Life Resorts signs contract to manage 12-room hotel at the Hue Tourism School

Life Resorts has signed a contract to manage a 12-room hotel at the Hue Tourism School and, at the same time, develop a cadre of Vietnamese managers for the country's upscale hotel and resort properties.

Serving both domestic and international guests, the hotel will open as a fully operational entity under the name Villa Hue and be co-branded as a Life Training facility. The hotel was jointly developed by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and Lux-Development, a private Luxembourg agency that finances cooperative ventures around the world. Together with VNAT, Lux-Development founded the Hue Tourism School in 2000.

"We believe that this relationship with Life Resorts will serve as a model for cooperative ventures between institutions like ours and companies like the Life Resorts," said Dr. Tran Thi Mai, director of the Hue Tourism School.

While two other schools are also run training hotels in Vietnam, Villa Hue will be the first to employ a Western-led management company as the foundation of its training leadership.

"With international tourists pouring into Vietnam, there is an overwhelming demand for hospitality staff that have been trained to an international standard," said Chris Duffy, general director of the Life Resorts Management Company. "Now, instead of being trained to international standards on the job, we will be turning out a corps of graduates with insight into Western expectations."

The hotel staff will be drawn from the ranks of students at the affiliated Hue Tourism School. Under the auspices of Life Training, Villa Hue will develop a fully competent team of senior managers who, over a 12-18 month time-period, will assume complete responsibility for the running of the hotel. Afterward, Life Training will provide consultancy backup to the team for an undisclosed amount of time.

"For many of these students, this will be the first time they have been exposed to international standards and expectations," said Duffy, "so there are many challenges to be overcome from all parties."

Set on the schools campus and embraced on three sides by classroom buildings, the hotel is scheduled to open after Tet with 10 Superior rooms and two suites. The spacious Standard rooms feature 36 square-meter layouts, with tasteful, understated decor and ample bathroom space.

The 38-square-meter suites open onto private verandas. All rooms offer cable television, air-conditioning, tea-and-coffee service and myriad amenities typically found in an international standard, 4-star hotel. Complimentary WiFi and ADSL Internet connections will be available in the lobby.

The hotel will serve Vietnamese and Western cuisine a la carte at a 44-seat restaurant located to one side of a private courtyard at the rear of the hotel. The stylish hotel lobby will add an attractive bar to leisure-time options for guests and visitors alike.

"This new boutique hotel will serve as a great proving ground for bringing students up to speed on Western expectations in everything from aesthetics to maintenance, hygiene and the entire scope of services that go into running a top-flight hotel," said Duffy. "We don't expect to make much profit on this venture, but we do expect to make a valuable contribution to the infrastructure of this city, and all of Vietnams hotels and resorts. So, our real benefit here, while indirect, will be significant."

Life Resorts currently owns and operates two resorts in Hoi An and Quy Nhon. The company is in the midst of developing additional, culturally sympathetic resorts in Ninh Binh (soft opening first quarter 2008), Ha Long (five boats launched October 2007), Sapa (opening first quarter 2008) and Phan Thiet (opening first quarter 2008).

In addition to operating its own properties, the Dutch-owned company has branched out to assume management responsibilities for other resorts. In June, the company secured a partnership to take over management of the successful Blue Ocean Resort as the new Life Wellness Resort Phan Thiet.

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