news to use THAILAND Centara makes it a Phuket quartet


BY ALAN ORBELL Centara Hotels & Resorts is to


open the Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket in October 2010, a newly-built resort property at Karon Beach and the company’s fourth Phuket hotel. Designed in a colonial style with Sino-Portuguese architecture, the five- star resort is one of the few at Karon set directly at the edge of the sand, rather than on the other side of the beach road. Accommodation will consist of 262 guest rooms and villas, with 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. All guest rooms have a balcony with sea view, and deluxe spa rooms have a Jacuzzi on the balcony. Guests staying in the villas, pool suites and pool premium rooms are entitled to club privileges, which include the club lounge, with an outdoor terrace, and five complimentary meal servings per day.


Amari takes up residence


Next month (October) sees the long-


awaited opening of the Amari Residences Bangkok which promises to ‘showcase Asian hospitality at its stylish best’. The 128-room property will offer a


range of accommodation from studios through to two-bedroom units, all with fully-equipped kitchens, Wi-Fi internet access, high-definition satellite TV and a DVD player. Full laundry services will be available to guests. Amari Residences Bangkok will feature an all-day dining restaurant and a bakery. Recreational facilities will include a


jogging track, fitness room and a rooftop 23-metre swimming pool and landscaped gardens and Sivara Spa and Sivara Salon. A complimentary shuttle service will


run every two hours to Bangkok’s Airport Link and to the city’s shopping district while a personal maid service will be available on request. www.amari.com


14 September 2010 • www.sellinglonghaul.com


Boutique over the River Kwai


U Hotels & Resorts is opening the


U Inchantree Kanchanaburi Resort – the second U Resort in Thailand after U Chiang Mai – on November 1, 2010. U Inchantree Kanchanaburi is a


boutique resort with a rustic river lodge style surrounded by landscaped gardens, located on the north bank of the river and only five minutes walk to the River Kwai Bridge. The resort features 24 superior rooms and two suites in the two-storey building set around a courtyard dominated by an ancient ‘Inchantree’ from which the resort derives its name. Peppers, the resort's restaurant offers


Leisure facilities include a tennis


court, a 144 sq.m. fitness centre and a SPA Cenvaree, two playrooms for children (one for four to 10 years and one for 10 to 16 years), and a playground. The Cove is the all-day dining


restaurant, located on the beachfront Centara’s autumn


Centara Hotels & Resorts will introduce its two new Centara Boutique Collection resort properties on the island of Samui with value packages that offer special rates for two people sharing a deluxe ocean- facing room or a pool villa. The packages are available until 31 October 2010, and include breakfast for two. Guests staying at the Sea Samui


Vacation Residences pay a room rate of Baht 3,900 nett per night (approx £78) for a deluxe ocean-facing room, while those selecting a deluxe pool


ASIA IN BRIEF


Rockin’ kids in Hua Hin Parents who book their under-12s into


the ‘Kids Rock Family Package Courtyard by Marriott Hua Hin’ at Cha Am Beach this year will receive a Kids Rock VIP Membership Card entitling them to activities in the Kids World zone and free meals. The deal includes a deluxe room for two adults and two children. www.courtyard.com


Dusit acquires its own hotel! Dusit International has acquired the


Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket, which it has managed successfully for the past 23 years. The property was previously owned by Laguna Resorts & Hotels, part of the Banyan Tree Group. The resort has 226 rooms and suites, six pool villas, and 22 Laguna pool villas. www.dusit.com


Small Luxury with a discount Two Small Luxury Hotels are offering discounts of up to 20 per cent until September 30, available at The Racha, a private island just off the coast of Phuket, and the Anantara Golden Triangle Resort & Spa, from where travellers can visit three countries in one day as Laos and Burma border the hotel. www.slh.com


while Mare Italian restaurant and bar overlooks the beach. Other outlets are The Luna Chill-Out Bar and Lounge, the Beachcomber Beach Bar, the Splash Pool Bar swim-up bar at the edge of the main pool and the Lobby Lounge & Bar. www.centarahotelsresorts.com


al fresco dining adjacent to the swimming pool. The restaurant also serves breakfast ‘whenever/wherever’ and a Thai and Western lunch and dinner menu against a backdrop of the River Kwai, mountains and blue sky. Other facilities include a gym, library


and free bicycle hire to experience the nearby location. www.uhotelsresorts.com/inchantree


Pha Ngan, Phuket and Trat, the offer is for those booking a minimum four nights’ stay. Further savings are on offer through


villa at X2 Samui villas by design pay a rate of Baht 5,900 nett (approx £119). Elsewhere, Centara is offering two nights for the price of one, including breakfast, at selected hotels in Thailand until October 31. Available in Pattaya, Krabi, Samui,


Centara’s Baht Bonanza programme when guests purchase credit on their room portfolio, with 50 to 100 per cent matched by the hotel. Meanwhile, the Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre is organising a series of promotions in the fourth quarter of this year to coincide with the first-phase reopening on September 28 of CentralWorld, the biggest lifestyle and leisure complex in Southeast Asia. www.chr.co.th


For more news on Asia regularly visit the news section of our website at www.sellinglonghaul.com


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