THE family-run Blue Marine Resort & Spa is set to add 260 rooms and six villas to its existing 77 units at the northern end of Patong Bay, a stone's throw from the Novotel.
Construction across six storeys on the hillside behind the existing resort will be complete by mid-2009, offering four out of five guests panoramic sea views.
The first 60 extra rooms are to become available on December 15.
Five sisters and a brother run the Blue Marine and the Niyonmadul family makes a fascinating story.
It's often said that the favorite offspring among well-off Thai families once inherited the Phuket tin mines, the second-favorite picked up the rubber plantations, and the third favorite often had to settle for the useless beachfront land.
Time has reversed the value of those endowments, and the legend of the island legacy lives on.
What's definitely no island myth is the Niyonmadul family history.
Almost 30 years ago, the father of the six children came home and told their mother that he had just bought some cheap land on the beach in Patong.
She burst into tears.
Today the real value of his insightful purchase is evident to everyone.
The new rooms to open in the 2008-2009 high season at the Blue Marine will be called the Royal Wing. Rates will vary from 7000 baht to 14,000 baht.
There will also be six self-contained villas with pools. Five of the villas have two bedrooms and will be offered at 40,000 baht a night in high season, with dynamic pricing at other times.
The one-bedroom villa will cost 28,000 baht. Building has been underway since October, 2007.
On the other side of the Novotel, the 121-room Paragon Resort, which opened in November 2006, charges 5000 to 40,000 baht for rooms and suites.
The management says the vast majority of customers at present are honeymooners from Korea, Taiwan and Dubai. Scandinavians comprise most guests in high season.
The Paragon, which has just begun a billboard advertising campaign in Patong, says the occupancy rate at present is 55 percent.
Construction across six storeys on the hillside behind the existing resort will be complete by mid-2009, offering four out of five guests panoramic sea views.
The first 60 extra rooms are to become available on December 15.
Five sisters and a brother run the Blue Marine and the Niyonmadul family makes a fascinating story.
It's often said that the favorite offspring among well-off Thai families once inherited the Phuket tin mines, the second-favorite picked up the rubber plantations, and the third favorite often had to settle for the useless beachfront land.
Time has reversed the value of those endowments, and the legend of the island legacy lives on.
What's definitely no island myth is the Niyonmadul family history.
Almost 30 years ago, the father of the six children came home and told their mother that he had just bought some cheap land on the beach in Patong.
She burst into tears.
Today the real value of his insightful purchase is evident to everyone.
The new rooms to open in the 2008-2009 high season at the Blue Marine will be called the Royal Wing. Rates will vary from 7000 baht to 14,000 baht.
There will also be six self-contained villas with pools. Five of the villas have two bedrooms and will be offered at 40,000 baht a night in high season, with dynamic pricing at other times.
The one-bedroom villa will cost 28,000 baht. Building has been underway since October, 2007.
On the other side of the Novotel, the 121-room Paragon Resort, which opened in November 2006, charges 5000 to 40,000 baht for rooms and suites.
The management says the vast majority of customers at present are honeymooners from Korea, Taiwan and Dubai. Scandinavians comprise most guests in high season.
The Paragon, which has just begun a billboard advertising campaign in Patong, says the occupancy rate at present is 55 percent.
