Four Thai hotels ranked in top 10

They are the Dream Hotel in Bangkok (ranked third), the AKA Hotel Resort and Spa Hua Hin (fourth), the S15 Sukhumvit Hotel in Bangkok (sixth) and the Trisara in Phuket (10th).

The top-ranked hotel was Kemang Icon in Jakarta, with second place taken by the Scarlet Hotel in Singapore.

Boutique hotels are characterised by their size (usually fewer than 100 rooms), plush design and personalised service. They are often independently owned and have unique themes or design features. Importantly, they can tailor a guest's experience.

The term "boutique hotel" was coined in New York after the birth of the exclusive Morgan's Hotel - opened by Ian Schrager and designed by Andre Putman - on Madison Avenue in 1984.

Japanese firms pursue ethanol

Tsukishima Kikai and Marubeni have clinched an order from Oenon Holdings for a plant that will make bioethanol from rice, reports The Nikkei.

The plant will be constructed in Tomakomai on Hokkaido island and is due to start operations in April 2009.

The Oenon Group will invest about ¥4.4 billion (Bt1.35 billion) in the project, half of which will be covered by a government subsidy.

The plant will initially produce bioethanol from imported rice, with plans to use Hokkaido-grown rice in the future.

Annual production will be 5,000 kilolitres a year from next year, increasing to 15,000kl in 2011. The facility will be able to produce as much as 50kl of bioethanol from 125 tonnes of rice each day.

Bioethanol from the plant will be used in biopetrol sold by petroleum wholesalers.

Tsukishima Kikai and Marubeni earlier secured an order for a plant in Sakai, Osaka prefecture, that will commercially produce ethanol from scrap lumber. In partnership with Sapporo Breweries, they are also pursuing a project to create ethanol from sugar cane and molasses waste in Thailand.

FedEx launches economy service

FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp and the world's largest express transportation company, last week announced the launch of its FedEx International Economy service in 10 Asia-Pacific markets.

They are Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The service will be available in March in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

FedEx International Economy is an economical, day-definite, customs-cleared, door-to-door service featuring a transit time

typically one or two days longer than premium FedEx International Priority service, which is designed for more time-sensitive shipments.

The new service addresses the needs of customers in Asia shipping intra-Asia and to the US and Europe who look for reliability and cost-efficiency as a top priority.

It is specially designed for customers with less-urgent shipments of individual packages under 68 kilograms. No weight restrictions apply for multiple-piece shipments.

The Nation