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)