The first, the Grand Pacific Sovereign Resort and Spa Cha-am, will be a five-star hotel on the beach, scheduled to start functioning by November with 230 rooms and villas.

Australian hotel chain Grand Pacific Sovereign will manage the hotel on an initial contract of five years.

Group vice president Vathana Paradorachai said the hotel had cost Bt2 billion. It is the first five-star hotel in the group, which runs the four-star franchise Radisson Bangkok and the three-star Hotel Classic Place, also in the capital.

He said the hotel would serve overseas tourists, particularly from Australia, Europe, Japan and Singapore, as well as local tourists.

The group expects an occupancy rate of 20-30 per cent in the first year, rising to 60 per cent.

Cha-am and Hua Hin have become popular destinations for international tourists since Phuket and Krabi were hit by the tsunami in December 2004.

More international hotel chains are setting up in the area, among them Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Holiday Inn and Sofitel.

Hua Hin Airport is expected to go international in the near future due to the growth of tourism.

The second resort in Cha-am, on the theme of a Thai village, will feature 20 villas, a rice field and buffalo sheds. The investment is Bt500 million, and it is expected to start operations next year.

"The village will show tourists Thai

culture and life," said Vathana.

"We will focus on the high-end market and charge higher rates," he added.

In Bangkok, the group has been developing a new resident complex, the Green Nine Project, consisting of nine buildings with a total of 1,500 units, built at a cost of Bt2.3 billion on Rama IX Road.

At the Radisson Bangkok the group has spent Bt300 million on a new convention centre and parking tower, the biggest expansion since the hotel opened 11 years ago.

Vathana said the group

would set up its own brand, the Bangkok Classic Group, running three- to five-star hotels, Thai village resorts and residential buildings.

The group has restructured its marketing teams by putting marketing and sales together.

"In this way we can save operational costs," Vathana said.

He added that the group had earmarked land near Suvarnabhumi International Airport for additional projects, though these were not yet finalised.

Vathana was a top executive with Thai Airways International before joining the group. He is also the general manager of the Radisson Hotel, replacing Chalong Anunyaphisit.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation