Basic HTML Version
9
Accor has announced
three Mercure hotels in
Vietnam - Mercure Sapa,
Mercure Phu Quoc Resort
and Mercure Vung Tau.
Mercure Sapa will be
a 160-guestroom hotel lo-
cated amongst Vietnam’s
most beautiful mountains
in the north, overlooking
the Muong Hoa Valley.
Scheduled to open in 2015,
the hotel will have three
food and beverage outlets,
a swimming pool and sev-
eral meeting rooms. Mer-
cure Sapa is located in Sapa
town in Lao Cai province in
northwest Vietnam, which
is well-known for its ethnic
and cultural diversity.
Mercure Phu Quoc Re-
sort will be located on Viet-
nam’s largest island - Phu
Quoc. This resort will have
its own private beachfront
with 160 guestrooms, a
restaurant, a bar, a con-
ference room, fitness cen-
tre, business centre and a
swimming pool.
Accor signs up to manage three new
Mercure hotels
The HDBank Interna-
tional Open Chess Tourna-
ment – the largest Vietnam-
hosted competition in the
FIDE system – will increase
its cash prizes next year.
Nguyen Thi Phuong
Thao, the Ho Chi Minh City-
based bank’s first vice chair-
woman, said HDBank would
make the annual tourna-
ment larger, both in terms
of prizes and the number of
competitors.
The 2013 champion-
ship took place in the city
from March 19-24. Vietnam-
ese Grandmaster, Le Quang
Liem, secured the trophy for
the first time since its incep-
tion in 2011. A total of 105
local and foreign players
joined the $30,000 tourna-
ment. In the women’s con-
test, Grandmaster Kharisma
Sukandar from Indonesia
emerged victorious.
Thirteen countries and
territories sent players to this
year’s tournament, including
Australia, China, Hungary,
India, Indonesia, the Philip-
pines, Switzerland and Viet-
nam. This year’s average Elo
was 2256, higher than 2215
last year and 2159 in 2011.
Vietnam’s blue chip chess tournament
to grow
timeout
Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem (2nd, right) with
the HDBank International Open Chess Tournament 2013
Melia Hanoi has ap-
pointed Paul Alan Wood
as its new executive chef.
He will oversee all cuisine
at El Patio restaurant, El
Oriental restaurant and
Cava Lounge. In addition,
he will also lead the culi-
nary charge on the Melia
Hanoi’s catering opera-
tions for social events and
business functions as well
as in-room dining.
Prior to his arrival
to Melia Hanoi, Wood
worked across Europe, Af-
rica and Asia for various
international hospitality
brand names in countries
including Thailand, Chi-
na, Indonesia, Mongolia,
Egypt and Vietnam.
Melia Hanoi welcomes new executive chef