Holiday Inn’s latest taps EEC
Hotel targets workers at industrial estates
Local property firm Felicity Asset Co has opened the 2.5-billion-baht Holiday Inn & Suites Rayong City Centre to cash in on an expected economic boom on the Eastern Seaboard led by the government’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project.
The hotel opened its doors early last month in the heart of Rayong, one of three provinces home to numerous industrial projects pushed under the EEC scheme.
“The UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group is managing the hotel under the Holiday Inn brand,” said Pattamabhorn Nokhong, managing director of Felicity Asset.
The Nokhong family owns a well-known local business group that ran Passion Shopping Destination, formally known as Laemthong Rayong mall, for more than 20 years before expanding into the hotel business.
Aside from hotels and malls, the group also plans to develop office buildings to prepare for the expected increase in economic activity along the Eastern Seaboard, Ms Pattamabhorn said. An additional investment budget of 3 billion baht is expected.
Over the next five years, the group wants to build more mixed-use projects in the Eastern Seaboard, mainly consisting of hotels and retail.
The Holiday Inn & Suites Rayong City Centre has 288 rooms and is located in the same area as Passion Shopping Destination.
Target customers are German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Thai business people working in Rayong’s various industrial estates.
“Some 70% of our clients are projected to be foreigners and 30% local,” Ms Pattamabhorn said. “We expect an average occupancy rate of 65% after the opening period, rising to 80% per year in the next five years.”
The family expects revenue from hotels and shopping centres to reach 1.2 billion baht in 2018.
General manager Ian Pirodon said the hotel is the first Holiday Inn in Thailand to offer long-term, monthly and yearly accommodation.
Local authorities such as the Tourism and Sports Ministry and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) are promoting the eastern region as a premier destination.
Attractions include Koh Si Chang in Chon Buri province, which is being promoted as a new tourist draw.
Furthermore, Pattaya has been rebranded as a sports and family town. U-tapao airport in Rayong is scheduled to host the Air Race 1 World Cup in November.
The TAT will organise its Thailand Travel Mart plus Amazing Gateway to the Greater Mekong Subregion (TTM+) in Pattaya next year.
The event is aimed at strengthening tourism business on the Eastern Seaboard.
In 2013, Pattaya recorded a peak for the tourism industry with 12 million foreign tourists.
The number dropped to below 10 million last year, but this year has witnessed a rebound from Russian, Indian, European and South Korean visitors.
The Chinese market has also grown in importance.