By David Carey

Mel Kaneshige and I recently had the pleasure of visiting our newly-established Asia Division regional office in Phuket, Thailand, one of the leading resort destinations in Southeast Asia. With two Outrigger properties already on the island and the availability of international flights to many major airports in the region growing, it is an ideal place to locate our regional office.

Our visit was a source for pride for our local staff. Consistent with Outrigger’s values and traditions, it was time to make sure that the offices, which are already off to a strong start, were properly blessed by Buddhist monks from the local wat (temple). Mel and I had the pleasure of experiencing the blessing. The monks, dressed in their traditional saffron robes, performed a traditional ceremony that included chants by the monks and appropriate offerings by us. To indicate that the premises had been blessed, one of the monks painted a symbol on our door. In many places of business, this symbol remains as long as the business stays in that location.

Much as we have done in other places, our strong Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a (Outrigger Way) values have been adapted to reflect the local culture. Our Thai employees at the Phuket office developed the Thai version, which has the acronym MITTRAPAB, standing for Motivation, Integrity and Pride, Teamwork, Tradition, Respect, Acceptance, Practicality, Attitude, Baan (Home). The word “mittrapab” means being friendly and loyal, both of which are key Thai values.

While at the offices, we got an overall briefing on the marketing and operational strategy for the region from Darren Edmonstone, Senior Vice President of our Asia Division, and Pieter van der Hoeven, the opening General Manager at both the Outrigger Serenity Resort and Spa and the Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort and Villas, with the assistance of Michael Cowan, Vice President of Operations and Projects; Bob Merrigan, Vice President of Technical Services; and Damian Clowes, Vice President of Corporate Services. We also had the pleasure of hosting our regional group for lunch at a nearby restaurant.

With our offices properly blessed, we headed off to see the newest property set to enter our system, the Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort & Villas, located in the famous Laguna Phuket Resort. Laguna Phuket is a thousand-acre resort with five miles of pristine beach and six existing luxury hotels, along with a golf course, shopping center, wedding chapel, spas, and restaurants. The resort is built on the remains of an abandoned tin mine which many thought could not be rehabilitated but which has since won numerous environmental awards for its rebirth as a destination resort. The Outrigger Laguna Phuket will open just 10 days from now, on December 1, with 68 two-, three- and four-bedroom units, and our team there has been hard at work for the last five and a half months with all of the pre-opening activities. In fact, the week before we arrived, our Human Resources team had interviewed well over 100 employees to see if they were ready to share our brand of hospitality.

Our product at Laguna is distinct from all the other hospitality products at the resort. Physically, our units are all very spacious, much more so than the accommodations at Laguna’s other hotels. We have three distinct types of units – (1) two-story, two-bedroom units of approximately 1,800 square feet, with a large common pool and restaurant, (2) two-story, three-bedroom semi-detached (two three-bedroom units in one building) units averaging 2,700 square feet, and (3) two-story, four-bedroom units that are stand-alone villas averaging 4,400 square feet. The three- and four-bedroom units each have their own private swimming pools and yards.

Our product is perfect for families who need more room and would rather stay in one unit rather than several hotel rooms. Additionally, all units come with full kitchens and butler service for those who prefer not to cook. Our resort is off the beach, but we will provide transportation to our own private beach club as well as the shopping center and restaurants in the area.

Our Laguna marketing team has been vigorously selling the property and has been very successful. As of earlier this week, our team is forecasting 76 percent occupancy for December and 70 percent for both January and February—remarkable results for a resort that has yet to open. Congratulations to Pieter van der Hoeven, Khun Kai (Panjama Leumsuwan) and our entire Laguna team for their hard work and great results!

We also had a chance to visit and stay at the Outrigger Serenity Terraces Resort, which is located on the east coast of Phuket Island and which has been open since April of this year. Serenity Terraces is a five-star resort, consisting of 78 units, 63 of which are managed by us, nestled into a hillside overlooking Chalong Bay and small islands in the distance. There is a range of accommodations, from large hotel rooms to one- and two-bedroom suites, some with their own private swimming pools. Amenities include the Outrigger-run Navasana Spa, Turquoise Restaurant, Balu’s Bar, Serenity Toys (speedboat, Hobie cats and kayaks) and in-room butler service. I stayed in a beautiful, spacious two-bedroom suite overlooking the pool, restaurant and ocean.

Serendipitously, we arrived in time to participate in Serenity’s Employee of the Quarter award ceremony where Khun Naowarat was honored for her outstanding work as the Canteen Chef. Khun Naowarat is responsible for cooking all the employee meals for the property and does a wonderful job keeping her colleagues well fed.

While there we were able to enjoy the wonderful hospitality of Albert Chan, our General Manager, and the fabulous cooking of Chef Louis and his team, and I was able to do some product testing at the Navasana Spa, which is our own creation, staffed and managed by Outrigger, and to be included in our resorts throughout Asia. Darren Edmonstone explained that we will run the food and beverage outlets and spas at our hotels in Asia as they are profit centers there, as opposed to the U.S., where they are break-even amenities.

The few days that we were able to spend in Phuket were very assuring in a number of ways. First, it affirmed that our product is well positioned to compete with anyone in Asia; second, but more importantly, it affirmed that our employees are among the best in Thailand. Kudos to Darren and his team for putting together a staff that is second to none and will wonderfully represent the Outrigger brand in Asia.

While our work in Asia starts from very modest beginnings, both Mel and I were struck by a sense of the relatively strong economic underpinnings of the region. While the U.S. financial crisis has had an impact, the deflection is not nearly as severe. With the continuing growth of the mainland Chinese market as well as the general resiliency of Asia as a whole, our prospects for the region remain bright, and we are continuing to work on expanding our presence in key resort destinations throughout Southeast Asia.