Travelers To Have More Lodging Options In Thailand
<FONT SIZE="+3"><B>Travelers To Have More Lodging Options In Thailand</B>
By Maria Lenhart
<I>Bangkok </I>- Business travelers looking for accommodations here will soon be able to take advantage of a wide array of options as Thailand undergoes a new spate of hotel development.
Plans are in the works for several types of properties, from limited-service to luxury hotels to full-scale destination resorts.
In the capital, development has been particularly brisk near the Queen Sirkit Convention Center in downtown Bangkok. New hotels include the 577-room Amari Atrium, which is targeting both corporate travelers and convention delegates.
Guest rooms at the Amari are equipped with private safes, international direct dial telephones with voicemail, minibars and satellite television with pay-per-view movies. The hotel features two executive floors with private checkin, complimentary breakfast and other services.
The hotel also offers three restaurants and a variety of meeting rooms, which include the Panorama Ballroom, accommodating up to 360 people, and a boardroom for 15. Several suites on the hotel's upper floors are adaptable for small meetings.
Bangkok's convention center area also features the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, a 455-room hotel that offers a business center, health club and meeting space for groups of up to 500. Marriott, which already operates the Marriott Royal Riverside, also has opened a hotel in the area, the 400-room Bangkok Marriott, which is part of the Poenchit Center shopping and office complex.
With traffic congestion always a problem in Bangkok, an increasingly popular hotel location is just off the main expressway linking the downtown area to the airport. Radisson recently opened the 447-room Radisson Hotel Bangkok, offering meeting space for groups of up to 500, sports facilities, business center and a club floor with butler service.
On the limited-service front, Hampton Inn has opened a 160-room property-its first hotel in Asia-at the beginning of the airport expressway downtown.
Although less convenient to the airport, frontage along Bangkok's Chao Phraya River, where most of the city's deluxe hotels are located, continues to be a prime spot for hotel development. A 550-room Hotel Sofitel is set to open this month near the Marriott Royal Garden Riverside on the west bank of the river.
The Sofitel offers 100 suites and in-room amenities such as electronic safes and satellite television with in-house movies. In addition, the property includes a non-smoking floor and executive rooms with added amenities on the top four floors, a rooftop ballroom for groups of up to 500, helicopter transportation and boat shuttle service across the river.
Another deluxe riverfront hotel, the 375-room Peninsula Bangkok, is expected to open late next year. The hotel will offer both outdoor and indoor meeting space for groups of up to 650 people.
In Thailand's south coastal area, Accor Asia Pacific opened the Novotel Phuket City, a 244-room property with the largest facilities in southern Thailand, on the resort island of Phuket. Located in Phuket Town close to the airport, the hotel offers five meeting rooms and a ballroom accommodating groups of up to 900.
"Arrivals to Phuket increased by 8 percent in 1995 and have continued to grow this year," said general manager Laurent Betourne. "Additional meeting space is in prime demand on the resort island of Phuket Conference and incentive groups are contributing significantly to this growth."
The Novotel Phuket City, which is Accor's third hotel on the island, also offers four restaurants, two bars, a business center, fitness center and a golf clinic.
Another new Accor property is the 300-room Hotel Sofitel Raja Orchid in Khon Kaen. The property offers eight meetings and lounges, a microbrewery and enough meeting space to accommodate groups of up to 2,500.