DUBAI: The Executive Committee (ExCom) at Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts has kick-started its ‘Grand Tour of Asia’ with visits to Bangkok, Hua Hin and Phuket — a move that demonstrates its commitment to Thailand’s thriving hotel market. The stopover is part of the leadership team’s two-and-half-week mission to meet colleagues, hotel owners and key partners in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia, which started on August 20 and will run until September 6.
Thailand is where Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts first embarked on its Asia development journey with the opening of Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket in 2006. Today the company operates five properties in three destinations — Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya — with four more set to open by the end of next year.
Mövenpick Suriwongse Hotel Chiang Mai and Mövenpick Resort Khao Yai will open this year, while Mövenpick Asara Resort & Spa Hua Hin and Mövenpick Resort Mai Khao Beach Phuket are set for completion in 2018, adding more than 700 keys to the market. “Thailand is strategically important for Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts,” said Olivier Chavy, President and CEO, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts.
“It is not only the gateway to Asia and one of the region’s most flourishing hospitality markets, but has strong development potential for our company — by 2020, more than 30% of our properties in Asia will be located in key destinations across the country.”
During their visit to Thailand, the ExCom delegation will meet with the company’s regional team and local hotel owners and visit the locations of upcoming properties before heading to Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia to conduct similar meetings.
At the end of the whistle-stop tour, the team, which comprises the most senior heads of the Human Resources, Information Technology, Finance, Development and Commercial departments, will return to Bangkok to stage dedicated ExCom meetings.
They will also meet with the hospitality firm’s new ExCom Y Committee – a group of 10 dynamic Generation Y employees and entrepreneurs recruited to collaborate with the Executive Committee as it looks to glean fresh ideas on how to attract Millennial guests and talent.
Given Asia is a key focus of the company’s global expansion strategy, the ExCom team believed it apt to start these top-level discussions in Bangkok, a modern city where the hospitality sector is thriving and the Millennial guest demographic is switched on.
The Asia development strategy
Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts currently operates 10 hotels and resorts in seven Asian destinations. In addition to its five hotels and resorts in Thailand, the company manages one property in each of the following countries – China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
There are already 17 new projects signed, all of which are on track to open by 2020, growing the Asia portfolio to 27 properties, but the goal is to operate at least 30 hotels and resorts in the region by the end of the decade.
The breakdown of signed projects is as follows: Vietnam (five), Thailand (four), Malaysia (three), Bangladesh (two) and one in each of the following locations – China, the Philippines and The Maldives.
“We will have at least 30 properties under our management in Asia by the end of the decade and looking beyond 2020, we expect our property development activity across the continent to become a bigger percentage of our total portfolio,” said Andrew Langdon, Chief Development Officer, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, one of the ExCom members taking part in the ‘Grand Tour of Asia’.
“We are on track to open four new hotels and resorts this year – two in Thailand (Chiang Mai and Khao Yai) one in the Philippines (Boracay), our second property in the country and another in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, our second hotel in China.” Says in press release
