Thailand’s Centara Hotels & Resorts has laid out its ambitious expansion plans for the next five years, which includes the launch of its latest luxury hotel concept Centara Reserve, a new medical wellness collaboration in the works, and the expansion of its family resort brand Mirage.
Opening end-2020, Centara Reserve Samui will offer 184 luxury rooms, pool suites and beachfront pool villas. Each accommodation will boast private balconies and terraces, while suites and villas will be attended by “Reserve Hosts” – Centara’s take on butler service.
Formerly known as Centara Grand Beach Resort Samui, the property will undergo a transformation overseen by design and concept firm AvroKO.
Resort facilities will include a gin bar featuring over 100 varieties and craft labels; a destination restaurant serving modern, seasonal cuisine; a mozzarella bar offering international fare and celebrating all things about the cheese; and a beach club concept featuring line-caught local seafood and a cultured wine list. The resort will also be home to the world’s first Cenvaree Reserve Spa.
Leading Centara Reserve Samui will be Patrick Moukarzel, the resort’s newly-appointed general manager. Previous luxury properties Moukarzel has helmed include The Chedi Chiang Mai in Thailand and Soneva Jani in the Maldives. He joins Centara from Al Bait Sharjah in the UAE.
Two more Centara Reserve properties will also be announced before the end of the year.
In addition to the unveiling of Centara Reserve, Markland Blaiklock, deputy CEO of Centara Hotels & Resorts, told TTG Asia that the company will also be developing a new medical wellness concept with a leading Fortune 500 medical brand, with details to be announced shortly.
Blaiklock called wellness travel the “fastest-growing traveller segment globally”, and he believes “nowhere else has the potential for a higher growth than the Asia region”.
Overall, the hospitality company aims to have a network of 170 hotels by 2024, located equally between and outside Thailand.
Blaiklock revealed: “This is expected to include a presence in Europe through the acquisition of a small group of five to 10 properties. Centara is also working on a regional brand with its parent Central Group to develop 10 to 15 properties in secondary locations serving mostly the communities where they are located and becoming an integral part of them.”
By the end of this year, Centara expects to open eight properties, located in Laos, Myanmar, Qatar, Thailand and the UAE.
In the UAE, the group will be launching the first international Mirage outside of Pattaya – the Centara Mirage Beach Resort Dubai – in which it has invested US$64 million out of a total project value of US$160 million. Mirage is a collection of family-centric themed resorts, which Centara plans to roll more out of in the future as well.
When asked why Dubai, Blaiklock shared: “Dubai was picked due to the nature of the destination and because we felt there was a niche that was not yet filled for an upscale family-focused, themed resort.”
Located on the Arabian Gulf, the Arabian adventure-themed hotel will comprise 607 rooms and suites, including pool villas; and family activities for all ages, such as a water park with lazy river, waterslides and cliff jumping; multiple restaurants; and a kids’ club. There will also be a regular spa, as well as Centara’s first kids’ spa.
