Movenpick Saigon Begins Top-to-bottom Renovation

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. August 08, 2009

AUGUST 7, 2009 Guests at the M"ovenpick Hotel Saigon may not be aware of it, but a massive renovation is in progress that will modernize and revivify the entire facility. M"ovenpick Hotels & Resorts, the Swiss hotel group, assumed management of the 15-year-old, 7-story, 251-room property last July.

The renovation project, which includes all guestrooms and public areas, will cost USD $20-$25 million and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010. Construction is being phased to include two guestroom floors at a time, with the first being ready for occupancy by the end of this year.

"The design concept is to retain the existing French colonial features, which add a residential scale and feel to the hotel," explained Dominik Stamm, general manager at the M"ovenpick Saigon. "At the same time, we'll have a lighter color palette, a fresher, four-season feel apropos of the vibrant Phu Nhuan District where we're located," one of Saigon's most dynamic neighborhoods, just 10 minutes from the airport and 20 minutes from the town centre.

Among the public spaces, Nishimura, the Japanese restaurant, is the first to be redone. Other dining facilities to follow include Caf'e Saigon, the all-day dining and buffet restaurant; the Lotus Court Chinese restaurant, famous citywide for its Dim Sum and Cantonese cuisine; and OJ's Caf'e lounge and take-away. The entire executive floor, including the lounge, will also be redone, as will the gym and the spa area.

In fact, Stamm, a very-experienced hotelier in renovating hotels, stresses the opportunity to reshape the character of the hotel while embracing M"ovenpick's reputation for 5-star quality. Thus, construction activity itself will be restricted to 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. to minimize disruptions to guests, even as the design remains a work in progress.

"A project of this scope represents an opportunity to reshape what you want your guest experience to be," Stamm said. "So we want to keep the project on schedule, of course, but we also want to be able to tweak the concept. We know, for example, that Mulligan's" - the pub and casual dining space off the lobby - "will be transformed into more of a late-night bistro spot, but at this point, we don't know exactly what the concept and menu will consist of, only that it will be different."

Though this is the first refurbishment of the hotel, the site itself has a distinctive history with some landmark occupants. During the Vietnam War, this address incorporated the headquarters of the American Central Intelligence Agency. That structure was razed in the early 1990s, as Marco Polo Hotel Group, out of Hong Kong, built a new hotel, since 1994 known as the Omni Hotel Saigon; for many years, it stood as HCMC's first and only five-star venue.

The M"ovenpick Hotel Saigon's sister hotel, the M"ovenpick Hotel Hanoi, opened last year in the Vietnamese capital.

"Our renovation mirrors and enhances a rapidly maturing hotel market and business climate in HCMC," noted Stamm. "So our decision to upgrade an already popular product seems like a natural step in becoming a favorite part of the fabric of the city."