Hotel and resort operator InterContinental Hotels Group Plc is to introduce two of its hotel brands to the Grand Ho Tram Strip (pictured), a resort complex with casino on the Vietnam coast southeast of Ho Chi Minh City developed by Ho Tram Project Company Ltd.
According to a press release issued on Thursday by InterContinental Hotels Group, the Grand Ho Tram hotel will be rebranded as InterContinental Grand Ho Tram “within a year after refurbishments”.
The 533-key InterContinental Grand Ho Tram is to include a convention centre with capacity up to 1,300 people inclusive of a large ballroom and five meeting rooms. It will still feature a casino.
The other InterContinental Hotels Group brand to be introduced to the casino resort complex is Holiday Inn: the “new build” Holiday Inn Resort Ho Tram Beach, a 502-key hotel, is to open in 2020, according to Thursday’s announcement. This property is going to target families and offer “direct access” to a host of family-friendly facilities, including a cinema, bowling arcade, food court and water park.
The statement by InterContinental Hotels Group mentioned plans to increase the resort’s capacity, in order for it to be able to cater for “larger events for up to 3,000 people”.
The signing of the agreements with Ho Tram Project Company marked “a new milestone” in InterContinental Hotels Group’s growth in Vietnam, said the group’s vice president for development for South East Asia and Korea, Serena Lim, in prepared remarks included in Thursday’s statement.
The release also featured comments by the chairman and chief executive of Ho Tram Project Company, Michael Kelly. “InterContinental Hotels Group has an impressive track record in Vietnam with a large presence and is a strong brand-fit for our properties with both InterContinental and Holiday Inn.”
The Grand Ho Tram Strip is being developed in a number of phases. The first phase of the project – featuring a hotel and casino – opened in July 2013.
An entity controlled by United States-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC is now the majority owner of Asian Coast Development Ltd (ACDL), the promoter of The Grand Ho Tram Strip and parent firm of Ho Tram Project Company, GGRAsia reported in July. Vietnamese investment firm VinaCapital Group Ltd has a minority stake in the new controlling entity of ACDL.
