement with Netherlands-based Golden Tulip Hospitality Group.