Life Resorts Lays Foundation in Ninh Binh, Vietnam

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. January 23, 2009

JANUARY 23, 2009 - Life Resorts bricked the walls and raised the roof of a one-bedroom resort bungalow here this month, launching construction on its trailblazing new development among the fabled karsts of Ninh Binh.

The new building is the first of 32 bungalows and 42 additional rooms planned for a 74-unit resort - the Life Wellness Resort Ninh Binh - scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2010. The five hectare site, comprising bungalows and hotel buildings, spa, pool, restaurant, gardens and lotus ponds, will be buffered by 20 additional hectares of protected land near the Thai Vi Temple.

"Ninh Binh, with its wonderful heritage as Vietnam's 10th Century capital and its otherworldly, limestone landscape, is a destination sure to loom as the next great find in Vietnam," said Chris Duffy, general director of Life Resorts Management Company. "At Life Resorts, we're mindful of Vietnam's incredibly diverse appeal, and we're anxious to introduce Ninh Binh to an upscale international audience."

The Ninh Binh resort will be the second, branded Wellness resort in the company's growing portfolio of owned and managed properties. Elsewhere in Vietnam, Life has completed 70% of the work on the prototype of its first boat for Halong Bay. The keels of five additional boats have been laid as Life forms the nascent fleet of the Life Heritage Resort Halong Bay.

Life Resorts is aiming for a December 2009 opening for the Life Resort Danang, a managed, 187-room property now under construction on Danang's China Beach.

"By this time next year, we'll be on the verge of having twice as much Life-branded stock on the market," said Duffy. "In short, we're about to double the size of our base."

The company had been working on development of a resort in Sa Pa, but, due to the current economic climate, those plans have been put on hold indefinitely.

Like the company's Wellness resort in Quy Nhon, which trades on the appeal of Cham architecture, the Ninh Binh property will echo the appeal of north-central Vietnam. The resort has been designed to look and feel like a Vietnamese village, with cottages, stone houses, cobbled streets and proximity to a 500-year-old temple.

The bungalow rooms will feature 65 square-meters and private, individual gardens. The Life Spa will detail a full range of massage treatments, body wraps and baths in an inimitable, natural setting.