New facilities
Sofitel Saigon Plaza will open new Executive Floor guestrooms and suites on June 30. The guestrooms occupy levels 18 to 20 of the hotel, and is close to the Club Lounge. All 29 rooms and suites offer an elegant French backdrop brightened by local touches such as traditional birdcages filled with local flowers. Next up is the new lobby bar opening in late 2011, and the Club Lounge and meeting rooms are scheduled for a full renovation in 2012. The hotel now offers the brand’s Inspired Meetings package, which includes free WiFi, innovative coffee breaks and a personal Meetings Concierge.
Sheraton Saigon has opened the Mekong room, a 95 sqm meeting space on level four. The naturally lit facility seats 60 guests for banquets, 70 theatre style or 30 U-shape.
Green focus
Caravelle Hotel has just passed the first phase of the measurement and evaluation for the EarthCheck programme and plans to be certified by year’s end. From June the hotel will also offer an eco-friendly full-day meeting package for US$39 per person. In addition to the use of reusable containers and recycled products, the hotel will donate US$2.30 on behalf of each delegate to the Ho Chi Minh City Association for Conservation of Nature and the Environment. Funds will go towards printing comic books on environmental and nature conservation for Vietnamese primary students.
New openings
InterContinental Asiana Saigon will open a new restaurant by the famed Bobby Chinn in Kumho Plaza. Hotel Nikko will open with 335 guestrooms at the end of this year, followed by the 350-room Le Meridien in mid-2012. Both hotels will be located in the main commercial area of District 1.