Centara Hotels & Resorts set for aggressive expansion

Centara Hotels & Resorts, Thailand’s largest and fastest-growing hotel management company, has expanded its sales and marketing department with new staff and a strategic restructuring to take accoun

Centara Hotels & Resorts, Thailand’s largest and fastest-growing hotel management company, has expanded its sales and marketing department with new staff and a strategic restructuring to take account of the new and more complex demands.

Centara currently has 45 properties throughout Thailand and 14 overseas in the Maldives, Indian Himalayas, Vietnam, Philippines, Bali, and Mauritius.

The increasing number of properties has also brought an increase in property types and categories, and the company now operates five distinct brands within the group, namely Centara Grand Hotels & Resorts, Centara Hotels & Resorts, Centara Residences & Suites, Centara Boutique Collection, and Centra Hotels & Resorts.

The sales and marketing division has now been expanded to approximately 120 people, working from a self-contained headquarters at Centara Hotels and Resorts.

“Several new senior team members have recently joined along with the expansion of the sales, information technology, and administration staff,” said senior vice president for sales and marketing Chris Bailey.

“We have now completed the restructuring to take our communication and activities to the next level, focused on continuing to support the wider travel industry.”

The new division heads and new recruitment are Philip Hall, Group Director of Sales and Marketing; Supachai Punjaapisith, Director of Sales for Centara Boutique Collection; Yosyus Panyarachun, Director of Technical Services; Phensiri Charoensuk, Director of On-line Distribution; Victor Mogilev, e-commerce Manager; Julien Vella, Product Manager; Soraya Setrarom, Group Market Manager; and Pinida Pettanagul, Head of Group Marketing Thailand.

At the same time, a new global support team has been created to fast-track questions and provide support for the many thousands of Centara’s overseas agents and operators.

“This is designed as a one-stop-shop, so our industry partners can get the answers to their questions on doing business with us other than through the actual booking process,” said Mr. Bailey.

“In this way, our sales force is freed up to focus on business development, while our partners have a single point of contact regardless of the property they are referring to,” he added.

Along with the corporate and administrative changes, has come a strong addition to the sales team.

“We have a new support team for our overseas sales structure, which now includes the UK, Germany, Russia, Dubai, India, Hong Kong, two locations in China, and Australia,” said Mr. Bailey.

“Additionally, an expansion of our core source market management now sees dedicated coverage for Japan, Korea, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, where we do not currently have a sales office structure within the market,” Mr. Bailey concluded.

A new dedicated team has been created to look after the Thai domestic market: called Team Thailand, it incorporates a combined marketing and sales force dedicated to supporting and growing the domestic business.

Separately, Centara is creating a regional sales hub in Samui to support its cluster of six properties, which will follow the lines of the two other very successful hubs in Phuket and Chiang Mai.

Mr. Bailey said that with the recruitment and restructuring now complete, Centara Hotels & Resorts is in prime form to continue with and to fully support its aggressive expansion policy, both at home and overseas.

Centara Hotels & Resorts is Thailand’s largest operator of hotels, with 45 deluxe and first-class properties covering all the major tourist destinations in the kingdom. A further 14 resorts in the Maldives, Indian Himalayas, Philippines, Vietnam, Bali Indonesia, and Mauritius Indian Ocean, brings the present total to 59 properties. Brands and properties within Centara ensure that specific categories such as couples, families, individuals, and meetings and incentives groups will all find a hotel or resort that is appropriate to their needs. Centara operates 19 branches of Spa Cenvaree, one of Thailand’s most luxurious and innovative spa brands, and the company’s Kids’ Club is available at all the family-friendly resorts to ensure that the youngsters and teens are taken care of. Centara Hotels & Resorts also operates two state-of-the-art convention centers in Bangkok and one in Udon Thani in northeastern Thailand.

For more information and reservations, please contact: tel. +662 101 1234 ext. 1, or email to [email protected] , or visit www.centarahotelsresorts.com .

Facebook: www.facebook.com/centarahotelsresorts
Twitter: www.twitter.com/staycentara

PHOTO: Centara senior vice president for sales and marketing Chris Bailey / Photo: centarahotelsresorts.com

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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