Thailand’s first two Meliá Hotels International properties have appointed two directors who bring more than five decades of hospitality experience to the table.
Thai nationals Wuttipong Tanteraponchai and Vipasiri Napawongdee have been named cluster director of sales and marketing and cluster director of marketing communications respectively for both Meliá Koh Samui and Meliá Chiang Mai.
Meliá Koh Samui, which opened in January 2020 on the shore of Koh Samui’s Choeng Mon Beach, and Meliá Chiang Mai, slated to debut in the fourth quarter of 2021 in the Kingdom’s mountainous north, are part of a nationwide roll-out of properties by the prominent Spanish hotel group in partnership with Thailand’s leading integrated lifestyle real estate group Asset World Corporation.
Wuttipong most recently worked as director of sales and marketing at The Sukhothai Bangkok, leading a team of sales and marketing communication professionals to help successfully manage the hotel’s transition to a hybrid Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) hotel in the wake of COVID-19. Beforehand, he worked at The Okura Prestige Bangkok for more than seven years, firstly in the role of director of sales for two years before being promoted to director of sales and marketing. He has also been cluster director of sales at Pan Pacific Hotels Group Singapore, director of sales (corporate & MICE) at The Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa, director of sales The Westin Grande Sukhumvit Hotel, Bangkok.
Vipasiri’s appointment follows an eight-year stint as director of marketing communications at The Okura Prestige Bangkok, where she implemented impressive communications efforts and organised an array of charitable initiatives. Previously, she was director of marketing communications at Anantara Bangkok Riverside Resort & Spa and InterContinental Samui Baan Taling Ngam Resort and director of PR and marketing communications at InVision Hospitality.
Wuttipong embarked on his hospitality career early 1991 as a tour coordinator at The Royal Cliff Beach Resort, steadily rising up the ranks as a guest service agent at The Mansion Kempinski Bangkok and The Royal Orchid Sheraton & Towers before becoming the assistant manager in the front office at The Embassy Suite Windsor Palace’s front office. He then progressed to senior sales management positions with The Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square, The Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa and The Oriental Bangkok.
Vipasiri started her career in hospitality communications as a PR coordinator for the Royal Garden Resorts Group in Thailand before becoming a PR executive at Chiva-Som International Health Resort and the PR manager at JW Marriott Bangkok.
Meliá Koh Samui’s host of facilities include 159 rooms, 41 suites including “boat suites” made from refurbished merchant vessels, two restaurants, a swim-up bar, a lagoon pool, a two-level infinity pool, an executive lounge, spa, fitness centre, ballroom and conference facilities and, for families, a kid’s club, outdoor playground and mini water park.
With 260 rooms, Meliá Chiang Mai will soon cut the ribbon on a host of amenities including a 360-degree rooftop bar – the highest in the city – featuring two bars connected by a glass bridge, as well as an executive lounge, two restaurants, a pool bar and lobby bar, spa, gymnasium, ballroom and other function venues, kid’s club and more.
