The US-based company's first Hyatt Regency is at Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan.

The 165-room hotel will be called Hyatt Regency Phuket and takes to three the number of Hyatt-managed properties in the Kingdom, which includes Grand Hyatt Erawan in Bangkok.

Hyatt Regency Hua Hin general manager Adam Myott did not disclose investment figures related to the new hotel or the identity of local investors.

The Phuket hotel will be operated separately from the Hua Hin property.

Hyatt is looking for more locations in Thailand, including one for a Park Hyatt. Myott said the country remained popular in spite of political and economic uncertainty.

Hyatt operates in three formats: Grand Hyatt, which  are business hotels; Regency, which is the brand for resorts, while Parks are residential properties.

The Phuket project is among 26 under construction worldwide for the Hyatt group and scheduled to open between now and 2009.

In Hua Hin, Myott said the hotel was upgrading its lobby and Regency Club to meet standards set by its 18,500-square-metre Barai spa. Other areas of the hotel are due to undergo renovation within three years.

The hotel, including the spa, will take six to eight years to reach revenues of Bt480-million - the break-even point - according to Vansamorn Wannamethee, a director of hotel owner Chai Talay Hotel.

The spa opened this past Thursday and has eight suites and 18 private rooms decorated in Khmer-Thai style.

One night in a suite at the spa will cost Bt18,000 between now and the end of June.

Myott expected the spa to generate US$1.9 million (Bt67.1 million) in revenue within the first 12 months.

The spa will be advertised independently and through the group's worldwide network.

Its target markets are Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore and high-income Thais, Myott said.

The Barai expects 30 per cent of clients to be domestic.

The hotel by itself aims to increase annual revenue this year to Bt400 million.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation

HUA HIN