Hyatt breaks ground on New Hotel in Vietnam

The golden sands of Vietnam's 3,400-kilometer coastline scored its first internationally renown brand March 19 when Hyatt Hotels & Resorts broke ground on an expansive beach resort in Vietnam.

Hyatt Regency Danang Resort and Spa on China Beach joins the Park Hyatt in Ho Chi Minh City as the second Hyatt property in Vietnam. Worldwide, Hyatt operates 750 hotels. Its other beach resorts in Southeast Asia include Hyatt Regency Hua Hin in Thailand, Grand Hyatt Bali and Bali Hyatt in Indonesia, and Hyatt Regency Kuantan Resort in Malaysia.

Scheduled to open in early 2010, after a US $100 million investment, the resort's 226 guest rooms will be complemented by residential developments, including 150 condominium and 30 two-storey oceanfront villas for sale. The resort is located 15 minutes by car from Danang International Airport, at the base of the Marble Mountains and near the UNESCO World Heritage Sites at Hoi An (10km), My Son (40km) and Hue (80km).

"This setting is renown throughout Asia for two reasons - China Beach and the Marble Mountains," said Grahame Carder, vice president of marketing - Asia Pacific at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. "We're building on 650 meters of beachfront, and we're at the foot of the legendary Marble Mountains. In Vietnam, we can't think of a better combination of cultural appeal and tropical getaway."

Four architects are combining talents to build the resort on the 20-hectare site. RMJM Singapore Pte Ltd. is the lead designer. Diana Simpson Designs, based in Australia, is working up the interior designs. Site Concepts International, based in the United States, is developing the landscape. And Studio Daminato, based in Singapore, will design the resort's restaurant.

The hotel's 226 rooms are grouped in clusters of three-storey buildings, angled to optimize views of the ocean. A number of two-storey blocks are set amid tropical gardens. The rooms segue from indoors to outdoors over spacious outdoor decks that act as extensions of the personal space within.

One of the resort's distinguishing features will be a subterranean spa setting, accessed by a canyon-like gallery visible as a crack in the landscape at ground level.

Each of the 30 beachfront residences feature three bedrooms, a pool and a garden, as well as views of the sea.

At the resort's north end, the apartments will be situated in a suite of buildings, ranging in height from six to 14 storeys. Nearly every one of these units will offer a sea view.

As Vietnam's third largest city, Danang's rising appeal as a destination has also prompted Hyatt to include a convention center, anchored by a 500-square-meter banquet hall.

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