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As Phuket continues to be a popular tourist destination the number of both budget and luxury resorts continues to grow. Thai and foreign hotel chains continue to invest in the island’s tourism industry, but there are also local business families, seen as somewhat heroes to many Phuketians, because they were, and still are, seen as pioneers of Phuket’s tourism industry, and it is these people who have really made Phuket the leading tourism city it is today.
One such family, who Phuketindex.com would like to introduce you to, is an all woman team who are founders and directors of a popular resort located on Kata Beach. In the following article you will get to learn more about the “Phatharaworanee family”, owners of Kata Sea Breeze Resort.
Mrs. Supaporn Phatharaworanee – Managing Director
20 years ago, Khun Supaporn started developing land in Phuket and actually entered the real estate business with an apartment in Bangkok. Late in 1990, just as Phuket’s tourism industry really started to take off, Khun Supaporn opened the Phuket Inn, an economy hotel in Phuket town; this was followed by Patra Mansion, the fi rst serviced apartment in Phuket. In 2000, Khun Supaporn and her husband (Khun Phatarasin Phatharaworanee) saw the potential of Kata beach, so decide to buy a piece of land close to Kata Beach, an area which had already started to become popular with foreign tourists, but was still undeveloped in terms of holiday accommodation.
In 2000, the Phatharaworanee family opened their first beach hotel, a simple, 60 room property named Kata Sea Breeze Resort. Within a short space of time, the resort’s popularity was far greater than Khun Supaporn had ever imagined, and in 2014 Kata Sea Breeze Resort expanded to become a 330 room property with improved amenities and facilities, an expansion which was needed to cater for the increasing number of guests to the resort.
From left to right : Miss Kanokkorn Phatharaworanee (Khun Som) – Deputy Managing Director, Miss Phanwara Phatharaworanee (Khun Zea) – Assistant Deputy Managing Director, Miss Anchisa Phatharaworanee (Khun Fon) – Assistant Deputy Managing Director
Today, the day to day operations of Kata Sea Breeze lay in the hands of Mrs.Supaporn’s three daughters, each has their own responsibility, but as a family unit they are united in ensuring their family business remains strong in what is now a majorly competitive industry.
Khun Kanokkorn is the eldest of the three sisters, she studied hospitality and tourism management and her roles are encompassing the design and creating interest for the resort as well as carrying out general management administration duties. Khun Kanokkorn told us “The resort is the perfect place for all family members to relax and they can spend all day long within the resort, it’s also only a short walk to Kata beach. The resort features 4 swimming pools with Jacuzzis and 2 separate kid pools, a Thai and international restaurant, massage and spa, indoor and outdoor kid’s zone and all the facilities needed to fulfi l a relaxing vacation.
Our 330 comfortable rooms comprise of 5 room types, Sea Breeze Rooms, Greenery Rooms, Aqua Pura Room (with directly access to the pool), Family Breeze Suites and Splendid Suites. The main advantage to our rooms is that they are bigger than our competitors.”.
Khun Anchisa is the middle daughter and is responsible for general office management; she told us “Although we’re a family run business it is important that we get as much information and feedback as possible from employees at all levels, they’re the ones who are in direct contact with our customers, and if there are comments which need addressing we also ask for their input on how to resolve those issues in the long and short term. These kinds of issues should not only be down to a GM to resolve, we all help each other and this helps us to make decisions more quickly. One of the main strengths of our resort is that we offer a family-style service, over time, a lot of new hotels have opened in Kata and we need to ensure we always keep our hotel fresh and in line with what other hotels offer. This is why it’s important for us to do small or big renovations on a very regular basis. We have a lot of return guests, and we want them to continue to appreciate our place.”
The youngest daughter, Miss Phanwara Phatharaworanee, takes care of the resort’s marketing; she added “In our early years, Kata Sea Breeze Resort relied heavily on tours companies and travel agents. In recent years the market has changed dramatically and there are now large groups, who prefer to book via websites, and this number is increasing month on month, therefore we are now focusing on promoting to these groups via media publications and online media. Our main customer base is Scandinavians, Russians, Chinese and Koreans, but in the future we want increase the number of Europeans and Australians who make Kata Sea Breeze their resort of choice. We’re confident that we can win these groups as we know what they want and that we are very competitive compared with other resorts in Kata; we have large rooms which are ideal for families and long stays, we have the full range of facilities such as a spa, kids club and fitness centre, and we know for sure our prices are extremely reasonable.”
Looking to the future
Next year, 2015, the Phatharaworanee family will start on a new project, a new four-star hotel close to Kata Beach. The new hotel will be modern and will once again feature amazing sea views. Stay tuned for more information as the project is due to be complete in 2017.
General Manager: Mr. Matthew C Hindmarch
A British national, Matthew Hindmarch has resided in Thailand for almost 26 years.
Matthew studied Business, Travel and Tourism Management in the UK’s Durham University before joining Europe based ILG Travel Group before taking a position in Bangkok to join a team opening their new long haul destination – Thailand.
In the late 1990’s, Matthew changed his career path by joining a local hotel group and has ever since been involved with the day to day operations of several family owned hotels and resorts in Thailand.
What are your visions for Kata Sea Breeze in the short & long term?
“Kata Sea Breeze is owned by a Phuketian family and they’ve had this resort for 13 years, however, they now understand that the resort needs modernising. So in the short term we want to encourage all our department heads to become more modernised and get involved more with the day to day operations of the property and bring more ideas on how we can bring the property more up-to-date. We need the resort to be more fun, relaxing and family friendly by having more activities going on, but also staying in-trend.
“In the long term, we need to expand our customer base. We have previously relied heavily upon tour operators and tour companies, we now need to be focused more on online marketing as this is now the main source of holiday bookings. We have already started to bring this into the resort and it is already showing positive signs. We’re also looking to open up a lot more to families; the property is already geared up to deal with them but we’ve never really had them as our main customer target.”
Kata Sea Breeze Resort
72 Kata Road, Tambol Karon, Amphur Muang, Phuket 83100 Thailand
Tel: +66 (0) 76 284 300-4
Email: yourstay@kataseabreeze.com
www.kataseabreeze.com or www.facebook.com/kataseabreeze
