The Hyatt Regency Hua Hin Hotel will open its Bt450-million luxury spa - The Barai - on March 1 to serve upscale tourists.

It is adjacent to the hotel and features 18 spa rooms and eight villas that rent out for Bt22,000 to Bt37,000 per night, depending on the package and treatment.

A special three-month promotion for Bt18,000 per night includes accommodation, 60-minute treatment and meals.

"I believe the spa will become a key magnet for our targeted customers, both domestic and international," Vansamorn Wannamethee, director of Chai Talay Hotel Co, operator of the hotel and spa, said yesterday.

The spa expects to attract 30 per cent of its guests locally and 70 per cent from overseas, particularly Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan, England, the United States, Australia and India.

The company is leasing the spa site for 60 years from the Christian Federation.

The Hyatt Regency Hua Hin and Barai are the first properties outside Bangkok for the Wannamethee family, a major shareholder of the Hyatt Erawan Hotel Bangkok.

Adam Myott, the hotel's general manger, said the Hyatt Group operated more than 70 destination spas around the world, including some famous ones in Hong Kong and Bangkok under individual brands.

The group wants to build up Barai as the top spa among all its locations.

Spa manger Jennifer Cikaluk said her facility would not directly compete with the renowned Chiva Som Spa located nearby, even though the prices are in the same range, as they differ in atmosphere.

The spas will help Hua Hin to attract more high-end tourists to the resort, she added.

Barai springs from an ancient Khmer word meaning water.

The hotel was opened in 2001 with 204 rooms.

It now enjoys 80-per-cent occupancy with room rates averaging US$100 (Bt3,700) per night. 

Suchat Sritama

The Nation