WI T H D IL L IP R A J A K A R IE R
TH E B I G I NTE R V I E W
a spa, and it covers four pillars – traditional Thai medicine, advanced medical wellness, nutrition and physical wellness. We also have an IV
drip bar, which is a joint venture with Veritas out of Singapore, where we do jet lag, detox, weight loss, immunotherapy, and the best one is a hangover cure, which I’ve been told works really well – 45 minutes and you’re ready to go again! These longevity hubs have been a big attraction for modern travellers.
What else is Minor Hotels getting up to? We do trains, cruises, planes... Our luxury Vietage train in Vietnam offers a six-hour trip from Da Nang to Quy Nhon, and we’ve just launched a second phase from Nha Trang. We plan to expand this, particularly in Thailand where tourism is one of the GDP drivers. The government is really keen to promote places besides Phuket and Krabi, but these places don’t have five-star hotels and it’s difficult to sustain. If you do the five- star train experience, people can visit and keep moving to new locations, so it helps promote those Tier 2 and Tier 3 destinations. In Bangkok, we also do
fantastic overnight cruises with spa beds and your own crew. These are the kind of experiences that people love right now. It’s slow travel. It’s that moment to unplug, where you’re not responsible for anything – you can just relax.
Do you have plans to grow your midscale offering? We don’t have many brands in that sector, but we’re focusing on bringing the midscale to secondary locations. It’s a totally different business model. It’s more about transformation
DECEMBER 2024/JANUARY 2025
from a digital perspective, so automated check-in and keyless rooms.
How do you reward your frequent guests? Our DISCOVERY loyalty programme is part of Global Hotel Alliance. Unlike big hotel chains, where their loyalty programme is only for their brands, ours is more like a Star Alliance model, where we have four founding members with over 1,000 hotels and now about 26 million loyalty members. Instead of points, we offer
Discovery Dollars. From a guest perspective, it’s very transparent. If you stay with us and earn 50 dollars, you could then go to a Kempinski and spend 50 dollars. You don’t have to think about converting points, based on high or low period, and all those things. It’s too complex – you need a degree to master the points game! We’ve made it simple and the loyalty programme works really well.
What’s the greatest challenge you’re facing? We can navigate through inflation, interest rates, pandemics, we’ve done it all, many times. The biggest challenge for us is people – getting the talent we need. Especially when we are expanding so much, you need to build that culture and the mindset. During Covid we launched
our own hotel school in Thailand in association with Les Roches in Switzerland. It’s the first of its kind as it’s actually located within a hotel. We offer a three-year programme and each intake is about 160 students from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Europe and the Middle East. We had our first crop of graduates last year and they’re now working all over, some with us, and some at other luxury hotels.
L A T E S T O P EN IN G S
AVANI MUSEUM QUARTER AMSTERDAM HOTEL OPENED IN MAY
TIVOLI LA CALETA TENERIFE RESORT
OPENED IN FEBRUARY
LAYAN LIFE BY ANANTARA OPENED IN OCTOBER
NH BANGKOK SUKHUMVIT BOULEVARD OPENED IN OCTOBER
NH
MALDIVES KUDA RAH RESORT OPENED IN SEPTEMBER
BUSINESS TRAVELLER 41
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 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
