Newsletter Jul- Sep, 2011

Wednesday, 3 August 2011

It is the low (some call it “summer”) season, so the Laguna Phuket Summer Family Festival is back in action for LHC members and their families to enjoy down at Canal Village. The Festival is a great opportunity for you to chill out with your children in the knowledge that they will be safe, well supervised and undergoing interesting activities.  To make this promotion even more attractive, LHC are offering a 40% points discount on weekday bookings, so make your reservation soon to avoid missing out!

We are also taking advantage of the quieter months to do some refurbishment of some units and the common areas, such as around the swimming pools. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience.

Also in this newsletter we give some early details of changes to our website, which is being revamped for both LHC and Laguna Holiday Club Resort.

And, finally, with the Laguna Phuket Marathon for this year now completed in June, we feature a profile of one of our marketing staff, Khun Jaray, who has done exceedingly well in the marathon, the triathlon and the 70.3 Ironman, all marquee destination events at Laguna.

 Kind regards
Gerard J.L.M. [Jerry] Van Paassen
Assistant Vice President
Laguna Holiday Club

A quick reminder

The renovation of Sheraton Grande Laguna, which is host to our popular Island Villas, began on 1 July and will continue till 30 November 2011, as part of a rebranding exercise. The hotel will be closed during this period and no bookings can be made.

The THB 500 million project will give birth to LHC @ Angsana Laguna Phuket, when the resort reopens on 1 December 2011 under the management of Angsana Hotels and Resorts –  part of the internationally renowned Banyan Tree Group.

Laguna Phuket Summer Family Festival Is Back

It’s back! LHC members will be pleased to learn that The Laguna Phuket Summer Family Festival kicked off on 25 June and will run through to 31 October. Featuring a daily Kidz Fun Zone, an artist in residence, a kid’s flying trapeze, the opportunity for adults to relax with a drink, in front of big television screens, a BBQ beer tent and much, much more; the festival is an ideal opportunity for Laguna Holiday Club members to chill out.

In addition, live music, Quiz nights and other entertainment are offered, including a bouncy castle for the little ones, evening Kidz Lounge with age-appropriate movies to keep the young ones occupied while parents relax with Happy Hour bar prices and barbecue fare in the Festival Beer Tent centrally located within Laguna Phuket.
See below for more detail.

Refurbishment During Low Season.

LHC is taking advantage of the quieter low season to refurbish our 33 Alamanda units and some other work around the LHC complex. New paint work, redoing some surfaces, regrouting around the swimming pool and some other activity will be taking place. We would ask our owners and guests to be a little patient if the work is being carried out near you. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience.

New Website

The LHC and Laguna Holiday Club Resort websites are currently undergoing an overhaul to make them more customer friendly and responsive. We expect the LHCR site to be online in July and the LHC one three or four months later. The LHC site will have major new features such as enabling members to check their point’s statements as well as reviewing resort availability ‘real time’. The revamped LHCR site will have the familiar Laguna branding, but will feature more pictures and videos.

A Second Donation to Baan Fueng Fah.

In March, 2011 Laguna Holiday Club [LHC] of Phuket, made a second donation valued at Baht 100,000 under its corporate social responsibility [CSR] project to Baan Fueng Fah Home for Disabled Babies at Pak Kret, Nonthaburi, near Bangkok.

LHC Assistant Vice President, Jerry Van Paassen thanked LHC members for their ongoing contributions to this corporate social responsibility [CSR] programme. Members pay USD$1 when they renew membership or join, which is matched by LHC.

Mr Van Paassen said: “We can see what a help our contribution is to these young people who need extra assistance. Anything companies like LHC can do to make their lives easier is well worth the effort. I commend and thank our members for their ongoing support.”

Bangkok office staff travelled to BFF to hand over a wide selection of goods that BFF had indicated was necessary. These included:

5,094 pampers in all sizes; 300 polo shirts, 200 shorts, 300 pairs of shoes, a blender, clippers and scissors,  12 batches of 400G of milk powder and 12 of 900G milk powder, five boxes of electrolyte beverage; four suction and compressor compliances; 10 sets of drawing paper, and one banner.

LHC’s  first donation to assist 400 children in 2010 included milk powder for children 1-3 years up; condensed milk, diapers, drugs and a first aid kit, clothes and shoes, toys for children with skill and physical disabilities, a baby couch, a television, a refrigerator, a food grinder and food mixer and fans for the walls and ceilings.

Kit Whalley, Business Development Director, who delivered the donated materials along with Bangkok staff, said: “The staff and kids were, as ever, very happy to see us and were very grateful for the donation.”

The 400 mentally handicapped, deaf and blind children up to the age of seven years old are totally dependent on the staff and outside donations to compliment government funding, which does not cover all of BFF’s needs.

Why did LHC choose BFF for its CSR programme? David Campion, Group Director, CSR Operations at Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, which will oversee the project,

explained: “LHC has chosen Baan Fuang Fah after extensive research, including visiting the orphanage and also two others to assess their suitability to be the beneficiary of the CSR programme.

Our clear impression was that while Baan Fuang Fah undoubtedly needed more support for its operations, it was also well administered and the maintenance of the facility was very good, given the limited resources.”

About Baan Fueng Fah: Baan Fueng Fah  is a state orphanage that provides care for mentally challenged newborns until they reach the age of 7. Understaffed and under-equipped, the home needs many kinds of assistance. Among the regularly needed materials are diapers, liquid food for babies who need tube feeding, and absorbent sheets. The home is located at Pak Kret, Nonthaburi. For more information, or to offer help, call 02-583-6815, 02-583-4000 or 02-583-4031.

About CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has varying definitions but is generally considered as companies taking the initiative to reflect social and environmental concerns in their activities and in their relationships with stakeholder groups. It is not philanthropy; but a deliberate effort to create a sustainable environment in which to conduct business. It focuses on triple bottom line value (environment, society and business) rather than just the financial bottom line.

Marathon

Laguna Holiday Club’s Own Ironman: Jaray Jearanai.

The Laguna Phuket Marathon in June was another great success. One of the 5,000 participants was our own Jaray Jearanai, who is aiming to be the first Phuket based Thai athlete to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 world championship triathlon in Las Vegas, USA. Read about his story below.

Laguna Holiday Club marketing employee Jaray Jearanai, 31, who was the first runner home in this year’s Laguna Phuket half-marathon in June, is also aiming to be the first Thai male from Phuket to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 world championship triathlon in Las Vegas, USA in September this year.

Jaray, who works at the Canal Village and Jungceylon marketing booths, will compete in the Ironman 70.3 triathlon in the Philippines in August to try and qualify for the world

championship Las Vegas by either beating 4hrs 30mins, or being in the top three for his age group. Another recent opportunity to qualify in China fell through when the event was cancelled.

If his recent form is any indication, Jaray stands a great chance of qualifying for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship. In 2010 Jaray placed third in his age group in the Laguna Phuket full marathon, was the second placed Thai athlete in the Laguna Phuket Triathlon and the first Thai finisher in the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship triathlon at Laguna Phuket. In Singapore in April he finished the Ironman 70.3 triathlon in 4hrs 49mins to place 10th in his age group.

For the first time the Ironman World Championship will be held at Lake Las Vegas in Nevada, just minutes away from the famous Las Vegas Strip. Slated for September 11, 2011, the race begins with a 1.9km swim in Lake Las Vegas at Lake Las Vegas Resort. Next, athletes will embark on a challenging 90km bike through Lake Mead National Recreation Area that includes several steep climbs. Participants will finish with a 21km run through Henderson’s scenic residential areas with views of the Las Vegas Strip.

Laguna Holiday Club is right behind Jaray. We are giving him some extra time off so he can fulfil his gruelling training schedule of at least three hours a day, seven days a week for a month [with two days off at the end of it] under the expert tutelage of Jürgen Zäck, an eight-time Ironman winner and one of the world’s great Ironman triathletes, who has been conducting triathlon training in Phuket.

Said Mr Zäck of Jaray: “Ray is the best guy to be around during training. He always looks after his training partners and makes sure everybody gets a good workout. He is willing to work very hard, especially on his weakness [swimming].”

Jaray says Mr Zack is a hard taskmaster. “It is hard training,” he says. He admits, himself, swimming is the weakest of the three Ironman disciplines [1.9 km swim, 90km bike ride and 21km run] but that he has improved under Mr Zäck’s instruction: “I am getting better and faster.”

Jaray’s ambition is to complete a full Ironman--“maybe next year”--but in the meantime he is pushing his 61kg body—“it used to be 64kg before I started with Jürgen—“ to the limit with sprints and endurance  training in all three Ironman disciplines.

LHC Assistant Vice President Gerard [Jerry] Van Paassen is highly encouraging of Jaray’s efforts:”We are very proud of Jaray’s achievements so we want to get behind his ambition to compete in the World Championship as much as possible.” Should he make it to Las Vegas Jaray will be flying the flag for Laguna Phuket, Phuket and Thailand.

Laguna Phuket is sponsoring Jaray’s travel expenses and race entry fees to enable him to compete in the Ironman 70.3 Philippines and in the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Las Vegas.

Jaray started running seriously in 1997: “I saw my friends running and I thought I would like to run and train because Phuket has many running competitions.” He started with 10km runs, moved on to triathlons and in 2006 ran his first Laguna marathon in a time of around 4hrs, placing third in his age group at the time.

From Bang Tao on Phuket, Jaray has worked at Laguna Holiday Club for six years.

LHC Bonus points winners

Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Each month we select winners from members who complete the Resort Feedback Survey after spending time at one of the Laguna Holiday Club Resorts and reward them with 500 bonus points.

Winners over the past 12 months are:

Our sincere congratulations to the winners. Laguna Holiday Club invites all members to provide your valuable feedback after your stay at one of our resorts.

Please click here to submit your feedback and be automatically entered into the monthly 500 bonus points draw

Newsletter Feb-Mar, 2011

Friday, 11 February 2011

Welcome to this November-December newsletter in which we update you on progress with the Elite Card and give you a number of gentle reminders about dues, blackout periods, points and end of year activities.

Our Elite Card has now been rolled out to all our branches.

It is important that you receive timely advice on payment of dues to avoid penalties. If you send dues in before 31 December, 2010 you will receive a 5% discount.

We also have some yearend festive season offers to tell you about and some upcoming events that you could participate in if staying at the Holiday Club.

Kind regards

Gerard J.L.M. [Jerry] Van Paassen
Assistant Vice President
Laguna Holiday Club

Elite Card

We are pleased to report the Elite Card scheme has now been rolled out to all of our branches. About 100 members are already eligible for the benefits. We are continuing to make some adjustments and will seek your feedback to share once the scheme has been running for a while.

You become eligible for the Elite Group if your annual entitlement is at or above 7,500 points.

• Instant Recognition: THE LHC Elite Card will be issued to Elite Group members. It bears the familiar LHC logo yet is unique.
• Direct Access: The 24-hour hotline number to our duty manager at Laguna Phuket is printed on the back of the Elite Card. He will be ready and able to address concerns and issues concerning the member’s stay.
• VIP Pampering: Front Office staff will provide VIP check-in and check-out in the privacy of the member’s own room.
• Deliver to Order: The option to receive a package of pre ordered groceries on check-in.
• Personal Touch: At Laguna Phuket, specially trained, multilingual Club Hosts will help Elite Group members with directions, bookings etc.

Once enrolled, Elite Group status will remain valid as long as the member maintains or increases his or her financial commitment to LHC. Besides the additions for Elite Group members listed here, all other rules and regulations for LHC membership apply. Elite Group benefits may be added or removed at any time without notice.

CSR

Our corporate social responsibility programme, supporting Baan Fueng Fah orphanage for children with disabilities in Nonthaburi just outside Bangkok, is proceeding well. We are in the process of collecting donations from annual club dues. Once collected we can start supplying Baan Fueng Fah with more equipment and necessities to support the children.

The list is long. Here is an example: Diapers, polo shirts and short pants for children between 6-13 years old, milk powder (Pan-Enteral); milk powder (Pediasure) Vanilla taste; clippers for boys; hair scissors for girls; shoes for children 6-13 years old; blender, swing Fan ( Wall type Fan) for children’s’ bedrooms; orange flavored electrolyte beverage powder, compressor nebulizer, drawing paper and water colour equipment.

We will continue to keep you updated on progress.

Reminders

There are some important reminders all members need to take note of:

Club Dues 2011: – sent in late Oct/early Nov, get 5% discount if you pay before Dec 31. Late penalty if you delay beyond 31 Jan 2011.

Points Inquiry: Unused 2009 entitlement points will expire on 31 December 2010. If a member is unable to use up their points and does not want to lose the points, they have the following alternatives: deposit a week for future exchange or extend for 1 year by paying two Baht per point (minimum charge per extension is 500 Baht and Elite group members pay only one Baht per point).

LAC: Blackout periods and conditions apply during the year end festive periods. Check the back of the vouchers; it is best you confirm onsite before using.

Yearend festive offers from Banyan Tree Bangkok to LHC members: 30% on dining with 4 – 10 guests throughout December, except December 5, 24, 25 and 31. 20% discount for Christmas and New Year festive meals; free wine if member books festive meal before December 15.

Other Interesting Events to Look Out For

Bang Tao Night Fishing Game

11 – 12 December 2010: Between 8pm and 10am the following day, competitors spend the night fishing in long tail boats and return to shore in the morning to sell their catch and donate their proceeds. The Fishing Game night is organized by local villagers to raise funds the Muslin Education Center at Bang Tao Mosque. It is supported by Laguna Phuket.

The Great Rubber Duck Race

23 January 2011: This is a tremendous event that young and old can participate in at Laguna Phuket. More than 1000 little plastic rubber ducks will “race” down the canal linking the two lagoons to raise money for The Phuket Community Foundation.

Great prizes are on hand for those who buy a ticket to have a duck in the “race”. These include a three day cruise on the wooden sailing yacht Silolona for 10 people and a four night stay for two in a Banyan Tree pool villa with four rounds of golf, four 90-minute spa sessions and dinner for two with wine at Tre Restaurant. And much much more.

Chinese New Year

3 February 2011 is the start of Chinese New Year, celebrating the year of the rabbit.

Valentine’s Day

14 February is Valentine’s Day, a day celebrated around the world for the romantically inclined.

Newsletter Nov-Dec, 2010

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

Welcome to this November-December newsletter in which we update you on progress with the Elite Card and give you a number of gentle reminders about dues, blackout periods, points and end of year activities.

Our Elite Card has now been rolled out to all our branches.

It is important that you receive timely advice on payment of dues to avoid penalties. If you send dues in before 31 December, 2010 you will receive a 5% discount.

We also have some yearend festive season offers to tell you about and some upcoming events that you could participate in if staying at the Holiday Club.

Kind regards

Gerard J.L.M. [Jerry] Van Paassen
Assistant Vice President
Laguna Holiday Club

Elite Card

We are pleased to report the Elite Card scheme has now been rolled out to all of our branches. About 100 members are already eligible for the benefits. We are continuing to make some adjustments and will seek your feedback to share once the scheme has been running for a while.

You become eligible for the Elite Group if your annual entitlement is at or above 7,500 points.

• Instant Recognition: THE LHC Elite Card will be issued to Elite Group members. It bears the familiar LHC logo yet is unique.
• Direct Access: The 24-hour hotline number to our duty manager at Laguna Phuket is printed on the back of the Elite Card. He will be ready and able to address concerns and issues concerning the member’s stay.
• VIP Pampering: Front Office staff will provide VIP check-in and check-out in the privacy of the member’s own room.
• Deliver to Order: The option to receive a package of pre ordered groceries on check-in.
• Personal Touch: At Laguna Phuket, specially trained, multilingual Club Hosts will help Elite Group members with directions, bookings etc.

Once enrolled, Elite Group status will remain valid as long as the member maintains or increases his or her financial commitment to LHC. Besides the additions for Elite Group members listed here, all other rules and regulations for LHC membership apply. Elite Group benefits may be added or removed at any time without notice.

CSR

Our corporate social responsibility programme, supporting Baan Fueng Fah orphanage for children with disabilities in Nonthaburi just outside Bangkok, is proceeding well. We are in the process of collecting donations from annual club dues. Once collected we can start supplying Baan Fueng Fah with more equipment and necessities to support the children.

The list is long. Here is an example: Diapers, polo shirts and short pants for children between 6-13 years old, milk powder (Pan-Enteral); milk powder (Pediasure) Vanilla taste; clippers for boys; hair scissors for girls; shoes for children 6-13 years old; blender, swing Fan ( Wall type Fan) for children’s’ bedrooms; orange flavored electrolyte beverage powder, compressor nebulizer, drawing paper and water colour equipment.

We will continue to keep you updated on progress.

Reminders

There are some important reminders all members need to take note of:

Club Dues 2011: – sent in late Oct/early Nov, get 5% discount if you pay before Dec 31. Late penalty if you delay beyond 31 Jan 2011.

Points Inquiry: Unused 2009 entitlement points will expire on 31 December 2010. If a member is unable to use up their points and does not want to lose the points, they have the following alternatives: deposit a week for future exchange or extend for 1 year by paying two Baht per point (minimum charge per extension is 500 Baht and Elite group members pay only one Baht per point).

LAC: Blackout periods and conditions apply during the year end festive periods. Check the back of the vouchers; it is best you confirm onsite before using.

Yearend festive offers from Banyan Tree Bangkok to LHC members: 30% on dining with 4 – 10 guests throughout December, except December 5, 24, 25 and 31. 20% discount for Christmas and New Year festive meals; free wine if member books festive meal before December 15.

Other Interesting Events to Look Out For

Bang Tao Night Fishing Game

11 – 12 December 2010: Between 8pm and 10am the following day, competitors spend the night fishing in long tail boats and return to shore in the morning to sell their catch and donate their proceeds. The Fishing Game night is organized by local villagers to raise funds the Muslin Education Center at Bang Tao Mosque. It is supported by Laguna Phuket.

The Great Rubber Duck Race

23 January 2011: This is a tremendous event that young and old can participate in at Laguna Phuket. More than 1000 little plastic rubber ducks will “race” down the canal linking the two lagoons to raise money for The Phuket Community Foundation.

Great prizes are on hand for those who buy a ticket to have a duck in the “race”. These include a three day cruise on the wooden sailing yacht Silolona for 10 people and a four night stay for two in a Banyan Tree pool villa with four rounds of golf, four 90-minute spa sessions and dinner for two with wine at Tre Restaurant. And much much more.

Chinese New Year

3 February 2011 is the start of Chinese New Year, celebrating the year of the rabbit.

Valentine’s Day

14 February is Valentine’s Day, a day celebrated around the world for the romantically inclined.

International Marathon.

Monday, 12 July 2010

A massive THB 328,000 in charity sponsorship cash was collected from its biggest-ever field of runners and walkers.

The record-breaking cash will be used to assist the marathon’s designated beneficiary Baan Jao Krua School in Phang Nga province, current focus of Laguna Phuket’s Sustainable Schools program.

The fifth annual Laguna event on 13 June attracted a record field of 4,665 entrants from 45 countries, an increase of around 5 per cent from 2009, who took part in a full marathon, half marathon, 10.5k run, 5k family walk and a 2k kids’ run.

The 5k family walk saw the biggest increase with 1,221walkers – up 50 per cent from 811 in 2009.  The walk was led by Thai movie star Ananda Everingham, and children from Baan Jao Krua School, to highlight the event’s charity mission.

Race director Roman Floesser said: “We were delighted to see this overall increase in entries and continued enthusiasm for the event from overseas, despite the effects worldwide from the political turmoil in Bangkok.”

The full marathon was won by Thailand’s Charkrit Boonkong in 2:40:08 and the women’s event was won by another Thai, Thanyathorn Samutnoi, who set a new women’s course record of 3:21:24.

This year’s entrant numbers were: full marathon 634; half marathon 876; 10.5k run 1,434; 5k walk 1,221; 2k kids’ run 500. The year-on-year increase in total entries from 2,038 in the 2006 inaugural event makes Laguna Phuket International Marathon the largest and fastest-growing destination marathon in Asia.

Laguna Phuket is now gearing up to host a unique endurance sports extravaganza for thousands of international triathletes with the 17th Laguna Phuket Triathlon on Sunday 28 November followed by the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship a week later on 5 December.

LHC CSR Programme

Thursday, 3 November 2011

Laguna Holiday Club Supports Laguna Survival Swim Programme for Thai Children

LHC to Provide Baht 150,000 for CSR Programme.

Phuket, Thailand. November, 2011. Laguna Holiday Club [LHC] has announced a Baht 150,000 corporate social responsibility [CSR] sponsorship for the Laguna Survival Swim Programme to teach hundreds of Thai children vital swimming skills.

The money will be used to train and pay Thai swimming instructors who will lead swim sessions for Phuket schoolchildren on the beaches of Bang Tao and in local swimming pools during the year-long programme, which begins in November, 2011

The Laguna Survival Swim Programme is a CSR initiatve launched by Laguna Phuket, of which LHC is a member. The complete Baht 600,000 programme is also being funded by donations from international athletes registered in the forthcoming Laguna Phuket Triathlon and Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship.

Recently released research shows that drowning is the biggest killer of children in Asia, with drowning rates up to 20 times higher than those in western countries - claiming 350,000 young lives every year.

Drowning is cited as the leading cause of death for Thai children under the age of 15 years old*. Figures show that every 15 minutes a child drowns in Asia. In Thailand alone, 2,650 children are predicted to drown this year - 10 children every day.

“We are pleased to participate in this very worthy project to help improve the ability of Thai children to survive if they get into difficulties in water. said LHC Assistance Vice President, Gerard Van Paassen.

“With drowning causing such a high mortality rate amongst children under 15 in Asia, including Thailand, we believe this hands-on, constructive way of assisting the Phuket Thai community really helps address the issue,”

The Laguna Survival Swim Programme is LHC’s second supporting donation to CSR outreach programmes in the Thai community. It has also supported Baan Fueng Fah home for disabled babies at Pak Kret, Nonthaburi near Bangkok since June, 2010. LHC members pay USD$1 toward supporting the orphanage, matched by LHC.

David Campion, Banyan Tree Group Director, CSR Operations, said: “We identified a swim survival programme as an ideal way to help address this major problem within the Phuket Thai community.

“A vital component to this is training the trainers, because we need to build a significant pool of qualified Thai nationals who can teach children these survival skills.

“The generous support of LHC will hopefully go a long way to helping decrease the number of drownings on Phuket. We aim to raise the remaining Baht 450,000 with competitor sponsorship in the Laguna triathlon series.”

Swim sessions will be held on Bang Tao beach, in Cherngtalay Municipality pools and at Phuket International Academy’s Thanyapura Sports & Leisure Club between November 2011 and October 2012.

The Laguna Survival Swim Programnme is also being implemented with support from Phuket Lifeguard Club, the Government of Phuket Province, Phuket Public Health Office, Secondary Educational Service Area Office 14, Phuket Primary Educational Service Area Office, Cherngtalay Municipality s and Thanyapura Sports & Leisure Club..

* Bureau of Non Communicable Disease statistics.

Note: Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7 percent of all injury related deaths, according to the World Health organisation. More than 60 percent of the drowning occurs in the Western pacific and South-East Asian regions.  Most at risk are children under 5 years of age. Males are especially at risk of drowning, with twice the overall mortality rate of females.

WHO recommends strategies such as learning to swim programmes for school children and adults; supervision of children in and outside the home; establishing parent groups or other child care mechanisms in rural communities; educating children not to enter fast flowing streams and not to swim alone.

Newsletter Nov-Dec, 2011

Thursday, 1 December 2011

Welcome to this November-December newsletter, we have a lot to report!

Firstly, we have announced a Baht 150,000 donation to the Laguna Survival Swim Programme which aims to reduce the appallingly high number of Thai children under 15 who tragically die each year in drowning related accidents.

Our new website is complete and up and running. As you will note, it is a much more user friendly site than before.

We can also report that Jaray Jearanai, an employee of LHC, became the first Thai competitor ever to complete the grueling Hawaiian Ironman race. We have been supporting Jaray with his training as we believe he is an inspiration to his fellow employees and to all Thais.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to convey seasons greetings to all our members and to wish you all enjoyable holidays for the remainder of this year and beyond.

Gerard [Jerry] van Paassen
Assistant Vice President
Laguna Holiday Club.  

LHC Supports Laguna Survival Swim Programme.

As mentioned above, Laguna Holiday Club [LHC] in November announced a Baht150,000 corporate social responsibility [CSR] sponsorship for the Laguna Survival Swim Programme, which supports teaching Thai children survival swimming skills.

The money will support the training of Thai swimming instructors on 12 November, 2011 and the trainer’s fees for swim sessions on the beaches of Bang Tao between November 2011 and October, 2012. The Laguna Survival Swim Program is a Laguna Phuket initiative, of which LHC is a member.

Drowning is the leading cause of death for Thai children under the age of 15 years old. Mortality per 100,000 of the population was between 9.3 and 11.5 (2004-2008). Tragically, every 15 minutes, a child drowns in Asia. Thailand's Ministry of Public Health this year stated that each year around 1,500 children drown in Thailand.

Swim sessions will be held on Bang Tao beach, in Cherngtalay Municipality pools and at Phuket International Academy's Thanyapura Sports & Leisure Club between November 2011 and October 2012.

"We are pleased to participate in this very worthy project to help improve the ability of Thai children to survive if they get into difficulty in the water. With drowning causing such a high mortality rate amongst children under 15 in Asia, including Thailand, we believe this hands-on, constructive way of assisting the Phuket Thai community really helps address the issue," said LHC Assistance Vice President, Gerard Van Paassen.

Laguna Survival Swim Programme is LHC's second supporting donation to CSR outreach programs in the Thai community. It has supported Baan Fueng Fah home for disabled babies at Pak Kret, Nonthaburi near Bangkok since June, 2010. LHC's several thousand members each pay USD$1 toward supporting the orphanage, matched by LHC. 

The complete Baht 600,000 programme is also being funded by donations from international athletes registered in the forthcoming Laguna Phuket Triathlon and Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship.

Said David Campion, Banyan Tree Group Director, CSR Operations: "We identified a swim survival programme as an ideal way to help address this major problem within the Phuket Thai community. A vital component to this is training the trainers because we need to build a significant pool of qualified Thai nationals who can teach children these survival skills. The generous support of LHC will hopefully go a long way to helping decrease the number of drownings on Phuket.  We aim to raise the remaining Baht 450,000 with competitor sponsorship in the Laguna triathlon series."  

New LHC Website Ready

Laguna Holiday Club’s revamped website has launched with a raft of new and enhanced member services that will increase response times, distribute vital information in real time and provide robust, enhanced security.

Of particular importance for members to note is a requirement to re-register their personal details through a simple to follow system (for security purposes and to protect member’s identity).

Web Development Manager Ian Surmon says the enhanced security measures meant changing the password encryption for accessing the members’ accounts so all members must re-register their accounts in the members’ area.

 The website will carry a notice on its home page advising the process for re-registering.

The process is simple: on entering for the first time click the “click here” link, enter your membership number, email address and give yourself a password. The system will check the email address is the same as previously notified, and a report will be sent for confirmation. Once confirmed, members can access the members’ area.

Other key points of the new website:

• A points statements and summaries in real time, updated every 24 hours.
• An updated version of room availability tables in real time, instead of in PDF, updated daily.
• Online reservation bookings in the five core languages of English, Thai, Russian, Chinese and Bahasa [Indonesian]. More languages will be added as required later.
• Established website features such as the newsletter, promotions, resort location and holiday offers will remain on the site.
• An objective of reducing response times from 48 hours to within 24 hours.
• Member services will be able to directly communicate with customers simultaneously by phone while on email to respond to requests.  Consequently errors can be corrected immediately rather than sifting through emails.

Ian says the whole process will make the interaction between members and member services more efficient to ensure faster and more accurate responses to requests for bookings and availability. A special manual to support member services team to assist with with demands of the new website has also been developed.  

 “We wanted to give more accessibility, ease of use, functionality and make it more dynamic for members,” said Ian.

LHC’s Jaray Achieves Wonderful Ambition.

As mentioned above Jaray, an employee of Laguna Holiday Club, achieved a first ever for a Thai by completing back to back Iroman and Ironman 70.3 World Championship races in October. Below is the media release that tells the story.

Newsletter Jan-Feb 2012

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Welcome to this January-February, 2012 newsletter...and Happy New Year.

In this edition we update you on the outstanding success of our new website and how it is helping our members. We also profile the two men behind the website.

Our second Corporate Social Responsibility project, supporting the Laguna Survival Swim Programme, is now well under way teaching Thai children on Phuket how to swim. A truly worthwhile project for which we, again, thank you for your support.

We also update you on our new security arrangements and give some advice on booking early in the first quarter of this year because of the number of major holidays that occur during this time.

So please read on for more information.

Gerard [Jerry] van Paassen
Assistant Vice President
Laguna Holiday Club.

Website Makes Life Easier for Members

Our newly launched website is already proving a great success with members if the early returns are any indication.

After only a few weeks from the launch in November 2011, the website saw a significant increase in membership registrations. Furthermore, the site has also seen a remarkable increase in web traffic and new visitors.

Overall, the increased service orientation of the website in areas such as providing online points statements at the click of a button instead of relying on emails, as well as direct booking on the site has made it simpler and more convenient for LHC members. The website team, led by Web Development Manager Ian Surmon and Assistant MIS Manager Tanate [Noom] Upathamhatasarn [profiled below] faced some challenges in the 12 months it took to build the site, but they did come up with a unique solution to integrate the “backend,” system administered by Khun Noom, with the website, which are both built on different operating platforms.

The outcome? “We were pleasantly satisfied how this worked out,” said Ian, explaining that they were looking at two originally incompatible systems. However, they managed to create a series of applications that effectively translate one language into another. In other words they built a bridge between the two platforms that allowed them to “talk.”

But the team is not resting on its laurels. It now has an online survey facility that can help generate prospective buyers feeding new leads into the sales team as well.

Reducing the use of forms

The Men Behind the Website

Bringing together a sophisticated website takes many months of planning, testing, and trial and error. Doing the “hard yards” for the new LHC website was a team of dedicated individuals led by Web Development Manager Ian Surmon and Assistant MIS Manager Tanate [Noom] Upathamhatasarn.

Tanate [Noom] Upathamhatasarn, Assistant MIS Manager.

Noom,28, is a native of Phuket and a qualified computer engineer from Prince of Songkhla University. He first worked for a Software Development Company on leaving university, then worked for three years as a project manager involved in information systems research at Nonthaburi near Bangkok. Three years ago he started work at LHC. Noom was a key player in integrating the back-end business administrative technology with the website technology.

Ian Surmon, Web Development Manager

South African born Ian, 40, started working in information technology in Johannesburg as a Network Administrator for an engineering firm, moving on to the motor Industry in 1999. He worked as part of a team that built the first online e-commerce solution for the motor industry in South Africa. During this period, Ian was also involved in the fledgling online gaming community and was responsible for setting up the first ever internet gaming competition in South Africa in 2004. In 2005 he immigrated to Thailand and worked for Lamborghini Bangkok as a Product manager and then as brand standards manager for the Lotus cars division within the same company. This included development and design of the Lotus cars Thailand website. In 2010 he moved to LHC as Web Development Manager.

Ian Surmon and Tanate [Noom] Upathamhatasarn in front of their creation

Survival Swim Programme Update

An update on LHC’s second Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] project, supporting the Laguna Survival Swim Programme which started in November, 2011.
Laguna Holiday Club [LHC] has announced a Baht150,000 CSR sponsorship for the Laguna Survival Swim Programme, which supports teaching Thai children survival swimming skills.

Update

So far the programme has been a huge success, according to David Campion, Group Director, CSR Operations for Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts. Successful fund raising from companies such as LHC and during the Laguna Tri-festival raised twice the required budget, which meant the programme could be expanded to a wider audience.

So far eight sessions have been held at Bang Tao beach, each with four modules covering water awareness, cardiopulmonary resuscitation [CPR] theory and practical on training dummies; basic flotation and swimming and using floats and life saving devices.

Children taught: 395. Pass rate: 94% [384 kids]. Great job! The non-passing children will be invited back to later sessions.

So far almost 400 Thai children taught to swim thanks in no small part to the generosity of companies like LHC.

The LHC money was to support the training of Thai swimming instructors and fees for swim sessions on the beaches of Bang Tao between November, 2011 and October, 2012. The Laguna Survival Swim Program is a Laguna Phuket initiative, of which LHC is a member.

Further swim sessions will be held on Bang Tao beach, in Cherngtalay Municipality pools and at Phuket International Academy’s Thanyapura Sports & Leisure Club between November 2011 and October 2012.

Drowning is the leading cause of death for Thai children under the age of 15 years old. Mortality per 100,000 population was between 9.3 and 11.5 (2004–2008).Every 15 minutes a child drowns in Asia. Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health this year stated that each year around 1,500 children drown in Thailand.

Security Updated

We at LHC take your security very seriously. Although we have very few problems, we are always looking to upgrade and improve our on-site security so our members feel safe on their holidays.

So with this goal in mind, we have installed new security locks on all rooms. A security card pressed against the new security lock unlocks the door. No more cumbersome keys.

In addition we have installed more CCT cameras around the premises.

Upgraded Rooms Available at New Angsana and Refurbished Allamanda

A reminder that the opening in December of the Angsana Laguna Phuket resort [the former Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket] includes five Island Villas owned by LHC.

We have also been busy in the low season upgrading floors in the refurbished Allamanda rooms.

A Quick Reminder: Book early For the Holidays.

A reminder to book early for vacations in the first quarter of the year as there are a number of major vacation periods in Thailand during this time.

Easter: 6-8 April. The traditional Christian festival with Easter Sunday falling on 8 April.

Songkran Festival: 13-15 April. A time of great movement around Thailand as people holiday and go home to their villages to celebrate this wonderful cultural festival, noted for its excessive water splashing of anyone who gets in the way. Great fun!

Chinese New Year: Year of the Dragon.

According to experts the dragon Chinese zodiac year is special. The dragon is the only animal in the Chinese zodiac year that is not real so it holds special significance and is revered by the Chinese people.
In Chinese astrology the dragon was seen as a powerful, almighty king because it was made up of different parts of animals such as a tiger, fish, snake and eagle. The dragon was not seen as a threatening symbol of evil, as in the West, but as a symbol of power, superiority and rule. You can see many sculptures and carvings of the dragon in Chinese art and drawings.

According to Chinese astrology people born in the Chinese Year of the Dragon are powerful and wise with a certain aura about them. They are not shy and demand attention and respect. They are “doers” who achieve power by getting things done.

However, a dragon can breathe fire so a person born in the Chinese Year of the Dragon can be a hothead. But the dragon also has a soft underbelly so those born in this year have “soft spots” to them. They can show great compassion to people in need, but because the dragon has a long tongue they can also be quite sarcastic and biting.

Dragons are prominent in Chinese astrology

Last Call

With apologies to any of our Scottish members.