Recommend August 2011 - (Page 10)

hotel desk The Regent Spa at The Regent Palms Turks and Caicos. & resorts REGENT HOTELS the shower from the bathtub was untraditional at the time when it was instituted at The Regent Hong Kong. The villa resort concept refers to each “room” being a separate villa with a private pool. The Regent Bali was the ﬁrst resort to use this concept. A stacey zable At Regent Hotels & Resorts it’s all about the experience, not just the very plush accommodations. And we’re not talking about just any experience because this iconic brand caters to the very discerning traveler who knows exactly what he or she wants. It’s what Karin Cohen, U.S. regional sales director for Regent based in New York, calls, “...the Regent experience. “It’s service that is intuitive and springs from heritage steeped in the Asian tradition,” she adds. “The ‘Regent Experience’ should leave each discerning guest with a feeling of utter contentment.” At the same time, Cohen says, “Our guests want to be connected from a technology aspect. They want great service and facilities. Concierge services are important, helping them maximize their stay by providing advice and recommendations on what to do.” At the foundation of every Regent hotel is what Cohen describes as the “3B’s—bed, bath and breakfast” with a fourth one newly added, “‘bespoke,’ where each hotel is an individual experience focused on little things. Indeed, what each and every hotel that flies the Regent flag offer its guests, she emphasizes, “...is a very high-end product that’s simultaneously best of class in-market, as well as completely customized to that market.” For example, at The Regent Beijing and The Regent Taipei, art connoisseurs can view the incredible on-property art collections and take advantage of the hotels’ connections to the best local art museums, says Cohen. The Regent Palms Turks and Caicos, on the other hand, is a haven for spa aﬁcionados, with one of the Caribbean’s best spas, The Regent Spa, which specializes in indigenous Caribbean treatments like a Mother-of-Pearl conch exfoliation treatment. The Regent Berlin is minutes from major city sites like the Brandenburg Gate and Gendermenmarkt, plus it offers customized jogging tours lead by concierges for guests who might want to see the top attractions and get a workout in. Regent was founded in the 1970s and was the “ﬁrst truly Asianbased global hospitality group in an industry that had previously been dominated by European and American brands,” according to the company. The luxury brand claims also to have been the ﬁrst to offer many of today’s luxury hotel standards including the ﬁve-ﬁxture bathroom and the villa resort concept. The ﬁve-ﬁxture bathroom consists of a bath tub, a shower stall, toilet and two sinks. The concept of separating quality growth Regent Hotels & Resorts will more than double its number of hotels in the next two years from seven properties to 16 by 2013. Much of this growth will be as part of the company’s “return to Asia” as they call it, but its global brand focus as a whole will also be on the geographic regions of the Americas and Europe/Middle East/Africa as well as Asia Paciﬁc, says Cohen. “The Regent brand has its roots and heritage in Asia so it’s only natural that we return,” says Cohen. “Because of the tremendous amount of economic growth taking place in Asia, we foresee signiﬁcant potential for the brand in this region, particularly in China.” The nine Regent properties to open in the next few years are all new construction. New Asia-Paciﬁc properties will include locations in the Maldives; Phuket Cape Panwa and Bangkok, Thailand; and Bali, Indonesia in 2012; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Gurgaon, India in 2013. The ﬁrst Regent in the Middle East will open in Abu Dhabi, UAE next year and in 2013, the Doha, Qatar, property will be the second location in that region. Europe gains a Regent in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in 2013. Regent plans to continue its growth beyond 2013, but focusing on luxury offerings, not on becoming a large hotel group, says Cohen. “We aim to open 30 to 40 hotels worldwide that are all bespoke and individual, but share a common commitment to innovation, as well as elegant, but simple luxury,” she adds. “The hotels will be generally small in size with an average of 200 rooms and they will follow a mixed use lifestyle model that combines hotel, residential, retail and wellness components. We are focused on quality, not quantity.” And with all of its anticipated growth, Regent will continue to maintain strong relationship with travel agents. Its global sales team works closely with individual agencies and consortium to promote the hotels. “We welcome agents to our hotels with special agent rates so they can experience our products ﬁrst-hand,” says Cohen. ■ contact information Regent Hotels & Resorts: (800) 545-4000; regenthotels.com recommend.com 10 august 2011 http://www.regenthotels.com http://www.recommend.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend August 2011

Editor"s Notes/Agent Speak
Hotel Desk: Regent Hotels & Resorts
Tour Talk: The Wayfarers
Africa Travel Options Mix the Classic with the New
Thailand's Koh Samui
Jade Mountain, Saint Lucia
Escaping to San Juan's Condado
San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino
Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Central America: Roads Less Traveled
In Search of Flanders' Holy Ale
Downtown L.A. in the Thick of Things
Scrumptious Savannah
Cunard's Queen Elizabeth

Recommend August 2011