Novotel plans to renovate 20-year-old Phuket resort

NOVOTEL plans major renovations for its resort in Phuket to attract guests from emerging markets in order to secure growth of 5-10 per cent next year.

Pobchai Jivavisitnon, owner and managing director of Novotel Phuket Resort and Novotel Phuket Vintage Park, said the company planned to spend Bt70 million to refurbish the former. 

Major renovations will include the swimming pool and additional pool access, public facilities, the spa and the restaurant. All work is scheduled to be completed before November next year, the start of the tourism high season.

The resort was opened 20 years ago with 215 rooms as one of the first international hotel chains on famous Patong Beach. Pobchai said 60 per cent of the resort’s guests had traditionally been from the European market, and most of the rest from Asian countries. “The hotel currently has average occupancy rates as high as 85-87 per cent. Luckily there was no negative impact from last month’s bomb blast in Bangkok.” 

He said the chain’s other hotel in the Patong area, the three-year-old Novotel Phuket Vintage Park, served mainly the Asia market, at 60 per cent, with the rest mainly from Europe. It has 303 rooms and a 2,000-square-metre swimming pool, one of largest in Phuket. This hotel is also running an average occupancy rate of 85-87 per cent. Pobchai said both hotels were expected to gain more business in the remaining months of the year as they had seen significantly more arrivals from emerging markets such as China, India and the Middle East.

“Next year, I expect my two hotels to be able to increase their occupancy rates by 5-7 per cent from this year and increase their room rates by 7-10 per cent,” he said.

In order to secure such growth, the Novotel group so far has no plans to cut room rates even though the hotels are located in a part of the island where they face tough competition. Instead, hotels will be seeking more customers, particularly from China, India and the Middle East.

Several hotel chains have opened properties in Patong, including Ramada and Grand Mercure. Many other brands have also settled there, including Millennium, Centra, Holiday Inn, DusitD2, and Amari.

According to a report by C9 Hotelworks, arrivals at Phuket International Airport rose by 11 per cent from 2.8 million in the first half of 2014 to 3.1 million in first six months this year. China and Russia accounted for more than 50 per cent of international passenger arrivals.