CARLSON has expanded its Thailand portfolio with the opening of the 125-key Park Plaza Bangkok Soi 18 hotel.

“This is our second Park Plaza hotel in Thailand,” said Simon Barlow, president, Carlson Hotels, Asia-Pacific.

The Park Plaza Bangkok Soi 18 hotel is located near Sukhumvit, Bangkok’s entertainment and shopping district, and is within walking distance of the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.

“The hotel will appeal to both corporate and leisure travellers,” said the hotel’s general manager, Martin Fabiano.

Besides Mezza, an all-day dining restaurant with a show kitchen featuring Western grill, local Thai delights and Mediterranean tapas, there is also Sway, the hotel’s rooftop pool bar and Chai, the lobby cafe.

The hotel offers private meeting spaces for small-to-medium-sized events, a fully equipped business centre and complimentary wireless Internet in all public areas.

TERRAPURI Heritage Village in Penarik, Terengganu, will soft-open on June 1 with seven heritage villages. This will be the inaugural property of CEO Alex Lee, who is also the CEO of Ping Anchorage Travel & Tours.

The boutique resort was initially scheduled to soft-open last August (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 12, 2010).

According to Lee, the resort is already fully booked for June and almost full for July. Projected occupancy for this year is 75 per cent.

He is targeting Asian and European FIT travellers and will work with agents overseas to promote the resort, which is about 45 minutes by speedboat from Redang Island’s famous dive sites.

Lee expects the resort venture to contribute at least 10 per cent of his overall business.

Featuring restored palaces and aristocratic houses from the 19th century, there will be 19 villas in total when the resort is fully open in April 2012. They will offer views of the South China Sea or the Setiu Wetlands. Facilities include a restaurant, spa, gallery and a swimming pool.

SILVERSEA Cruises’ Silver Shadow will not stop at any Japanese ports in four of its Asian voyages in April and May. They will instead be replaced with calls in China, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Referring to the change as a “difficult decision to make”, COO Kenneth Watson told TTG Asia e-Daily that many customers who were booked on those trips had done so to see Japan.

“But the concerns (of the nuclear crisis) far outweighed the guests’ desire to see the sights. We found that a lot of guests were concerned about calling at any ports of Japan, even at ports far away (from the affected area),” Watson explained.

He said there were several cancellations initially for voyages involving stops in Japan, but the revised itineraries and incentives, such as a complimentary two-day land programme in Beijing, encouraged customers to retain their bookings.

Steve Odell, senior vice president, Asia-Pacific, said the itinerary changes had even drawn new bookings, as they now feature an in-depth showcase of China, including Dalian, Tianjin and Qingdao.

Silver Shadow will next return to Asia in September, and the company is deliberating whether to replace Japan with other Asian ports for that season.

WITH six months to go before the opening of aLoft’s first property in South-east Asia, aLoft Bangkok – Sukhumvit 11 has already secured official hotel status for the 2012 Rotary International Convention and fielded several enquiries from travel agents and event houses.

Slated to open in October, the 297-room hotel will target leisure and business travellers, as well as small- to mid-size meeting and incentive groups. It has four meeting rooms that can each take 20 to 30 delegates in a classroom-setting.

A meeting and incentive programme that includes deals for first-time corporate bookers and top corporate spenders was launched late-March, and more opening deals will be unveiled later this month.

Located opposite the Bed Supperclub, the hotel will also offer guests complimentary VIP access to the popular dance club.

Director of sales & marketing Patcharee Bunma told TTG Asia e-Daily that Bangkok’s political stability since the second half of 2010 has helped hotels in the city centre, including those in Sukhumvit, see better occupancy rates and a pick-up in enquiries.

THE RITZ-CARLTON saw its eighth Chinese hotel opening last week, with its Hong Kong property, touted as the world’s tallest hotel, making a grand comeback at Kowloon’s iconic International Commerce Centre.

The brand’s previous property in Hong Kong ceased operations in 2008, when the site in Central was redeveloped by its owners.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company president and COO, Herve Humler, said: “Chengdu is on our list and will be the next to open. We are also looking at couple of cities in China that attract luxury consumers.”

When asked about the brand’s Japan properties, Humler said its hotels in Tokyo and Osaka were continuing to operate. “We don’t just look at earnings or loss, but focus on supporting our staff there. Occupancy in Tokyo fell to 10 to 20 per cent, but Osaka remained steady and recorded 75 to 80 per cent occupancy.”

Occupying the 102nd through 118th floors, The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong has 312 rooms. General manager Mark DeCocinis said Asian clients accounted for most of the hotel’s business, with China contributing 30 per cent, Greater Asia, 40 per cent, and Europe/North America, 30 per cent.

He added that the hotel had also been attracting wedding bookings. “About 55 weddings are booked for this year and we expect about 100 weddings next year. Social events and fashion launches will also be targeted.”

MALAYSIAN outbound wholesaler and retailer, Apple Vacations & Conventions, is opening its first overseas retail outlet in Singapore on May 2 to tap the high-yield market there.

Besides selling outbound series tours to Scandinavia, Europe, Japan and the Middle East, Apple Vacations Singapore will offer in-depth outbound packages to emerging destinations such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and even the South Pole.

Group managing director Desmond Lee said he saw potential in the neighbouring outbound market, as Singaporean travellers and the expatriate community there were looking for new destinations and quality in-depth tours.

– Read more in TTG Asia, April 15

A SECOND hotel, an ibis property, is being developed at the IMPACT Muang Thong Thani Exhibition and Convention Centre, located on the outskirts of Bangkok.

IMPACT Exhibition Management managing director Paul Kanjanapas said this was part of the company’s plans to have three hotels and about 1,000 rooms by 2016 to cater to diverse traveller segments. Its first hotel, the two-billion baht (US$66 million), 380-room Novotel Bangkok IMPACT soft-opened in February.

Another two billion baht will be invested into IMPACT’s second hotel, which will be located next to the Novotel and have 420 rooms. Construction is expected to start around year-end and take 18 months to complete.

A third property, an upper-four-star hotel with 200 rooms, will be developed after the ibis opens.

Kanjanapas said the Novotel had recorded an average occupancy rate of 30 per cent in February and March and fetched an average room rate of 2,400 baht. “We expect the hotel to be running at 55 per cent occupancy in the first year of operations.”

He added that the majority of hotel guests were organisers and visitors of MICE events at IMPACT.

By Sirima Eamtako

TOURISM Victoria is growing its presence in India with above-the-line and below-the-line marketing, citing the uniqueness of the market.

This month, Victoria’s minister for small businesses and tourism will lead a delegation of more than 60 companies to meet their Indian counterparts.

The state is also working with Thomas Cook, Kuoni and Tiger Sports Marketing to promote the Presidents Cup golf tournament, which will take place in Melbourne in November.

Tourism Victoria representative, India, Beena Menon said: “Golfing is popular among the Indians. We want to promote Melbourne as a lifestyle destination to the market.”

Tourism Victoria business development manager South and South-east Asia, Tania Jacobs, said: “India is unique. You cannot expect to get the numbers of traffic just by working with, for example, the top 10 wholesalers. You need to develop awareness among the public as well.”

To that end, the destination has appointed a public relations and social media agency in Mumbai to come up with various online and offline programmes.

Indian arrivals to Victoria were 58,300 in 2010, a 15 per cent increase over the previous year.