BEST Western International has signed a franchise agreement with local Eden Palace Company for a new hotel project, the 205-room Best Western Premier the Grand at Nay Pyi Taw.
The hotel, due to start operations by 2Q2014, will become one of the first international-brand hotels in the city, which is also the seat of Myanmar’s government and one of the world’s fastest-growing hotel markets.
Glenn de Souza, vice president international operations-Asia and the Middle East, Best Western International, predicted Naypyidaw would experience a surge in business and leisure tourism in the coming years.
With the new Best Western Premier hotel, the hotel company would be perfectly placed to help the city grow.
He commented: “Being an American hotel, we are glad that the sanctions were lifted and we see Myanmar as a country with a lot of opportunities for tourism business. We are seeing a huge influx (of arrivals) but not enough international hotels. So that’s why we are here.”
U Tin Htwe, chairman of Eden Palace Company, pointed out that the hospitality industry in Myanmar was booming due to the reforms of late.
“The existing number of hotel rooms is not sufficient to meet the influx of tourist arrivals in Naypyidaw. Therefore, we have decided to develop an international-class hotel to plug this gap,” U Tin Htwe said.
Best Western earlier this year announced it would take over the management of and rebrand an existing hotel into the Best Western Green Hill Hotel (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 22, 2013).
According to de Souza, the company is looking at opening an upscale hotel in Yangon.
“We will probably have two hotels in Yangon. The owner of Green Hill Hotel is giving us the second hotel, which will have 100 rooms, in the Chinatown area, and (development) will take six to eight months to complete,” he shared.
Bagan and Mandalay were other cities the group is currently eyeing, he added.
