A Taiwanese national with 15 years of hospitality experience in Asia, the Middle East and Europe has been named Meliá Koh Samui’s director of food and beverage.
Ting Yueh Hu (Yolande) has joined the 159-room and 41-suite beachfront resort on Koh Samui’s north-east coast in the Gulf of Thailand, with ambitions to work in tandem with award-winning executive chef Azizskandar Awang to establish the island’s leading fine dining restaurant.
Before joining Meliá Koh Samui, Hu was executive assistant manager at Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel & Residence in Cambodia and F&B director at both Conrad Koh Samui and Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort.
Previously, she was assistant F&B director at Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel Shanghai and Shangri-La Hotel Fuzhou, restaurant manager at Mandinat Jumeirah’s Al Muna, Honyaki and Zheng He restaurants, assistant restaurant manager at InterContinental Doha and head waitress at Marriott Forest of Arden Hotel & Country Club in the United Kingdom.
After studying a Bachelor of Applied Science of Living at Taiwan’s Chinese Culture University, she completed a post-graduate diploma in hospitality with Switzerland’s Glion Institute of Higher Education and a certificate in hotel revenue management from Cornell University in the United States.
Meliá Koh Samui’s general manager Ernesto Osuna said Hu would oversee all F&B planning and services and work with the team to position the resort’s Breeza Beach Restaurant & Bar, focused on contemporary Thai cuisine, as well as Western and Mediterranean fare, as Koh Samui’s leading fine dining restaurant.
“Yolande is a versatile and results-driven individual with a track record of driving projects, identifying sales opportunities and encouraging positive contributions from all of her team members; she will no doubt excel in propelling our F&B landscape to a new level,” he said.
Meliá Koh Samui’s host of facilities include two restaurants, a swim-up bar, a lagoon pool that meanders through the resort’s lush grounds like a river, a two-level infinity pool with sunken seating areas, an executive lounge, spa, fitness centre, ballroom and conference facilities and, for families, a kid’s club, outdoor playground and mini water park.
