Stay with int'l brand Crowne Plaza', the only one in Laos
Stay with int'l brand Crowne Plaza', the only one in Laos
The first 5-star international chain hotel in Vientiane, Crowne Plaza Vientiane is the best choice for business travellers and has opened its doors to welcome customers to Laos.
Being a global brand name, the Crowne is expected to bring positively different changes to the hospitality market in Laos, a country of more than 6.8 million people and a member of Asean, which is currently enjoying continual development and robust growth of the tourism industry.
General Manager of the Crowne Plaza Vientiane, Mr Oliver Horn from Germany, told Vientiane Times last week that the hotel is owned by the BIM Group of Vietnam. The group runs a variety of businesses such as shopping centres as well as a number of accommodation facilities.
The hotel is owned by BIM, but is operated by the Inter Continental Hotels Group (IHG) which also manages a number of other hotels.
Crowne Plaza is a British brand and its target market is business travellers and tourists, but the majority of its clients are business people. The hotel has 197 rooms of different types including luxury suites that are preferred by guests who have made a long journey to discuss business and visit Laos.
The hotel expects that its guests will comprise 70 percent business clients and 30 percent tourists. It is anticipated that international guests will make up 80 percent of the total, while Lao customers will comprise 20 percent.
As far as those using the restaurants and meeting spaces are concerned, Mr Horn thinks that 80 percent of customers will be Lao and the rest overseas guests.
The hotel is very careful about pricing. It knows that public perception is that the hotel is very expensive along with its services, but it offers the cheapest wedding package at only US$17 per head. This is a marked contrast to its competitors. The general manager said �The idea we want to put across is that we are not that big, expensive foreign place, but we are a place where people just casually walk in and enjoy themselves�
The opening of the Crowne Plaza is perfectly timed to coincide with �Visit Laos Year 2018' and it is the management's belief that the hotel's win-win approach will benefit both the investor and the country.
Mr Horn explained some of the reasons that led to the investor deciding to establish a hospitality operation in Laos under this global brand.
�Laos has gone through a strong period of growth in the last couple of years � the highest rate of growth in South East Asia. We strongly believe that development here will be similar to that of the last couple of years and will continue.� This continued growth will be very important for driving the business growth of the Crowne Plaza.
The general manager strongly believes that Vientiane, as Laos' capital, will be a business centre, while Luang Prabang will be the focus of tourism. The place to do business is definitely the capital. That is why he is confident that the business outlook for the Crowne Plaza Vientiane is positive because it is an international brand so people know the Crowne Plaza name and trust it.
Tourists may look for another attractive hotel, but foreigners coming to Laos on business will go for a brand they know.
�It is much easier to operate a business with a brand name because people know it,� Mr Horn said.
Vientiane already has a number of brand name hotels and the addition of the Crowne Plaza provides both businesspeople and tourists with another option. The most important thing is the division of the market share among other hospitality businesses.
�We have a good brand name and have formed a team of great people. I am not worried about competition and am not scared easily,� Mr Horn said.
Investment in training is something he believes will give the Crowne Plaza Vientiane an advantage over its competition. The investor has spent almost US$250,000 on staff training.
The Crowne Plaza Vientiane employs 210 people of whom almost 90 percent are Lao. The hotel expects to hire as many as 260 staff when the hotel's second restaurant and the spa open in the middle of the year.
Lao staff are very keen to look after guests and want to do their best, but they need a little bit of guidance and training because they have not worked for a five-star hotel before. Executives can provide training, but the right mentality and mindset is already there, Mr Horn said.
Some business operators in Laos hire their employees from Thailand or Vietnam and do not create many jobs for local people, he added.
With services and facilities in line with a five-star facility, such as function and fitness rooms, the Crowne Plaza Vientiane opened meeting spaces four weeks ago. Already the meeting room has been incredibly busy over the past three weeks. There is one large hall that can be split into three, as well as six other meeting rooms.
There are currently more than 400 Crowne Plaza hotels around the world. The first in Laos has just opened and there are two others in Vietnam.
An official grand opening party of the Crowne Plaza Vientiane will take place in June when the hotel is fully operational. Discussions are underway concerning a second hotel on the same site, but little can be revealed a present. Talks on the matter are almost complete, but not quite, Mr Horn said.
�I came here after two years in Bangkok and worked in South Korea before that, so I understand a bit about working in Asia,� he added.
The Crowne Plaza Vientiane is located on Samsenthai Road in Nongduang Neua village, Sikhottabong district. It is about 10 minutes from Wattay International Airport.
Laos had 542 hotels in 2015, according to statistics of the tourism sector under the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism. Now, it has four five- star, excluding the Crowne Plaza Vientiane. More than 4.6 million tourists visited Laos in 2015 and in the first nine months of last year at least 3.1 million holiday makers came to Laos.
