Need to know The latest on Thailand’s spa retreats,
yachting experiences and elephant camps
Dream on: The first of Peninsula Hotels’ new wellness centres has opened in Bangkok (above). Creating the ultimate spa retreat, its expanded – and extremely chic – facilities have been combined with new Naturally Peninsula cuisine and spoiling holistic treatments, including heavenly 120-minute sleep rituals,
bangkok.peninsula.com
Hot stuff: Three new wings, fresh elegant interiors, an indulgent spa and a prime seaside location on the chalk white sands of Chaweng beach make the newly expanded Amari Koh Samui one hotel to put back on the radar,
onyx-hospitality.com
Sail away: The Andaman Sea just got a whole lot more fashionable with the introduction of Kata Rocks’ new partnership with Lamima, an ultra-luxurious 65-metre yacht complete with swanky suites, spa treatments and gourmet meals. New Stay and Sail packages include three nights in a Sky Pool Villa and three nights on Lamima from £7,025pp,
katarocks.com
July and August up 9%, 8% and 6%
Suite moments: For a Golden Age of Travel experience, book your clients into one of the 14 refurbished heritage suites at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok. Located in the historic wing of the hotel, these spacious suites come complete with glossy wooden floors, swirling fans, romantic balconies and white-gloved butlers,
mandarinoriental.com
Jumbo thrills: Already renowned for its ethically minded elephant camp, the Anantara Golden Triangle Resort has now introduced an immersive Walking with Giants experience, taking guests on a two-hour jungle stroll with the world’s largest land mammals and the resort’s resident biologist,
anatara.com
Family fun: Movenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket is tapping into the popular family market with new activities from complimentary child-minding to kids’ yoga, Thai dance classes and spa treatments for frazzled parents,
movenpick.com
respectively. “This reflects Thailand’s success in attracting more UK families over the traditional summer travel period,” he says. And tour operators have further proof of
resilience. “It’s all sounding very positive for Thailand,” according to Sarah Jackson, Kuoni’s commercial and product manager for Thailand. “Our business over 2015 and 2016 was fairly flat year-on-year, but we saw a huge spike in bookings in September.” She adds that Koh Samui and Phuket
continue to be Kuoni’s best-sellers, with both showing double-digit growth for the coming year, with four-star – and increasingly five-star – properties proving to be the most popular sector of the market. Oscar Lopera, product manager Far East
at Travel 2, agrees: “Thailand is definitely selling more four and five-star properties; perhaps due to the increasing expectation that the region offers more luxurious holidays at competitive rates in comparison with other destinations.” Meanwhile, Sovereign has decided to
74
TTGLUXURY.COM WINTER 2015 DESTINATIONS
add Thailand to its programme for 2016, introducing 27 hotels in Phuket, Koh Samui, Krabi, Khao Lak and Bangkok, such as the Rayavadee on Krabi, the Shangri-La Bangkok, the Banyan Tree Samui, and the Centara Grand Beach Resort Karon in Phuket. Also showing confidence in the future is national carrier Thai Airways, which launched an Airbus A380 on the route this summer but took away its night flight – now it has reintroduced that, giving travellers a second daily flight from Heathrow to Bangkok; the Boeing 777 night flight has two classes, with 42 business-class seats, and 306 in economy. Emirates has also announced its flights from
Dubai to Phuket will jump from seven to 10 per week as of December, while four A380s will be operating in and out of Bangkok from January. On the ground, the long-awaited expansion of Phuket International airport is slated to be completed by February and there are further plans for a private jet terminal in the pipeline.
Checking in Thailand’s surge of new hotels shows little sign of receding either. Singaporean boutique hotel brand AHMS has opened the artsy 30-room
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86