Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas

Anantara Hotels, Resort & Spa
Public
Industry Hospitality, Hotels
Founded Bangkok (2001)
Founder William Heinecke
Headquarters Soi Rubia 99, Sukhumvit 42, Bangkok, Thailand
Number of locations
 31 [1]
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Mr. Dillip Rajakarier, CEO
Products Hotels, Resorts, Spas
Number of employees
 50,000+ [2]
Parent Minor International
Website Anantara.com

Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas is a luxury resort and spa operator based in Bangkok, Thailand, operating 28 resorts across Asia Pacific and the Middle East, with its spa brand expanded into Africa.[1]

The Anantara brand is part of Minor International Plc;[3] a hospitality and leisure company based in Thailand with 97 properties in a portfolio including the Four Seasons, Marriott International, Oaks Hotels Resorts, Per AQUUM, AVANI Hotels alongside the MSpa international spa brands - Mandara, Aequalis and the individually Tailored Spa collection.[4]

History

In the 21st century, the luxury travel industry experienced demand from travellers for experience-based travel as opposed to opulent travel, which had dominated the industry in the 20th century.[5] A number of hoteliers sought to capture this market, including Minor International, which conceived the brand as a result.

Anantara’s brand symbol of two water jugs has roots in ancient Sanskrit. For hundreds of years in Thailand, people would leave a jar of water outside their house to provide refreshment and extend a welcome to the passing traveller. Anantara means 'without end', symbolising this hospitable sharing of water.

The first Anantara resort opened in 2001 in Thailand’s seaside resort town of Hua Hin.[6] As part of an expansion and refurbishment, a team of international designers, including landscape architect Bill Bensley,[7] transformed pre-existing property into the first Anantara. The interior and exterior designs were modeled on a traditional Thai village.[8] As part of its efforts to make Anantara Hua Hin an experience-based hotel, the resort included Thai cooking courses, a weekly onsite floating market and instruction in traditional Thai kickboxing, known as muay thai, in its activity programme.

Using Anantara Hua Hin as the model, Anantaras were then created in the Golden Triangle area of northern Thailand to include interactive adventures at the resort’s on-site Elephant Camp and in Koh Samui - a Thai island in the Gulf of Siam. In 2006 Anantara opened Anantara Maldives, which later split into two resorts, Anantara Dhigu and Anantara Veli, both a 30-minute boat ride from the capital Male.

Anantara Seminyak in Bali debuted in April 2008 along the Seminyak coastline. Late 2008 saw the opening of Anantara Phuket in Thailand, the all-villas resort situated along Mai Khao Beach on the island of Phuket, followed by Desert Islands on Sir Bani Yas Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi to include rare wildlife encounter activities, and Anantara Si Kao on secluded Changlang Beach located an hour south of Krabi along the Andaman’s deserted shoreline.

Anantara Baan Rajprasong opened its doors in the heart of Bangkok just a one minute walk from the city’s sky train in April 2009 to become the first serviced suites property for the Anantara group, while Qasr Al Sarab opened in October 2009 in the legendary Liwa desert near Abu Dhabi. In November 2009 with the unveiling of Anantara Lawana, which nestles the island’s famously long north end of Chaweng Beach on Koh Samui to become Anantara’s second property on the island, the original Anantara Koh Samui became known as Anantara Bophut.

Awards

Groups and organizations that have given Anantara properties’ awards include:

Partnerships

Anantara is partnered with hotel and resort associations, including:

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1
  2. ↑ MINOR INTERNATIONAL PCL, 26, 2014
  3. ↑ "Our Brands". Minor International. Archived from the original on 31 May 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
  4. ↑ TTG Asia’s “Power 35”. Retrieved August 3rd, 2009. http://www.ttgasia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14957&Itemid=33
  5. ↑ 21st Centurion Living: The trends changing our perception of luxury in the 21st century, independent report commissioned by American Express, 2006.
  6. ↑ "About Anantara". Anantara. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
  7. ↑ "Yachting Magazine |". Yachtingnet.com. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  8. ↑ Bill Bensley, Paradise by Design: Tropical Residences and Resorts by Bensley Design Studios, Periplus Editions, 2008.
  9. ↑ Condé Nast Traveller 2009 Reader Awards’: ‘Spas in an Overseas Hotel' for Anantara Hua Hin; Top 20 ‘Overseas Leisure Hotels in Asia and the Indian Subcontinent' for Anantara Phuket
  10. ↑ In 2009, Anantara Bophut, Koh Samui’s Full Moon restaurant was awarded Thailand Tatler’s ‘2009 Thailand’s Best Restaurants’, for the third year in a row
  11. ↑ Travel + Leisure’s ‘World’s Best’ Awards for 2009: 6th in Asia and 37th worldwide for Anantara Dhigu, Maldives; 8th in Asia and 53rd worldwide for Anantara Golden Triangle, Thailand
  12. ↑ In 2009, Anantara Bophut, Koh Samui’s Full Moon restaurant was awarded Wine Spectator’s ‘Award of Excellence’, for the fourth year in a row
  13. ↑ Kiwi Collection
  14. ↑ Small Luxury Hotels of the World
  15. ↑ The Leading Hotels of the World
  16. ↑ Virtuoso: Specialists in the Art of Travel

External links