| Featured in this Asia Pacific Hospitality Newsletter - Week Ending 16 December 2005 |
| Club Med Kani Unveils Suite New Look | Return to Headlines |
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Club Med Kani was relaunched on 2 December following a major facelift after closing since 2004's tsunami, offering new luxury lagoon suites to be released in phases starting from 20 December. The 75 over-water suites - bungalows over water will be completed by April next year. Apart from adding lagoon suites, upgrading the resort's 20 beach villas and 143 superior rooms and other facilities - which include private fine-dining and a bigger spa in keeping with plans to target more high-yield travellers - the island will also enhance its self-sufficiency. The French resort operator, which first entered the Maldives 30 years ago, is also looking for a second property as it has decided not to renew the lease for Club Med Faru. |
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| Thailand Plans First Freshwater Yacht Marina | Return to Headlines |
| Function Marine plans to open the first freshwater yachting marina in Thailand in the Kanchanaburi province, 128 kilometres west of Bangkok in 2006. The company will invest around US$1.9 million developing the Lake Haven Resort and Park next to the Srinakarin Dam in Sri Sawat District, using the dam for yachting. Srinakarin Dam is the first multi-purpose dam built under the project to develop the Mae Klong River Basin. It measures 140 metres high measured from the base with a ridge measuring 610 metres long and 15 metres wide. Its reservoir has the capacity to store up to 17.45 million cubic metres of water. The dam's authority has recently introduced a policy allowing the development of yachting marinas or resorts. | |
| Airbus Receives Massive US$10 Billion Order From China | Return to Headlines |
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The China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group (CASGC) has signed a General Terms Agreement (GTA) with Airbus to buy 150 A320 family aircraft. The total value of the purchase comes close to US$10 billion and comprises A319s, A320s and A321s. This is the largest single order for Airbus since it entered the Chinese market two decades ago. The 150 aircraft will be delivered to six Chinese airlines, including Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines and Hainan Airlines. |
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| Wyndham Sets Its Sights on Australia | Return to Headlines |
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The US-based Wyndham Hotels & Resorts chain is planning to open its first hotel in Australia and is scouring Sydney and Melbourne for central city locations. Cendant bought the Dallas-based Wyndham chain in October in a US$101 million deal. New Jersey-based Cendant is also the parent company of Ramada International, which is currently expanding in Australia and the Pacific region and will open a new US$70 million hotel this month at Pelican Waters, near Caloundra on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. The company has recently opened new Ramada hotels in the Dandenongs, near Melbourne, at Ballina on the NSW north coast, and in Noumea, Osaka and Tokyo. It is also expanding in Lithuania and elsewhere in eastern Europe. Cendant is one of the world's largest lodging companies, with 6,441 hotels and 540,578 rooms on five continents. Its brands include Wyndham, Super 8, Days Inn, Ramada, Travelodge, Howard Johnson, Knights Inn, Wingate Inn and AmeriHost Inn. |
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| Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo Open in Tokyo's Historic Nihonbashi District | Return to Headlines |
| Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo officially opened its doors on 2 December in the heart of the historic Nihonbashi district of Tokyo, marking the arrival of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group's first hotel in Japan. With a superb location in the city’s prestigious financial district, Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo brings contemporary luxury to the historical and cultural centre of the Japanese capital. True to its surroundings, the first Mandarin Oriental hotel in Japan dynamically blends the best of old and new architecture, with spacious guestrooms, innovative restaurants and spa facilities situated on the top nine floors of the soaring new Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower, which sits adjacent to the Mitsui Main Building. | |
| Accor Sees Singapore As a Possible Regional Hub | Return to Headlines |
| Paris-based hotel group Accor sees business in Singapore booming and is considering making the city-state its Asian hub, regional chairman David Baffsky said. "We are looking to expand in Singapore," Baffsky told the Straits Times. "We want to bring our five-star Sofitel brand here."Accor, one of the world's largest hotel groups with more than 4,000 hotels spread across 140 countries, believes Singapore's position as an airline hub bodes well for further expansion of the tourist market. "As travel in Asia increases, business here and in the region will go up," Baffsky said. "Even with the new generation of long-haul aircraft, I expect there will be a stopover in Singapore." He also cited the country's open-skies agreement with China as an indication of Singapore's forward-looking mentality. With this in mind, Accor is considering making Singapore its new Asia-Pacific headquarters for developing new business. Hong Kong is the other possibility. | |
| Absolute Share Price Performance, as at 16 December 2005 |
