U.S. firm to manage star hotel in Bali

JAKARTA (JP): The United States-based hotel chain, Country Inns and Suites by Carlson is to operate and manage the star- rated Bukit Nusa Hotel in Bali.

The license and management agreement was signed recently by the American hotel chain's Indonesian representative, Michael Hughes, and Komang Setiabudi, the president of PT Kreasi Taman Mumbul, which will own the hotel.

Hughes said the project, scheduled for completion in April 1998, would have 150 rooms and a meeting room for 150 persons.

The planned project will also have large room sizes, casual dining and a shopping arcade.

"The hotel will be developed to meet the changing visitation patterns to Bali, with increases expected in short-haul visitors from Asia, Australia and Indonesia," he said.

He said the hotel will form part of a network of a small, mid-market hotels throughout Indonesia, Asia and around the world.

The hotel is to be the second managed in Indonesia by the Minneapolis-based hotel and resort chain.

The chain started operations in Indonesia in 1996, with the opening of Taman Intan hotel in Surabaya, East Java. Taman Intan has 40 townhouses and is now established as the market leader in the mid-market accommodation segment.

Hughes also announced that the chain would open seven additional properties in Indonesia between 1998 and 1999, in Yogyakarta and Jakarta and in Cilegon, Jatiluhur and Bandung, West Java.

Country Inns & Suites By Carlson is part of Carlson Group which manages Regent Hotels International, Radisson Hospitality Worldwide, Radisson Seven Seas Cruises and TGI Friday and Country Kitchen International.

The corporation's annual revenues reached US$11.6 billion in 1995, it said. (02)