First Hard Rock hotel in Bali

JAKARTA (JP): The island of Bali, one of the world's leading tourist destinations, has been chosen for the first Hard Rock Beach Club.

The property, scheduled to open next May, will be located near busy Kuta beach and will combine hotel, resort, musical and recreation park, according to Hard Rock spokesperson Linda Agee.

Owned by Adiguna Sutowo of PT Amanda Pramudita of Indonesia and managed by Hard Rock Hotels & Resort Management Pte. Ltd., which belongs to Singaporean tycoon Ong Beng Seng, it is being built with an investment of US$70 million.

Sutowo is the owner of Hard Rock Cafes in Jakarta and Bali, while Ong owns Hard Rock outlets throughout the rest of Asia.

"Hard Rock Beach Club, the first chain of Hard Rock hotels in the world, will offer 417 rooms, the largest swimming pool in Bali (100,000 square feet), studios, in-house radio stations and other leisure facilities," she said. A grand introduction of the hotel will be launched in London in the near future.

The Hard Rock Cafe first opened in London in 1971.

Agee said that a megastore offering more than 100 Hard Rock items would also open in the three-hectare hotel area.

Bali's Hard Rock Cafe will also move to the complex, she said.

She said the property, which will employ some 600 personnel, was expected to be four or five-star rated. (icn)