Starwood Lands Another Thailand Assignment

PHUKET, THAILAND-Grande Asset Development Public Company Ltd. of Bangkok has handed the management assignment for its latest hotel development here to White Plains, NY-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. The 215-room property will open next July and mark the first entry into the Asia-Pacific resort market for Starwood’s Four Points by Sheraton brand.The Four Points by Sheraton Patong will be situated within Jungceylon Center, a lifestyle center on the island that offers shopping, dining and entertainment. The resort itself will feature 215 rooms, three dining outlets, sports and recreational facilities, meeting rooms and a business center. The new hotel assignment is the latest of four that Starwood has landed in Thailand in the past year. The others include the Sheraton Krabi Resort and The Westin Grande Sukhumvit, both in Bangkok, and a new Sheraton resort in Thailand’s “royal paradise” beach resort of Hua Hin that will open in September 2005. Although not a resort property, Four Points by Sheraton made its debut in the Asia-Pacific with the Four Points by Sheraton Darling Harbour in Sydney, which opened in March 2000. Other Four Points hotels in Asia-Pacific are located in Geelong and Port Macquarie in Australia, and in Chung Ho, Taiwan. The first Four Points by Sheraton hotel in China will open in Shenzhen this fall.