Hotel developer, Minor International, will complete the transfer of the riverside Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa from Marriott management to its own in-house brand Anantara by 11 November.
Once Marriott is out, the property will be marketed as Anantara Bangkok Riverside Resort & Spa.
Minor International and Marriott International will continue to work together on properties such as the JW Marriott in Phuket and Marriott Resorts in Pattaya and Hua Hin.
However, Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa general manager, Francis Zimmerman, did not give a solid explanation for the change in management.
The main challenge for the hotel owning company will be to maintain business relations with its B2B customers who are supporting the hotel through Marriott.
The 413-room property, located on Bangkok’s riverside, has maintained strong business contacts with leading travel agencies to be able to keep tour contracts. However, it will probably face some challenges in the corporate and events markets without Marriott’s regional contacts.
Currently, there are 14 Anatara properties across Asia; eight of them in Thailand. There are three in the Maldives, a retreat in Bali at Seminyak. Abu Dhabi has two resorts on Sir Bani Yas Island and in the Liwa desert. This year nine new openings are scheduled in Vietnam, China, Bali, Thailand, Maldives and Abu Dhabi.
Minor Holdings, the owning company, uses various international hotel chains to manage its properties, but its long-term strategy is to build Anantara as a representative brand of Thailand’s hospitality skills.
Source: TR Weekly
