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HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

Wireless (Wi-Fi) access now available at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort

Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa appoints new GM

Rolls-Royce powers Red Arrows aerobatic display

ASEANTA Inaugural International Management Summit 2003

Airline to Middle-earth scores flying hat-trick with new Lord of the Rings 747

Wireless (Wi-Fi) access now available at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort

The Royal Cliff Beach Resort has joined forces with KSC Commercial Internet to bring hi-speed wireless access to guests of the 5-star resort. The installation of the wireless (Wi-Fi) internet service, titled ‘M-WEB Hotspot, Powered by KSC’, is the first of its kind on Thailand’s Eastern Seaboard and aims to facilitate and enhance communication channels for high-end tourists as well as business and corporate travelers.

Panga Vathanakul (left), managing director of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, and Craig White, president of M-Web (Thailand), are all smiles after the implementation of wireless connectivity at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort.

Currently, ‘M-WEB Hotspot, Powered by KSC’ is available in public areas of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort’s two largest hotels - the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel and the Royal Cliff Grand, which together comprise over 800 rooms. Areas covered include the lobby, poolside areas, restaurants, and bars of both hotels. Earlier this year, all rooms in the Royal Cliff Grand were equipped with high-speed internet access. With the addition of wireless access, the Royal Cliff Grand can now easily stake a claim as one of the most technologically-advanced hotels in Thailand.

Managing director of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Panga Vathanakul, feels a service such as this will take communication standards and services to guests to a whole new level. Speaking during the recent signing ceremony, she said, “We have always prided ourselves on being at the forefront of new developments and advances in technological services available to our guests. This joint venture with KSC Commercial Internet will take the Royal Cliff Beach Resort to entirely new levels of connectivity. Wireless access will offer great advantages to our guests, particularly corporate travelers and meeting delegates, now and even more so in the future.”

Speaking on behalf of the service providers, Navee Srihadung - vice president for business solutions at KSC Commercial Internet said, “Our partnership with the Royal Cliff Beach Resort marks a new move for us in expanding our hi-speed wireless Internet service to areas outside of Bangkok. As the Royal Cliff Beach Resort is a fine hotel and a key business center - very popular with local and international business travelers alike - we have launched our first hotspot service here to provide hotel guests with the luxury of efficient and uninterrupted communications, even when miles away from home or office.”

As a special introductory offer, the hotspot service will be available at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort free-of-charge until the end of 2003. Users will simply need a wireless LAN card and WiFi connection equipment (802.11b enabled) plugged into a portable computer or PDA, along with a Wireless Access Card with username and password - freely available at the Reception Desk of either hotel. M-WEB Hotspot’s 11 Mbps speed makes all data transfers a split-second affair.


Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa appoints new GM

Kevin J. Beauvais, CEO of the Royal Garden Resort has appointed Jonathan M. Wigley as the new general manager of the Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa.

Jonathan M. Wigley

Born in Britain’s West Yorkshire, Wigley grew up in Hong Kong. Thirty three year old Wigley started his hotel career in 1986, and has worked for such international hotels as Hilton, Omni Group of Hotels, Delta Grand Pacific Hotel - recently re-branded Westin Grand Sukhumvit - and 5 and a half years at the Landmark Hotel Bangkok.

Seventeen years in the hotel industry gives Wigley wide experience in sale & marketing as well as extensive knowledge of food & beverage and rooms division. He is also very well versed in Asian culture and traditions, having worked in Asia since 1991.

Wigley commented, “Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa is the only true city resort in Bangkok, with unique restaurants, great accommodation, stylish conference and meeting facilities, the enchanting Mandara Spa as well as Manohra Cruises. I believe we really do have it all. I look forward to building up further on our products and services, so that we can consistently exceed our guest’s high expectations as well as making this resort the guest’s preferred choice. Others promise but we deliver - a real city resort experience.”

Wigley and his wife Michelle have two daughters, 14 and 7 years.


Rolls-Royce powers Red Arrows aerobatic display

As a main supporter of the RTAF air show, “Celebrating 100 Years of Flight”, Rolls-Royce executives welcomed the Royal Thai Air Force Commander in Chief, Red Arrows pilots and other distinguished guests following a stunning aerobatics display by the Red Arrows Aerobatic team, recently. Rolls-Royce supplies its Adour engines for the BAE Systems Hawk flown by the Red Arrows.

Pictured from left to right are David C Chapple, customer executive Thailand, Rolls Royce; Clive Marchant, vice president, regional marketing, BAE Systems; Colonel Peter Roberts MBE, British defense attach้; Gwendolyn Fall, wife of British Ambassador to Thailand and Laos; ACM Kongsak Wantana, commander in chief, Royal Thai Air Force; David William Fall, British ambassador to Thailand and Laos; Steve Miller, regional executive, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos & Cambodia, Rolls-Royce; Carl ‘Spike’ Jepson, squadron leader, British Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, and David Thomas, squadron leader, British Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team.


ASEANTA Inaugural International Management Summit 2003

The ASEANTA Inaugural International Management Summit 2003 will be held next month on December 4 and 5 at the Mutiara Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The summit will address tourism industry-specific challenges and global business changes for the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. For more information visit the website www.aseanta.org/summi


Airline to Middle-earth scores flying hat-trick with new Lord of the Rings 747

Air New Zealand, Airline to Middle-earth, unveiled its latest The Lord of the Rings-themed aircraft on November 14 as it steps up its worldwide campaign to harness the tourism power of the motion picture trilogy.

Acclaimed New Zealand landscape photographer Andris Apse has achieved the ultimate exhibition space - on the side of a Boeing 747-400!

As the New Zealand world premiere of the final installment of the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, approaches, the airline rolled out its third themed aircraft to take the Middle-earth message around the world.

The stunning design, which stretches 48 meters along the giant Boeing 747-400 fuselage, depicts the faces of stars Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) and Orlando Bloom (Legolas) as part of the giant decal, and covers an area of 800 square meters.

The third aircraft, which headed to Los Angeles for a photo-call with Viggo Mortensen, signals the start of an intensive Air New Zealand global marketing campaign to capitalize on the motion picture trilogy’s huge profile.