Phuket property guru Bill Barnett of thephuketinsider.com tells us that while Marriott is winding back time-share within the US, Marriott International is still expanding their Asian projects with vacation ownership and encountering growth in the market.


A daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective and reports from national and international media.

THERE'S a glimmer of light but hard times will linger. That's the message from Marriott, which has 586,000 rooms in its hotels and timeshare resorts across 66 countries and territories and is still expanding on Phuket.
It's the first of the big brands to report on Q3 and it said revenue fell 17 percent to $2.47 billion in the quarter, amid write-downs of its timeshare business. But wsj.com reported the results beat Wall Street's targets and suggest that stabilisation in the recession-battered hotel industry is finally gaining traction.
Marriott said international markets are expected to show more strength than in North America.
Major time-share companies such as Marriott, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corp. have scaled back on development and sales the past year. Marriott recently said it would stop new time-share development and exit the luxury residential segment, which includes condominiums and penthouses atop or adjacent to its hotels.
Bloomberg.com reported that Marriott, owner of the Ritz-Carlton, Courtyard and Renaissance brands, cut costs by shortening work hours, freezing hiring and reducing investment spending.
reuters.com says Marriott plans to open 25,000 to 30,000 rooms in 2010 and most hotels expected to open are already under construction or undergoing conversion from other brands. Fee revenue in 2010 could be between $1.05 billion to $1.11 billion. A fourth Courtyard and a Renaissance are part of Marriott's 2010-2011 plans for Phuket.

dailymail.co.uk In recent years France has been active in prosecuting French citizens for sex with under-age prostitutes in Thailand. In the past politicians could hide behind strict privacy laws and a general view among the French that private lives should remain just that. Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand's late uncle, who was President from 1981 to 1995, kept a second family and illegitimate daughter secret until the year before he left office.

foreignpolicy.com It's not very smart (or legal, or moral) to patronise underage prostitutes. If you do engage in such behavior, it's not very smart to write about it in your memoir. If you do write about it, it's not very smart to then seek political office. If you do somehow reach political office, it's not very smart to use your position to defend someone else from child sex charges. Frederic Mitterrand is apparently not very smart.

scmp.com Another series of huge earthquakes has rocked the South Pacific and Southeast Asia, including a massive 7.8 tremor that triggered a tsunami warning and sent panicked islanders fleeing for higher ground. Professor Mike Sandiford at the School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne says: ''All these earthquakes are related to the fact that we live on a very dynamic and fast moving plate. It is certainly alarming that we have so many in such a short period of time.''

smarttravelasia.com Ranked the Best Leisure Hotel/Resort in Asia is ''the exquisite wood-and-silk Amanpuri, Phuket, whose Thai-style villas spill luxuriously down a coconut grove to one of the island's best beaches. Amanpuri was voted in first place in 2007 and 2008, too. It has held on to this position with the help of the first ever Aman Spa by Amanresorts, a facility occupying a breezy promontory away from the resort villas to ensure privacy and space.'' [Twin Palms Phuket came in at 11, Banyan Tree Phuket at 20.]

dailymirror.lk AirAsia has been named the Best Asian Low-Cost Carrier by TTG, Asia Pacific's leading travel news publisher for the third consecutive year. AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes was also named TTG's Travel Personality of the Year. AirAsia was unanimously named Best Asian Low-Cost Carrier by readers.

etravelblackboardasia.com GHM properties confirm their place among the best resorts in Asia with inclusion in the Smart Travel Asia's list of the top 25 Best Leisure Hotels and Resorts Asia. Since it was founded in 1992 by Mr Adrian Zecha and Mr Hans Jenni, the company has prided itself on providing guests with distinctive, unrivalled lifestyle experiences. Listed in the 25 Best Leisure Hotels and Resorts in Asia, The Legian was No 3, The Datai at No 8, The Nam Hai at No 9 and The Chedi Chiang Mai at No 12.

Reuters Aircraft manufacturer Boeing, its reputation tarnished by the troubled 787 Dreamliner program, said this week it would delay the first flight and delivery of its new 747-8 jumbo and take a US$1 billion charge because of high production costs and tough market conditions. The delay is the second announced this year.

smh.com.au According to the International Air Transport Association, the economic downturn of 2008-2009 has had a greater impact on airlines than the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which brought air travel to a near halt. And while airlines always like to talk about travellers trading up from economy class rather than down from business class, there are certainly plenty of travellers who are trading down, with premium travel figures on a continuing slide.

Bloomberg.com Jetstar, Qantas Airways' low- cost unit, may open a base in Southeast Asia to support the introduction of European flights, likely challenging local carriers on profitable long-haul routes. Jetstar already has a stake in two carriers based in Singapore. Bangkok has the advantage of being closer to Europe, while costs in Malaysia are lower.