MÖVENPICK Hotels & Resorts will open nine new hotels across Asia by 2014, adding to existing properties in Thailand (two in Phuket), Vietnam (Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City) and one each in India (Bangalore), the Philippines (Cebu) and Singapore.
In Thailand, the 286-key Mӧvenpick Suriwongse Hotel Chiang Mai and 81-pool villa Mӧvenpick Resort & Spa Mae Nam Beach Koh Samui will open in third quarter 2012. The 250-room Mövenpick White Sand Beach Resort will open in Jomtien, close to Pattaya in mid-2013, while Mövenpick Hotel & Residences Bangkok will open with 266 rooms and suites, and 100 residences by end-2013.
Indonesia will get its first-ever Mӧvenpick in 2014, overlooking Jimbaran Bay in the south of Bali. The Mövenpick Resort & Spa Jimbaran will offer 270 rooms including 70 suites, and an additional 70 branded residences. Facilities will include a 500m2 ballroom, a business centre, and several meeting rooms.
Further inaugural openings will take place in 2014 in Sri Lanka (Mövenpick Hotel Colombo), China (Mövenpick Hotel Shanghai), and Malaysia (Mövenpick Hotel & Convention Centre KLIA, Kuala Lumpur), while the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dharamshala will open in Northern India the same year.
In addition to these nine scheduled openings, further properties have been earmarked for Malaysia (Terengganu) and China (Sanya & Chifeng).
Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily during last month’s ATF 2012 in Manado, Markus Mueller, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts vice president sales and markeing–Asia, attributed the group’s regional expansion spree to a realisation that Asian markets were showing the most promise in terms of growth potential.
“Nowadays, we are seeing more and more Asians than European customers (in our Asian properties)…(the clientele mix) has completely flipped around. Business from European markets is either stagnant or slowing down,” he said.
According to Mueller, a growing number of Mövenpick’s guests are coming from South-east Asia, as well as South Korea and India, where the group plans to ramp up its marketing efforts covering social media channels, as well as its partnerships with local travel consultants.
