Thirty-four years since she opened what was then seen as an eccentric project built on a small out-of-the-way site atop a hill, the 100-rai property today is equated with world-class hospitality.

"We bring pride to Pattaya," said the energetic businesswoman who industriously oversees the hotel's operations along with British general manager David Holden, a veteran hotelier who has been with her for 13 years.

With the 1,100-room Royal Cliff adding another wing to its Peach Convention and Exhibition Centre near the gates of the estate, Holden said the convention hall would be able to host 8,000 guests after its completion next year.

It can currently hold 5,400 people. But as demand is fast exceeding supply, Holden said, it is important to be prepared for the future.

The Royal Cliff recently made the TTG (Travel Trade Gazette) "Hall of Fame", the fourth enterprise to be so honoured by the regional trade journal.

Past recipients of the award include Singapore Airlines, Changi Airport and Hertz Car Rentals. The resort has won several other top awards, notably the prestigious "Best Resort in the World" title from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) from 1989-96. That eight-year winning streak helped establish the resort as a top international name.

Much of the hard work that has gone into building the Royal Cliff started in the early 1970s, when Panga's family built the property that overlooks Pattaya Bay.

At the time, Panga recalled, there was no water or electricity at the site, and the company had to start from scratch, hauling water and buying generators in a literally uphill battle to succeed.

Today, the gruelling effort has paid off, as the self-sustainable resort has its own reservoir and power facilities.

From the start, the Cliff was an environmentally aware operation, she said, employing filtering systems to treat wastewater before discharging it into the sea. "We were ahead of most hotels in town, and it took us a lot of time to convince others to also adopt this system." Panga is also a key administrative player in the city.

The Cliff's late general manager, Alois Fassbind, Panga's right-hand Swiss hotelier and Holden's former boss, was another Pattaya pioneer who fought hard to put the city on the tourist map.

One of Fassbind's favourite stories recounted how he had to draw a dot on a map to show Japanese guests in Tokyo where the town was during a promotional tour in 1972.

"In those days, Pattaya did not even have a 'town' status," he said in an earlier interview. Thirty-four years later, Pattaya ranks among the country's biggest tourist draws.

It is also among its wealthiest towns. New roads here seldom last the five-year lifespan expected of infrastructure. They are often dug up after a year or so to make way for yet another new construction project. On Beach Road, scores of well-fed Tourist Police sit on their motorbikes, protecting an empty beach from evening till dawn. Walking Street is packed with even more police, who cheer up tourists with free health checks.

Such prosperity was not always recorded in the early days, when the Cliff had to struggle to get a piece of the tourism pie.

By the early 1980s, however, it had won over many VIPs. Its Royal Wing was so popular with the diplomatic corps that the hotel hosted a special "ambassador's week" every year.

The diplomatic connections deepened when the Cliff hosted several important functions, including high-powered Asean summits. Its high point came when it held the Cambodian peace talks.

Panga recalls this exciting time when the hotel became part of regional history, as four warring factions of Cambodia agreed to forge a deal that would lead to its entry in Asean and end its horrible chapter known as "The Killing Fields".

"We sewed the new Cambodian national flag," she said of the outcome of the talks. "Many people take it for granted that the peace treaty came about easily. It was actually quite elusive and very tough. Earlier attempts at summits in Tokyo and Jakarta failed. But when they came to the Cliff, it clicked as if by magic."

She said all the Cambodian factions had bickered in the past after discovering some parties had bigger suites or additional facilities. "When they came here, we made sure each group had exactly the same rooms and facilities. Nobody had a bigger anything, and they were all treated in the same manner, a talent we had acquired after years of serving all kinds of people."

The Cliff was also one of the first companies to enter the luxury condominium business in the mid-1980s, with its Royal Cliff Gardens, a four-tower residential project next door.

It was not until recently, 15 years after the last property crash in Pattaya, that new luxury condominiums were built.

Panga said the company was not planning another residential project at the moment and was cautious, noting that prices in Pattaya currently exceed those in Bangkok.

While Holden is overjoyed with the rise in real-estate values, he fears the new boom may soon end like the old one, with speculation spinning out of control. "Pattaya's existing infrastructure simply cannot fit in all these projects," he cautioned.

Itthi C Tan

The Nation

Pattaya