Great Eagle plans eight Thai hotels Langham, Eaton brands to open

Great Eagle Hospitality Group, a Hong Kong-based hotel developer, is expanding its business internationally, including a plan to operate five Eaton hotels and three Langham properties in Thailand over the next five years.

The group aims to become market leader in the mid-scale-to-five-star categories in the Kingdom.

Brett Butcher, chief executive officer of Langham Hotels International and Eaton Hotels International, said the group planned to manage at least eight properties in Thailand within |the next four to five years.

Five properties will be |operated under the newly created Eaton brand and three under the existing Langham luxury brand.

The group on Tuesday launched a seven-year international expansion plan covering China, Thailand, India, Singapore and the Middle |East.

“We have a seven-year plan covering feasibility studies, hotel branding and overseas investment. And now we are entering another seven-year plan to go international,” Butcher said.

Despite the political unrest in Thailand, the group believes the problems will be resolved and the matter should therefore not be a major issue by the time it starts local operations in a few years’ time, he said.

“We will go to Bangkok next week to look at properties and locations that should be suitable for our Eaton brand,” he added.

The CEO described Bangkok as a key growth market and one in which Great Eagle would like to have many properties, as the city remains a popular tourist destination as well as having the potential to be a meetings and conferences city.

As regards the Eaton plan, the group is talking with hotels in the Sukhumvit, Silom, Sathorn and Chong Nonsi areas for primary projects.

The operations could be Eaton Luxe, which has been created for the upper market and has already been introduced in Shanghai, or the mid-scale Eaton Smart, which is available in Hong Kong. Eaton House, the group’s residence sub-brand, is another possibility, Butcher said.

The investments could be undertaken through management contracts, or by joint ventures and then acquiring further management contracts.

“We are negotiating with |many investors in Thailand,” he said.

The group recently announced a plan to manage three Langham hotels in Thailand over the next three years, after the opening of its first resort property in Koh Samui late last year.

It will operate two hotels in Bangkok in the Phya Thai and Sukhumvit areas, and another in Phuket.

Two of the hotels in the capital are owned and developed by the Kanjanapas family, which owns Bangkok Mass Transit System, the company operating the Skytrain.

The property in Sukhumvit will be an elegance-style brand, The Langham, and the property in Phya Thai will be a luxury hotel, Langham Place.

The property in Phuket will be developed by an Irish investor, and all three hotels are scheduled to open in 2013.

The Langham in Sukhumvit will feature 320 rooms and 80 residences, serving business travellers and the luxury leisure market.

Langham Place, with 400 rooms, is targeted at the same group, while the 78-villa resort in Phuket will focus on foreign tourists.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2010/11/11/business/Great-Eagle-plans-eight-Thai-hotels-Langham-Eaton–30141966.html