Mövenpick re-opens Saigon hotel, looks for more projects

VNRE - Swiss hotel group Mövenpick on Thursday celebrated the grand re-opening of the property under its management in HCMC following a US$15-million renovation, and unveiled its concentration on more projects in this potential market.

“We’re looking to manage at least two more hotel projects in Vietnam and will give our top priority to a seaside resort,” Andreas Mattmüller, chief operating officer of Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts in the Middle East and Asia.

Mattmüller shared the group’s aim for the Vietnamese market after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the grand opening of its Mövenpick Hotel Saigon on Nguyen Van Troi Street in HCMC’s Phu Nhuan District.

Mattmüller said Mövenpick had contacted some hotel project developers in Vietnam and would announce the result in the near future.

Mövenpick is eyeing Nha Trang, Danang, Hue and Hoi An in central Vietnam and the resort city of Dalat in the Central Highlands region as part of the group’s plan to expand its presence out of HCMC and Hanoi, Mattmüller told a press conference before the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

With the re-opening of its hotel in HCMC after five months of renovation, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts now manages two operational upscale hotels for both business and leisure travelers in Vietnam.

The Mövenpick Hotel Saigon has been redesigned in style with a new lobby design taking shape around four incandescent, central pillars and a home for business travelers. Twenty-seven new rooms bring the hotel’s total number to 278 in Superior, Deluxe, Premium, Family and Executive Club categories.

“HCMC is the second fast growing city in the developing world, and that means business men and women are arriving here in droves, pretty much 24/7,” said Knuth Kiefer, general manager in Vietnam for Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts.

“With these upgrades, we have kept pace in terms of amenity and technology while providing business and leisure travelers a respite from city life that is at once hip, serene and accommodating,” he added.

The new Mövenpick Hotel Saigon has restaurants serving international foods, especially Japanese and Chinese specialties as well as a wide selection of drinks. “Our restaurants, bars and lounges will all draw from one of the largest wine lists in Vietnam – more than 300 labels,” Kiefer said.

A Wellness Studio at the luxury hotel offers privacy and individual treatments over sheer expanse, ubiquitous mirrors and televisions.

In addition to new facilities, Kiefer said the Mövenpick Hotel Saigon was a good hotel for those who take early and late flights as the property is five minutes from Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Kiefer presided over the 2008 renovation of Mövenpick’s sister property, the Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi that features a similar blend of the modern and traditional of East and West.

Reported by Mong Binh - The Saigon Times Daily