Sheraton to manage hotel in Surakarta

Sheraton to manage hotel in Surakarta

JAKARTA (JP): International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT)
Sheraton of the United States signed an agreement here yesterday
with PT Hotel Anomsolo Saranatama on the management of a four-
star rated hotel in Surakarta, Central Java.

"It will be the 12th Indonesian hotel to be managed by
Sheraton," Erhard Noreisch, manager of ITT Sheraton Indonesia,
told reporters after signing the agreement with Agus Sugiarto,
director of Hotel Anomsolo Saranatama.

He said six of the 12 hotels to be managed by Sheraton are in
operation.

Sheraton Solo Hotel, the Surakarta hotel which is now being
constructed on a 4.5-hectare plot of land three kilometers
southeast of the Adisumarmo airport, will have two stories with
110 rooms and four bungalows.

Noreisch said the hotel is scheduled to start operating in
April 1996.

Sugiarto said his company is interested in establishing the
four-star hotel in Surakarta because the city has tourist
attractions, such as the Mangkunegaran and Kasunanan palaces,
Danar Hadi and Keris batik galleries, leather puppet and gamelan
production centers and the Ceto and Suko Hindu temples.

Surakarta currently has only one international hotel, the
Kusuma Sahid Prince.

Sugiarto said that PT Hotel Anomsolo Saranatama, which is
owned by businessman Hutomo Mandala Putra, will invest US$21
million for the establishment of the hotel and supporting
infrastructure, including swimming pools.

Noreisch said that Sheraton Solo Hotel will cooperate on
marketing services through tour packages to foreigners with the
Sheraton Yogyakarta Hotel, which will open in Yogyakarta in
November.

Foreign tourists currently stay for an average of 1.5 nights
in either Yogyakarta or Surakarta.

Japanese, besides Europeans and Australians, are "our
potential market", Noreisch said. He explained that a number of
people from those countries are faithful Buddhists who regularly
visit temples in Yogyakarta and Surakarta.

Surakarta, whose airport will be improved to make it a major
international gateway, is currently served by Silk Air of
Singapore and Merpati Nusantara Airlines, which link it with
Singapore three times a week. (kod)