Victoria Hotels & Resorts looks for a hotel school and more properties

HANOI- Vietnam’s Thien Minh Group is committed to be the largest travel and hotel firm in its own country. Last year, Thien Minh acquired the prestigious Victoria Hotels & Resorts from Hong Kong-based EEM Victoria Limited at a price of US$ 45 million. Built in French colonial style, the Victoria Hotels & Resort group is one of the most prestigious chains today in Indochina and has bright perspectives to extend further its excellent standards of service to new properties.

Victoria Hotels & Resorts opened its first hotel in Vietnam in 1997. At present, it is operating five four-star hotels and resorts in Vietnam and one in Cambodia, including Victoria Phan Thiet Beach Resort & Spa, Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort & Spa, Victoria Sapa Resort & Spa, Victoria Chau Doc Hotel, Victoria Can Tho Resort & Spa and Victoria Angkor Resort & Spa.

Founded in 1994, Thien Minh Travel was originally set up as an inbound tour operator under the brand name Buffalo Tours and primarily operated tours for the first 10 years. In 2004, Thien Minh expanded its service into hotel operations by purchasing equities in the Festival Hue Hotel and building the three-star Mai Chau Lodge, a former government’s guest house.

Thien Minh has more than 2,000 staff and 21 member companies. It is one of very few Vietnamese tourism firms that have representative offices in the United Kingdom, Australia, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

Tania Koesten, Director of operations at Victoria Hotels & Resorts, said recently to the Vietnam Investment Review that the hotels and resorts kept their excellent service since being owned by Thien Minh Group. She praised effectively the synergies with the Vietnamese group as well as the reputation of Victoria Hotels & Resorts during past 15 years.

 “Our goal is to become a leading firm in the travel and hospitality industry in Vietnam. Given the advantages of a well-managed hotel and resort chain, creativeness, strong financial ability and the experience of subsidiaries, we believe in our success,” said Koesten to the publication.

Thien Minh Group would build a vocational school to train tourism management skills with the priority for staff working at Victoria Hotels & Resorts chain. The school is due to be operational by July 2013. The chain is now looking to set foot in the future and has already announced to add two more properties to its Victoria Hotels portfolio. The group considers among others Ho Chi Minh City as well as Hanoi as both are two major tourist destinations. They are also plans for properties development in Myanmar.

Sourced: TravelDailyNews