Tag: Asia Hotel Scene View All Tags
Raffles Hotels
Raffles In Vietnam :: Insert Luxury Hotel Chain Here
September 30, 2008 at 11:48 AM | 0 Comments
Last week, we told you about the historic hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia bearing the Raffles name. Never to be outdone by its neighbor and fiercest competitor, Vietnam has announced a Raffles hotel of its own, set to open in Da Nang sometime in 2011.
The resort will be set right on China Beach on a stretch of sand usually inhabited only by fisherman. Once notorious for being the site of bloody battles during the Vietnam War, it's and now famous for such pristine beauty one can hardly imagine anything but pleasantries occurring there.
Millennium Hotels
Millennium Hotels Start a Grander Version in Asia
May 5, 2008 at 8:58 AM | 0 Comments
The Asian region of the Millenium Hotels chain have just found a great way to increase room rates: just create a new brand by sticking the word "Grand" in front of your old one.
Okay, that's the cynical take on the news, and as we haven't yet been inside a Grand Millennium we should probably reserve our judgment. In any case, there are already four Grand Millennium Hotels operating, after Sukhumvit Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur opened last October, and then during 2008 the Grand Millennium Dubai and Beijing hotels have also started operations under the new branding.
Green Hotels
Stay Green in Asia, Save the Elephants Too
January 29, 2008 at 9:20 AM | 0 Comments
Banyan Tree Phuket does not have an attached wildlife sanctuary. However, Banyan Tree Phuket, like our other resorts has embarked on numerous CSR initiatives including:
*Gibbon Conservation – Supported the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project to help retrieve captured gibbons and retrain them to live in the world again
*Laguna Phuket Sea Turtle Conservation Ceremony – Organizing an annual carnival to raise awareness for marine conservation
Update:
We heard from Banyan Tree Phuket:
Asian hotel blog Agoda recently put out its list of the top ten eco-friendly hotels in the Asian region, and it makes for interesting reading. The Banyan Tree Phuket in Thailand, for example, made it into the number one position both because of its attached wildlife sanctuary and the fact that this hotel was built by transforming an abandoned tin mine. And each of the remaining nine hotels has a similar kind of story.
Interesting for us is the Anantara Resort & Spa Golden Triangle, also in Thailand, because it includes an elephant conservation center and guests can experience elephant trekking and forest living skills courses, all with a green bent. In Myanmar, the Popa Mountain Resort (home to this amazing view) gets on the good green list because it's been carefully designed to fit in with the surroundings, and uses biodegradable products and its own specially adapted recycling processes too.
And down at number ten on the list, but still worth an eco-visit, the Alia Ubud in Indonesia is a champion in waste recycling. It's proud to say it recycles 80% of its water consumption, which isn't bad at all for a hotel with one of our favorite infinity pools.
[Photo: Greg George]
Asia Hotel Scene
More Hotels Hit India While a Theater Hits Bangkok
January 15, 2008 at 11:03 AM | 5 Comments
All across Asia, hoteliers are rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of more and more tourists landing in their hotel rooms. Take India as an example: prices and demand for upscale hotel rooms are both rising, and figures just released show that in 2006, room rates rose by a huge 40%.
That means that large chains like Marriott, Hilton, Four Seasons and Shangri-La are all planning big expansions throughout India. Marriott, for example, is planning to add another 15 hotels in the next couple of years, and like most chains is looking at cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kerala.
But further east in Thailand, hotels are looking at other ways to increase their exposure and income. The Millennium Hilton Bangkok, for example, has something interesting starting up at the end of the month. It's providing its Grand Ballroom as the venue for a performance by the British Theatre Playhouse of "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice", which won a stack of theater awards in Britain. The play will then move on to Singapore where it will be staged in the Raffles Hotel. Perhaps the next stop will be one of the many new hotels in India.
[Photo: g-hat]
