President Tony Malhotra is
flanked by Rene Pisters (left), GM Thai Garden Resort and Past President
Ingo G. Raeuber (right), Group General Manager of Pinnacle Hotels, Resorts &
Spas.
The recently reformed Skål International Pattaya and East
Thailand hosted its first meeting for the year with a dinner at the Amari
Orchid Pattaya’s Ocean Tower. It was well attended with almost 40 Skallegues
and guests, the majority of attendees being senior management people from
the larger hotels in Pattaya.
After cocktails around the pool, with much exchanging of business cards,
local President Tony Malhotra invited everyone to take seats in the Amari
Orchid’s Essence Restaurant. The formalities began with Skål toasts; the
president then introduced his board members for 2013-2014. After this, the
attendees in turn introduced themselves and gave a brief bio of their
position and organization. A delicious buffet dinner was served, which was
very well prepared by the team from Amari Orchid Pattaya under the close
supervision of Brendan Daly, the GM of the host venue.
Guest
speaker Oliver Libutzki from Agoda impresses the guests with his expertise
of on-line hotel bookings.
The address was given by Oliver Libutzki, Senior Regional
Director - Hotels South Asia & South-East Asia for Agoda Company Pte. Ltd.,
the online hotel reservation service website. Whilst much of the information
was directed at the hotel people, there was also a strong message for all
business people to have a look at their websites and make sure that
potential customers can navigate the site easily.
As Skål International represents ‘doing business amongst friends’, the
dinner was the first opportunity for many new members to experience that
side of the organization. These included Toonkwan Viriarux from Cape Dara
Resort, Pitsamai Vudrhanond from Holiday Inn Pattaya, Stuart Saunders and
his EsDesign patented floss dispensers, Wassana Pokthang representing the
Centara Grand Resort & Spa (a new hotel property on Pratamnak Road, which
will have its Grand Opening in August 2013), Janya Ratanaliam from Bangkok
Hospital Pattaya, Olivier Jallageas from Baan Pictory Resort, Peter Malhotra
from Pattaya Mail Publishing, Elfi Seitz from Pattaya Blatt, and Marlowe and
Vikrom Malhotra from Massic Travel.
Rene Pisters gives a vote of
thanks to Oliver for his informative talk.
It was very evident that the new Skål International
Pattaya and East Thailand has an important part to play in the forward
development of Pattaya, Thailand’s most famous resort city.
The next Skål meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn Pattaya on Thursday,
May 16, starting with cocktails at 18.30 followed by dinner. The guest
speaker for this event will be Kullatorn Mesommonta (Mike Burapha Golf) who
is president of the East Coast Golf Courses Management Association (EGA
Thailand). Kullatorn will talk about ‘Golf Tourism’ and its benefits to
Thailand’s Eastern Seaboard tourism businesses, as well as discussing the
success of the recent Asian Golf Tourism Convention (AGTC 2013) in Pattaya
last week.
The cost of dinner is only 600 baht. To reserve your seats, please contact
Skål Pattaya Vice President Garth Solly at
[email protected]
President Tony introduces the
charming club secretary ‘Jeena’ Papakan Saguansap.
Brendan Daly (right) GM of
the Amari Orchid Pattaya poses with Peter Malhotra (left), MD Pattaya Mail
and Marlowe Malhotra (center), MD Massic Travel.
The Centara Grand Phratamnak
team were out in force. (l-r) Podcharak Klintoe, Front Office Manager;
Dominique Ronge, General Manager; Wassana Pokthang, Executive Assistance
Manager; President Tony Malhotra; and Chananchida Wongsa-ard, Sales and
Public Relation Manager.
The new generation of Pattaya
professionals, (L to R) Tony Malhotra, Olivier Jallageas of Baan Pictory and
Richard Margo, Amari Orchid Pattaya.
