Welcome to the second Laguna Holiday Club newsletter.

We will update you on progress and inform you of new initiatives in this newsletter, but firstly, I want to talk about the “Phuket Summer Season” as this is something you, as our valued members, could be interested in.

Basically, “Phuket Summer Season” replaces what used to be called the “low season”. The “low season” technically runs from April to November when there are fewer visitors. However, this period is also Phuket’s summer: between April and November, only about 30 days can truly be called rainy; the rest are hot and dry.

There is plenty to do in Phuket during this period, such as golf, surfing, shopping, entertainment, attending the many festivals held at this time, yachting, fishing and generally enjoying the island’s many facilities.

We at LHC are 100% behind this programme. For more information, check out www.summerinphuket.com.

Meanwhile, read on.

Kind regards,

Gerard “Jerry” Van Paassen
General Manager, Laguna Holiday Club

Transportation Improvements

Feedback from members indicates that one major problem they have when visiting Phuket is transportation, either the lack of it or the cost of transport such as the red “tuk tuks” unmarked private vehicles that service many parts of the island. We recognize this as an issue and try to help as much as possible to find transport for members who wish to go outside the Laguna area for shopping etc.

But help may be at hand. The new director of Phuket International Airport Pratuang Sornkham has been ordered by the Thai Government transport minister to quickly rectify transport problems between the airport and the rest of Phuket, particularly Phuket Town. Mr Pratuang has pledged to “organize” the limousine and taxi services at the airport, which are the source of many complaints for their aggressive marketing tactics and high costs to “get them back on track.”

He said aggressive touting by drivers and other people at the airport must stop. He will be monitoring the tactics very closely. We applaud this initiative. LHC cannot change the situation at the airport, so if the authorities can do something positive to rectify the situation everyone will be a lot happier. We will keep you posted on progress.

What Members Think

One of the objectives for taking Fun Times online is to tap this new medium and find out what our members really think. What is your favourite LHC resort location? What would make up your ideal one-week stay? Where else would you like to visit? What are your pet peeves when you travel? Look out for your chance to tell us what you think, vote for your favourites and win fantastic prizes.

Fly-Buys on Website

We are in the process of re-organizing the Holiday Offers page on our Website. This process is being undertaken to improve the navigation of this page so that customers can more quickly find the packages that may be of interest to them. Furthermore, it will allow us to quickly add more packages in the future. An example of this will be our exciting new ‘2 City Vacations’ which we will be launching shortly: this package will allow guests to enjoy a stay at Banyan Tree Bangkok, prior to an extended stay at LHCR in Phuket.

Thailand Political Situation

As many members are already resident in Thailand they will know what the political situation here is like. But for many overseas members your impressions may have been shaped by media coverage of recent political protests, which, generally, have tended to exaggerate the real situation.

The current political situation in Thailand is much calmer. The current government is well led and more stable than the previous two. There are still people, the so called “red shirts” who are intent on opposing the government, but Bangkok is very calm. Of course Phuket is even calmer as the protests have no effect here. Phuket locals learned their lessons last year that the cost of closing the airport, or doing anything to damage the tourist industry, only hurts the local industry, especially at a time when the world economy is very weak and literally millions of people are losing their jobs.

Suffice to say that it is very, very safe to visit Phuket for a holiday. Even if you have to transit through Bangkok, the transit facilities at Suvarnabhumi Airport are excellent for a smooth passage through to your Phuket flight. There have been many improvements there.

Phuket International Airport

Most of our members come to LHC by air, although a number of Thai members do come by road from Bangkok. Once in a while, we even see folks drive all the way from Malaysia. It is very important, therefore, that the airport, which took almost 6 million passengers for the first time last year, continues to improve. A 5 billion baht development plan is now under way over the next five years. In the meantime some “low hanging fruit” tasks, such as getting two lifts at the airport – which have been out of action for almost a year – going again and removing the wreckage of a plane that crashed in 2007 from beside the runway are priorities of the new director.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility is very much an integrated part of the Laguna Resorts & Hotels business plan. In particular through Banyan Tree Holdings Limited, LRH’s parent company, a comprehensive CSR programme is conducted each year. It covers everything from environmental issues, saving endangered turtles, helping with earthquake recovery, sustainable development of the Laguna areas themselves, planting trees to mitigate climate change, water recycling, rain water harvesting, reducing use of plastic bags, using energy efficient light and heat pumps, teaching children about how to nurture the environment and many, many more projects.

At LHC we are also looking into the feasibility of running our own CSR programme that would involve members, so they can contribute and see the outcomes of such a programme and its positive effects on the community. We are still exploring the right options and will be communicating with members before launching any CSR programme.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback and input into this newsletter. Any comments should be directed to: newsinfo@lagunaholidayclub.com