MAURITIAN hotel group Naiade Resorts is on course for expansion in the upmarket sector with two new properties underway.
The soft opening of the four-star, £15m Hotel Beau Rivage will take place next month, followed by an official grand opening in early December.
According to group operations director Philippe Requin, the 174-room property’s main selling points will be its location, space and design.
“It’s built around a lagoon and is protected by a barrier reef. For the design we have used a Mauritian architect and interior designer utilising Mauritian products throughout,” he said.
“Our smallest room is 60sq metres. The trend is towards larger rooms and we aim to offer much more space than rival hotels in the same category,” he added.
All rooms have a lounge area with a sofa, a shower large enough for two people and a bathroom with two sinks allowing both partners to get ready at the same time.
“Even the in-room safe is bigger, as most business people take their laptop on holiday,” said Requin, who also claims the hotel will have the largest swimming pool on the island, at 1,850sq metres.
Gastronomy is also high on the priority list for Requin, who is flying in master chef Michel Roux from Le Gavroche for the millennium period.
UK operators featuring the Beau Rivage include Elegant Resorts, Classic Collection (formerly called ITC) and Sunset Faraway Holidays.
The rack rate for Le Beau Rivage is £98 per person on a half-board basis in the shoulder season, from November to April, although prices for the millennium period will be 25% higher.
Construction of a further property, the five-star Follies Beach Resort, will start next April, with completion due in September 2001.
The property will have 75 deluxe suites, and will be built on a private island, I’isle des Deux Cocos.
The other properties in the Naiade Resorts group are Le Tropical, a 48-room, three-star hotel for the all-inclusive market; and the four-star Les Pavillions, which reopened at the end of August with 50 new rooms, including 10 junior suites and 15 superior rooms.
According to Requin, Naiade’s ultimate aim is to become a hotel management contractor.
“Once Follies is up and running, we want to start exporting our management expertise. By 2002, the aim is to sell our name as management contractors in the Indian Ocean region. We also plan to start operations in the Seychelles and Madagascar,” said Requin.
However, he denied becoming a tour operator was an option.
“Some hotel chains like Beachcomber have gone into tour operating, but we feel that upsets the trade. We want to be a partner to tour operators,” said Requin.