Dec. 28--Banyan Tree Holding, a Singapore-based hotel and resorts development group, is spreading its wings with plans to aggressively expand its portfolio in the region, including Thailand. 

The company was looking to invest in Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Hua Hin, said Bernold Schroeder, vice-president for business development of Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts. 

The property in Chiang Mai is expected to become the third Banyan Tree hotel in Thailand, while the other two proposed hotels are likely to be sited in beach cities and operated under the group's second brand, Angsana Resorts and Spas. 

The Banyan Tree Chiang Mai would be a newly constructed hotel since the brand required a unique architectural design, he said yesterday. The properties in Hua Hin and Pattaya would likely be acquisitions of existing resort hotels. 

The projects, part of a long-term plan over three to four years, were still at the discussion stage and the total investment had not been finalised, Mr Schroeder said. 

Besides the planned projects in Thailand, the group will also open the Banyan Tree Seychelles next year in the Indian Ocean island republic. 

"The Seychelles has become very popular with high-end tourists such as Hollywood celebrities visiting the islands. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston spent their honeymoon there," said Renee Ho Phang, the group's director of marketing communications. 

Excluding the Seychelles resort, the group's portfolio includes four Banyan Tree properties in Bintang, Phuket, the Maldives and Bangkok. 

The group also runs 10 Angsana spas, four of which are at its hotels while the other six are stand-alone services or facilities located under other hotel brands, said Ms Ho Phang. 
 

The company recently completed a US$4-million refurbishing of the former Westin Banyan Tree on Sathon Road and will rebrand it as the Banyan Tree Bangkok on Jan 1.  The group's first city property was poised to join the top five hotels in Bangkok by mid-2003, Mr Schroeder said.  The rebranding follows the expiry of the five-year contract with Westin Hotels and Resorts this week.  Under the group's own brand, Mr Schroeder said the Banyan Tree Bangkok aimed to redefine the business traveller's

Banyan Tree Bangkok  21/100 South Sathon Road  Thai Wah Tower II Building Sathon, Bangkok Thailand

Under the new brand, the average room rate of the Banyan Tree Bangkok will be increased from $250 to $300 a day. 

The hotel will also focus more on leisure tourists instead of the current corporate clients. Its spa services now occupied six levels of the hotel, said Ms Ho Phang. 

To accommodate the rapid expansion of its spa services, the group has recently opened the country's first Banyan Tree Spa Academy in Phuket. 

The academy now has 190 students, from local workers to college graduates, who will later be sent to work in the group's spa services all over the region. 

The number of students was expected to increase to 350 by mid-2002, she said. 

"Our academy is not like a training centre as with other spa operators. But we offer a full course, beginning with learning what kind of herbs are used in the spa from our own herb garden." 

She said that 98 percent of the group's massage therapists, in all of its properties, were Thais. 

The group's spa facilities also include a Banyan Tree Gallery, a gift shop with spa accessories mainly produced by local communities, in line with the government's One Tambon, One Product policy. 

Ms Ho Phang said that the value of the export products, such as essential oils, incense sticks and handicrafts from Thailand, was substantial since they were supplied to the group's 28 spa galleries in the region. 

-----To see more of the Bangkok Post, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bangkokpost.com 

(c) 2001, Bangkok Post, Thailand. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.