Prayuth Thamdhum, GM of The
Montien Pattaya, Chatchawal Supachayanont, Jan and James Jeerapat owners of
Hotel J, Pattaya.
Peter Malhotra
The GM Gang dinner for the month of February found
hoteliers gathered at the newly opened boutique hotel right in the heart of
Pattaya called the Centara Pattaya Hotel.
Host for the evening Austin Robinson, GM of the hotel,
proudly showed off the new property to his guests saying, “The Centara
Pattaya Hotel located behind the Bangkok Bank on Second Road is the
brainchild of Rony Fineman, CEO of the Nova Group. This property is another
one in the collection of boutique hotels under the Centara Hotels and
Resorts Group.”
He added, “We know that the domestic Thai market is
strong during weekends. But the challenge is mid-week, so we are promoting
meetings, incentives and conferences to be held at our property. We opened
early this year and can boast of more than 80% occupancy already. Our main
clients are from Turkey, India and Russia.
“We are still very new and are constantly fine tuning our
operations. Our restaurants are up and running and we will soon have our
second tower completed and ready for occupancy.
Friends congratulate Austin
Robinson with ‘double whopper’ cakes on the opening of the Centara Pattaya
Hotel.
Needless to say, members of the GM Gang were thoroughly
impressed with the spread of international cuisine and all agreed that the
kitchen at Centara Pattaya was indeed a 5 star one.
Chatchawal Supachayanont, GM of the Dusit Thani Pattaya
and head of the GM Gang, was very positive and optimistic of the hotel
business in Pattaya. “We are coming back as the leading destination compared
to the other places in Thailand. We will see a lot of changes in the travel
industry due to the uneasy business atmosphere in Europe. We cannot only
rely on the leisure market in Pattaya. In 2012, we expect the MICE market in
Pattaya to boom.
“Our destination is now also very well known for sporting
events. We recently hosted the PTT Pattaya Open 2012 for the 21st year. We
also hosted the Honda LPGA Thailand 2012, and the Mercedes Benz Asian Master
Final #10 international junior golf tournament will be held in June. We also
host the annual Pattaya International Marathon and beach volleyball
tournaments. So you see we are promoting Pattaya as a most popular
destination for international sporting events.
“In addition Pattaya is already a popular place for both
Thais and foreigners to invest in the real estate market and we will see a
major boom in this sector too.”
Alisa Phanthusak is the
lovely rose between Tony Malhotra (left) and Michael Gunster (right)
Bundarik Kusolvitya, chairman of the Thai Hotels
Association (Eastern Chapter) gave an insight into her responsibilities as
head of the organisation. “People often think of us as living an easy life
of luxury and fun, but the reality of the matter is we too have to work very
hard to overcome many obstacles in our profession. These last 2 to 3 years
were quite tough as you all know. We had on-going political problems and
then came the floods. It was not easy. But we in the hotel and hospitality
sector jointly confronted and solved the problems to sustain our businesses
during those very tough times.
“We hope that someday the government will understand the
contributions and sacrifices we make towards the success of commerce in our
country. Support from the public sector is still lacking in many departments
and we hope that that will change for the better in the near future.”
Alisa Phanthusak, deputy managing director of Woodlands
Resort and Tiffany’s Cabaret Show, summed it up with these words, “Pattaya
is our home and we all have a moral duty and responsibility to play our part
to make our home a most wonderful place for our citizens. We strive to make
our visitors feel that Pattaya is their home away from home.”
Peter Malhotra interviews the
two ‘iron ladies’ of the hotel industry, Bundarik Kusolvitya (left)
president of the THA Eastern Chapter and Alisa Phanthusak (right) Asst. MD
Woodlands Resort for PMTV.
The GM Gang poses for a group
picture expressing strong friendships and unity amongst hoteliers in Pattaya
and the Eastern Seaboard.
