New Pasta restaurant penned by Twinpalms

PHUKET Italian culinary experience gets a new addition next month when Pasta by Twinpalms opens its doors just in tome for Songkran.

Located between Bake and Frame in Cherng Talay, this new pasta bar will ass an intimate and interactive dining dimension for patrons to enjoy a closeup view of their selected dishes being prepared at the chef's station at the end of a 16-seat oval bar.

A modern white marble bar counter and brushed stainless steel decor will complement at cordial atmosphere with the playing of traditional Italian folk songs to add a dash of old world charm.

The menu features more than a dozen noodle varieties including spaghetti and ravioli, and nearly 20 sauces.

Pasta is the latest addition to Phuket's emerging culinary scene along the road approaching Bangtao Bay where Twinpalms first brought its influence into this hotspot of dining area by opening their bakery [BAKE], followed by the launch of their garden rotisserie [Flame] next door.

The Andaman Deach Suites Phuket Hotel Patong CEO says 'No more payouts'

The Andaman Beach Suites Phuket Hotel in Patong has confirmed that it will  no longer pay any guests who claimed their room was robbed with our sufficient evidence, after a recent surge in cases and a tightening of hotel security.

The hotel has paid victims in six of the past eight instance, all since July. In each of those cases, hotel staff or outside persons were suspected or robbing the room safes.

“In eight cases our guests’ valuables were stolen from their safes. That’s not normal, and it was a situation that I took very seriously,” said Sommai Phasee, chairman and CEO of the hotel.

“However I do not believe that the thieves are members of my staff. I checked with all of them and I am nearly 100% certain that none of them are thieves. We even had fingerprints of 10 of my staff members suspected to be involved in the cases checked and the results showed that they were innocent.” 

“We started to pay out the entire amount of money [estimated value of stolen items], when an Australian couple, who are regular guests of ours, had valuables stolen,” he said.

Mr Sommai explained that the hotel security at that time was not “perfect”, because the room safe could be opened by a key, hotel code and guest code.

The safes used in the rooms at the hotel were brought from Mr Sommai’s old hotel, the Club Andaman Beach Resort Phuket, which closed more than a yesr ago.

“We did not reset the codes and that was reskless on our part,” he explained.

The hotel also paid an American man whose safe had been opened with the “secret” code according to the hotel’s safe record.

“We paid him because I did not want our hotel to lose its reputation,” he said.

After the third and fourth cases were reported to the hotel, comments on the popular travel portal TripAdvisor started to make accusations “that you will be roobed” if you stayed at the hotel.

Mr Sommai believes that crooks seeing the comments have tried to make advantage of the hotel’s past lenient policy on repaying some of their guests, which was not the industry standard, as pointed out by Director of Rooms Thuwanan “Charn” Peanawan.

“The hotel in Bangkok where I previously worked had guests’ valuables stolen 10 times, and they never paid antone out,” he said.

Citing the most recent incident at the Andaman Beach suites Phuket, Mr Sommai sia, “Jim Nagi even told us that he saw the complaints on TripAdvisor. I throught he was making up his story because he had brought visitors to his room without hotel permission and was always having issues that required hotel staff to come into his room”

“Also, he could not open his safe and my staff had to open the safe with the key for him”

“According to safe opening record, Mr Nagi opened the safe quite often, sometimes 11 times in one day,” Mr Charn said.

Mr Sommai has now created new safe codes and reinstalled CCTV cameras so who comes in and out of the rooms can be monitored.

“Now, anyone who claims they have had their things stolen and do not have enough evidence, I will never pay,” Mr Sommai said.

Paying for paradise, Phuket Resort

BEACHFRONT land that runs abreast of traditional turtle nesting sites in Mai Khao is now up for sale at 15 million baht per rai. Advertisements for these sites describe them as ideal for hotel projects, with road access, electricity and water all ready to connect.

Sadly, the continued degradation of nesting sites, through development of nearby land such as this, is one of the biggest threats to the survival of Phuket's sea turtles.

The building of more hotels, restaurants and roads near turtle nesting beaches will lead to an increased disturbance of nesting turtles by people and dogs.

It's impossible to forget your first experience of watching a turtle come ashore to nest, unfortunately this sight is becoming increasingly rare. So, if you are one of the few lucky ones what should you do?

If a turtle comes ashore, stay out of sight; she won't get out of the water if she sees you or feels threatened.

After finding a location for her nest, well above the high-water mark, she will dig. Not until she is almost finished can you quietly approach her, still keeping out of her line of sight. Make sure you keep a respectful distance and remain silent while she covers her nest at this point you can start taking photos, but no flash!

Not only do beachfront hotels and restaurants bring crowds that disturb nesting turtles on once secluded beaches, they also emit light pollution at night that scares away female turtles. So unless a hotel has a policy of no external lighting, and activity enforces it, their establishment is contributing to the demise of Phuket's turtle population.

If we want to keep our turtles on Mai Khao Beach and other nesting sites in Phuket for future generations, we have to set aside areas of prime beachfront land exclusively for them. The choice is ours, but doing nothing can't be an option if we want to save these creatures from the brink of extinction along our shores.

Peak season tourism spike sees limited phuket hotel vacancy

OCCUPANCY rates at hotels along Phuket beaches have averaged more than 90 percent during the current peak period and are expected to remain at or near capacity well into 2012, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced.

Bangornrat Shinaprayoon, head of the TAT regional office in Phuket Town, said the island's tourism sector is bustling not only because it is the high season, but also thanks to an increased number of direct flights to Phuket launched in 2011.

Popular destinations including Patong Beach, Karon Beach, Rawai Beach, Chalong Temple and Phromthep Cape have been packed with tourists during the current long holiday period, she noted.

Many hotels in Patong and Karon were turning away guests over the New Year period, despite a decline in arrivals from traditional source markets in Europe due to the financial situation there, she said.

"Domestic tourism is down overall because of the recent flooding crisis. Most of the Thais that did come to Phuket [in 2011] came to visit friends and family," she said.

Fortunately, the decline in both Thai and European arrivals has been more than offset by an increase in the number of visitors from the Middle East, India and other parts of Asia throughout 2011, she said.

She expects these markets to continue to perform well in 2012, even during the tourism low season that typically begins in May.

"If there are no problems, the tourism sector will continue to thrive in 2012. Besides the New Year celebrations, more Asian tourists will be arriving at the end of January to celebrate the Chinese New Year holiday," she said.