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Villa Hue
Rooms
facilities
Life Resorts signs contract to manage 12-room hotel
at the Hue Tourism School
Life Resorts has signed a contract to manage a
12-room hotel at the Hue Tourism School and, at the
same time, develop a cadre of Vietnamese managers
for the country's upscale hotel and resort
properties.
Serving both domestic and international guests, the
hotel will open as a fully operational entity under
the name Villa Hue and be co-branded as a Life
Training facility. The hotel was jointly developed
by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
and Lux-Development, a private Luxembourg agency
that finances cooperative ventures around the world.
Together with VNAT, Lux-Development founded the Hue
Tourism School in 2000.

Hue will be the first to employ a Western-led
management company as the foundation of its training
leadership.
"With international tourists pouring into Vietnam,
there is an overwhelming demand for hospitality
staff that have been trained to an international
standard," said Chris Duffy, general director of the
Life Resorts Management Company. "Now, instead of
being trained to international standards on the job,
we will be turning out a corps of graduates with
insight into Western expectations."
The hotel staff will be drawn from the ranks of
students at the affiliated Hue Tourism School. Under
the auspices of Life Training, Villa Hue will
develop a fully competent team of senior managers
who, over a 12-18 month time-period, will assume
complete responsibility for the running of the
hotel. Afterward, Life Training will provide
consultancy backup to the team for an undisclosed
amount of time.
"For many of these students, this will be the first
time they have been exposed to
international standards and expectations," said
Duffy, "so there are many challenges to be overcome
from all parties."
Set on the schools campus and embraced on three
sides by classroom buildings, the hotel is scheduled
to open after Tet with 10 Superior rooms and two
suites. The spacious Standard rooms feature 36
square-meter layouts, with tasteful, understated
decor and ample bathroom space.
The 38-square-meter suites open onto private
verandas. All rooms offer cable television,
air-conditioning, tea-and-coffee service and myriad
amenities typically found in an international
standard, 4-star hotel. Complimentary WiFi and ADSL
Internet connections will be available in the lobby.
The hotel will serve Vietnamese and Western cuisine
a la carte at a 44-seat restaurant located to one
side of a private courtyard at the rear of the
hotel. The stylish hotel lobby will add an
attractive bar to leisure-time options for guests
and visitors alike.

"This new boutique hotel will serve as a great
proving ground for bringing students up to speed on
Western expectations in everything from aesthetics
to maintenance, hygiene and the entire scope of
services that go into running a top-flight hotel,"
said Duffy. "We don't expect to make much profit on
this venture, but we do expect to make a valuable
contribution to the infrastructure of this city, and
all of Vietnams hotels and resorts. So, our real
benefit here, while indirect, will be significant."
Life Resorts currently owns and operates two resorts
in Hoi An and Quy Nhon. The company is in the midst
of developing additional, culturally sympathetic
resorts in Ninh Binh (soft opening first quarter
2008), Ha Long (five boats launched October 2007),
Sapa (opening first quarter 2008) and Phan Thiet
(opening first quarter 2008).
In addition to operating its own properties, the
Dutch-owned company has branched out to assume
management responsibilities for other resorts. In
June, the company secured a partnership to take over
management of the successful Blue Ocean Resort as
the new Life Wellness Resort Phan Thiet
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