Movenpick Hotels & Resorts has big plans for Vietnam and will bulk up its presence from one to five hotels in the next three years alone.
Movenpick’s vice president sales for Asia, Holger Jakobs said the company has seen a huge lift in the perception of the destination.
“Vietnam really has come off from being this sleepy, secret destination that people would go to if they’d been to five or six other Asian countries, to a destination that someone could travel to for a starting point in experiencing Asia,” he told travelBulletin.
Tourism in Vietnam is being spurred by Vietnam Airlines being “very active”, Jakobs said.
“So then all of a sudden things get into motion and right around that time development happens and investors see these opportunities.”
The first new addition set to join the longstanding 154-room Movenpick Hotel Hanoi is Movenpick Resort Phu Quoc, slated to open at the end of 2018.
The 250-room property will be home to what Movenpick has affectionately christened a “swiss village”, packed into a mini town square complete with a clock tower.
Jakobs said the village would mix a European beer hall in with a Swiss souvenir shop, restaurants and local retail offerings.
This will be alongside a water park and lagoon-style pool, destination spa 1,000m convention area, kids club, water sports centre and an adventure and teambuilding activity course.
Movenpick Cam Ranh Resort on Bai Dai Beach is scheduled to welcome guests from Q1 2018, and will span some 20 hectares and feature 250 rooms, 100 residences and 100 villas.
Another hotel in the race to open in Vietnam is Movenpick Hotel Quang Binh, set to open in Q4 2019. It will pack in 219 guest rooms, four food and beverage outlets and private beach access to Nhat Le Beach. The property will also feature a spa, fitness centre, swimming pool, three meeting rooms and a ballroom catering for up to 400 delegates.
The 229-key Movenpick Resort & Spa Quy Nhon will round off the brand’s properties in Vietnam up to five when it also opens in Q4 2019, perched on an isolated cliff overlooking a private beach below and the pristine corals of the South China Sea.
The new additions are part of Movenpick’s aggressive expansion plans to increase the current 83 hotels in operation to more than 100 properties by 2020.
Jakobs said the company was also in talks with “a couple of investors in Cambodia for Phnom Penh and also Sihanoukville” but “nothing is concrete yet”.
