“Tagged as the 7 Days Premium Patong Beach, the new-build hotel is being developed by Kiri Resort and Spa Ltd,” Mr Barnett reported.
“An opening in June 2017 is planned and the property is located next to the upcoming Premier Inn Nanai,” he added.
Plateno is now one of the largest hotel chains in the world and they are expecting to announce a number of new Phuket projects shortly, said Mr Barnett.
In October last year, Plateno Group and Jin Jiang International officially merged, becoming China’s largest hotel group and in the world’s top five.
The partnership was made official following the signing ceremony in Shanghai on September 18 with Jin Jiang’s parent company, publicly listed as Jin Jiang International (Holdings) Co Ltd, acquiring an 81% stake in Plateno.
Jin Jiang is well established in China’s upscale, midscale and economy hotel segments with brands that include J.Hotel, Jin Jiang, Kunlun, Rock Garden (Yan Hua Yuan) and Jin Jiang Inn, to name a few. Earlier last year, the company also acquired France’s Louvre Hotels Group (LHG) from Starwood Holdings incorporating the brands, Golden Tulip, Première Classe and Campanile.
Over the past two years, Plateno has acquired 17 brands with over 400 midscale and upscale hotels either in operation or under construction. Its diverse brand portfolio includes Lavande, Maison Albar, H12, Portofino, James Joyce Coffetel, ZMAX, 7 Days Inn, 7 Days Premium, µ Hotel and China’s first hotel brand designed for women, Xana Hotelle among others.
The significant partnership of Jin Jiang, LHG and Plateno effectively forms a combined portfolio of over 6,000 hotels with more than 640,000 guest rooms in 55 countries across all regions – ranking it among the world’s top five hotel groups.
Plateno also has the largest membership platform in the industry, with four million WeChat followers, growing at a rate of a million a month. Together, the total membership of the powerful union is set to surpass 100 million.
Plateno’s upscale brand Portofino is set to open the Portofino Chiang Mai Business Park this month and is the brand’s second property in Thailand after the 7 days Inn in Chiang Mai.