The Banyan Tree Spa is a unique brand with a Thai touch and in-house training.

"We encourage our staff to go overseas to work to broaden their experience. At the same time, we still keep their jobs here. If they don't like it, they can always return home to work," said Bernhold Schroeder, general manager of the Banyan Tree Hotel Bangkok.

With this generous policy, Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts has established itself as a forward-thinking organisation that offers career development and broader job opportunities for its employees.

Schroeder wears two hats. Apart from running the boutique hotel in central Bangkok, he also serves as senior vice president and managing director for hotel operations at Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts. The Singaporean-owned Banyan Tree Group has established its regional headquarters in Bangkok.

Schroeder spends most of his time - about 260 days a year - travelling around the world and throughout this region looking for business opportunities for the Banyan Tree Group, which has been expanding rapidly since launching its flagship Banyan Tree resort in the Laguna Phuket.

The Banyan Tree Bangkok, located on Sathorn Road in the heart of the capital's financial and business district, prides itself on being a boutique city hotel catering to both leisure and business travellers.

The Banyan Tree offers large suites and boutique rooms totalling 216 units. Its relatively small size allows its staff to see and welcome all guests. A new ballroom will be added to the hotel next month.

The Banyan Tree Bangkok now serves as a boutique model for other Banyan Tree properties in Beijing, Dubai and Shanghai.

The hotel has also built up a good reputation for its food and beverages. "In Bangkok, if you don't have good food and beverages, you won't be successful," said Schroeder.

"We are happy that 50 per cent of our revenues come from food and beverages, and the other 50 per cent from room service. Most other hotels earn about 20 per cent from food and beverages."

The Banyan Tree Spa is a major selling point for the hotel. It now provides luxury service to high-end clients from Hong Kong, Singapore, Europe and the United States. Other hotels might also have their own spa facilities, but they do not have a similar service with a Thai touch. Spa massage by Thai professionals is most demanding.

Again, unlike most other hotels, the Banyan Tree prefers to develop its expertise through in-house training. This allows it to offer career development to its staff.

For instance, it now runs its Banyan Tree Spa Academy in both Phuket and Bangkok. The academy turns out high-quality staff who earn a certificate after finishing the training course. This certificate allows a graduate to work in any of its spa facilities worldwide.

The Banyan Tree Group also maintains its own architecture firm, which draws up development plans and designs for properties in which the group invests anywhere in the world. "We would like to develop our own expertise. That's how we can control the quality and the costs," added Schroeder.

The Banyan Tree Group took over the Westin Hotel in Bangkok in 1996 before transforming it into its own brand. It also operates Angsana Resorts and Spa as a sister brand of Banyan Tree.

To date, the Banyan Tree Group manages and has ownership interests in 19 resorts and hotels, 51 spas, 58 retail galleries and two golf courses in the Asia-Pacific.

It is probably one of the fastest-growing hotel and resort groups in the region. Every six weeks, it adds a new hotel or resort to its portfolio. Now it is planning four properties in Mexico, three in China, two in Dubai, two in Oman, two in the Maldives, one in Abu Dhabi and one in Bahrain - to name but a few.

When the Banyan Tree Group went public on the Stock Exchange of Singapore last year, shares in its initial public offering were traded at 96 Singaporean cents (Bt22) apiece. Now the stock price has surged to more than $2, reflecting investors' anticipation of the group's growth potential.

Thanong Khanthong

The Nation