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Staff Writer
The Centara Grand at CentralWorld’s grand opening is set to take place
in September, offering international and domestic convention
organizers and the MICE market an exciting new downtown venue,
boasting the largest number of rooms in a single Bangkok location.
The
hotel’s huge Bangkok Convention Center, which has a floor space of
10,000 square meters and 13-m high ceilings, is the largest of its
kind in the capital, and is likely to become a leading location for
larger events. It recently hosted Harry Connick Junior’s Bangkok
show, for example.
 As
with other luxury hotels popping up in the downtown area, Centara
Grand features a modern, stylish design, plus high-tech facilities.
In comparison to other Bangkok luxury hotel additions, the Centara
Grand has a much more spacious feel to it.
French
executive Michel Horn was tapped by Central to lead the Centara
Grand’s opening phase as general manager. Horn has over 25 years’
experience in hotel management, 13 of them within Asia.
ThaiAsiaToday.com
recently talked with Horn about what makes Centara Grand different
from other new modern luxury hotels in Bangkok, in addition to
discovering more about the venue’s other outstanding features.
ThaiAsiaToday.com
(TAT): What’s
the hotel’s target segment?
Michel
Horn (MH): Well, first of
all we’re a convention hotel, so we’re targeting delegates. We’re
also a business hotel so we’re definitely going for corporate
guests as well. We’re a five-star hotel mainly aimed at those two
segments.
Of
course it’s not easy to fill rooms up to 95% capacity at all times,
so we rely somewhat on the leisure market.
Within
the convention market we aim at half international, half regional. So
far it has been more regional. But as we grow and make our mark we’ll
definitely attract more of the international crowd. For example, in
the upcoming week the World Engineering Convention will be held here,
and, late last month, the world tuna fishing industry convention was
held here.
For
the corporate market, guests have mainly been regional, and for
leisure, we’ve mainly been receiving guests from Southeast Asia and
Europe.
TAT:
What makes the Centara
Grand different from other new luxury hotels in Bangkok, such as the
Grand Millennium?
MH:
We have a very unique property. There’s no other ‘real’
convention hotel, as such, here in Bangkok. So actually there is no
competition for us in terms of the convention segment.
Our
property design and concept is also very unique – it’s based upon
a lotus flower and the four elements: earth, fire, wind, and water.
For example, our restaurants all represent one of the four elements.
With
that said, we have worked with Shangri-La for medium-sized
conventions. When we have, say 2,000 delegates, we share the guests
with other hotels around us since we have a total of 505 rooms.
So
in that sense we bring business right to the center of Bangkok while
giving the convention organizer the option to tap into 2-3,000 hotel
rooms, all CentralWorld within walking distance of our convention center.
TAT:
Your hotel is connected with the CentralWorld shopping mall, and is
located very close to Siam Ocean World, the IMAX theater, and other
movie theaters. Do you provide any promotions at those outlets for
your guests?
MH:
When we sell the destination as the Centara Grand, we are definitely
marketing the direct access to CentralWorld. We provide a 5%
CentralWorld discount voucher to guests. We also provide the option
for organizers to use movie theaters as part of their forum. This
happened twice last year where organizers requested movie theaters
for guest speakers at their forum. So, there definitely is a synergy
between them.
TAT:
The Centara hotel group is quite large, with currently 13 hotels in
total in Thailand, including hotel resorts on Koh Samui, Phuket, and
in Krabi and Hua Hin. Is there any type of package for guests to
enjoy your ‘sun and sand’ resort destinations in addition to the
Centara Grand facilities?
MH:
Yes, we do focus on ‘incentive’. For example, people from Europe
can come spend a few nights here, have a meeting, and then move to
another destination within our group, such as our properties in Krabi
and Samui. We do have packages which combine Bangkok-Krabi and
Bangkok-Samui.
Actually
two weeks ago we had a group of just over 200 people from the UK
spend two nights in Bangkok and three nights in Krabi. For this
volume we almost always plan one or two years in advance.
TAT:
I see. Thanks for
taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us.
MH:
You’re welcome, it’s
my pleasure.
For
further information about the Centara Grand, call Tel: +66 (0)2 100
1234, or visit their website at
http://www.centarahotelsresorts.com.
Transport
Connections:
Train:
The easiest way to get to Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention
Center at CentralWorld is to take a BTS skytrain to Siam station.
Simply follow the signs at the station indicating the location of the
center.
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