They have extensive free-form swimming pools with a treehouse-themed slide and aqua waterpark, kids’ club with animation team, restaurants, ballrooms, meeting facilities, fitness centre and spa.

Dramatic changes have taken place to the entire property, which has transformed the legendary hotel into a new paradise along the northern end of Pattaya Bay.

New stylish rooms and suites are offered in two buildings: Amari Tower and Amari Suites. There are 297 refurbished guest rooms and suites, including the 19th floor executive lounge in Amari Tower, just steps away from the beach. The Amari Suites, tucked away in an exclusive building, offers a collection of 49 one- and two-bedroom suites, perfect for families and friends travelling together, the company said.

All suites offer ocean views, a dedicated living area with large dining space as well as furnished balconies. The suites are especially suitable for both short and longer stays.

New, inspired dining experiences with multiple cuisine options including Thai, Asian, Indian, Italian, Chinese, among international fare are on offer at Amaya Food Gallery. Aqua Eatery & Bar is another new dining venue for guests to enjoy poolside cool breezes, refreshing cocktails and a diverse menu of informal selections, the company added.

With almost 50 years of experience hosting large-scale events, the hotel’s all-new facilities complement its talented meeting and event specialists. Its flexible venue offerings include the newly built pillar-free ballroom, four additional meeting rooms in Amari Tower, and the Beach Lawn, Amari Pattaya said.

At the newly refurbished Breeze Spa, the treatments are both smart and fun, focusing on boosting energy and allowing guests to simply enjoy the spa experience. Amari Pattaya is located at the northern end of Pattaya Beach, less than 90 minutes by car from Suvarnabhumi Airport.

With over 10 years of experience in visual design and front-end development, Pete Chemsripong, general manager of ThoughtWorks (Thailand), is convinced that the key to boosting customers’ user experience lies in melding technology with art.

Pete calls his global tech-consulting firm a “thought leader” in using technology to solve core business issues. His current mission is to employ the “concept to cash” process to help revolutionise traditional business practices in Thailand.

Technology certainly wasn’t his first love, though.

“When I was young, all I wanted to do was draw cartoons. I was determined to make a living from drawing cartoons despite my family urging me to use my artistic skills to pursue a career in architecture,” Pete said during an interview with The Nation.

A move from his home province of Phitsanulok came when Pete’s mother got a scholarship to study in Australia, which also covered Pete’s education.

His passion for illustration eventually saw him collect a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication from the University of Newcastle, then a Master’s in Design Science from Sydney University.

After graduating he pursued his artistic passion by opening a small drawing school. Then came the fateful mishap that eventually led him to ThoughtWorks.

“After teaching arts to children for a while, my career choice of illustration was no longer viable after I badly injured my hand,” he said. “This was when I turned to technology and started to find jobs as a visual designer.”

Pete worked for marketing agencies as a web designer for several years before joining ThoughtWorks’ Sydney team in 2012 as an Experience Design consultant. He moved on to help build the Brisbane office in 2013 and then set up the ThoughtWorks Singapore design team in 2014. Since 2016, Pete has been working on user-experience tech as part of the Bangkok office.

“At ThoughtWorks Sydney I realised that when you put art and technology together, the work that you create has the potential to transform the user experience of others,” he recalled.

Pete and his ThoughtWorks colleagues have worked closely with industry leaders to improve their software operations in Thailand, including leading firms in e-commerce, financial services and aviation.

The artist turned technologist also promotes the cutting-edge “concept to cash” business process to his clients.

“Competitive advantage now lies in a firm’s ability to innovate and adapt to technological change,” Pete continued. “Traditional business models where operations are split into dislocated departments can no longer cope with the pace of change.”

For instance, firms normally take 24 months to develop a new product and launch it on the market, he explained,

By that time, the product may already be out of date because a competitor will have released a new product in the interim.

The “concept to cash” process establishes close links between different departments of an organisation to foster rapid generation and evaluation of ideas that can be quickly turned into profit. ThoughtWorks uses this approach to develop efficient end-to-end software solutions for its clients, he said.

As a thought leader in design technology, Pete is also a co-founder of the User Experience (UX) Community, a non-profit organisation focused on empowering the local community with better design. The UX community has grown from modest beginnings.

“It started out as a few visual designers meeting up for lunch. We agreed to share our experiences and discuss issues that visual designers in Thailand face,” he recounted.

“Gradually, our lunch meetings grew larger and we started to organise conferences and invited global leaders in visual design as guest speakers. At our last conference, we had up to 600 attendees,” he said.

The UX Community is now sponsored by various firms in Thailand, including Krungthai Innovation Lab, Kasikorn Business-Technology Group and even ThoughtWorks.

Having upskilled from a traditional illustrator to a visual designer, Pete understands the process of digital transformation at a very personal level. He has also nurtured growth of the country’s top software consulting firm and visual design community.

With those glittering achievements behind him, the future looks bright both for himself and the companies he deals with.

Pete’s vision of employing innovative business practices and technology to transform traditional business operations also bodes well for the country. Thailand can only benefit from more ambitious “thought leaders” like Pete.

Manas Chiaravanond, chief executive officer of Chia Tai, said: “India and the Philippines are markets with high growth potential. Expanding the seed business unit to these markets is considered a major step in building on our success in the Asian region. We aim to provide quality products and services that are in line with market demands.

“With our commitment to ‘Growing Better, Together’, we are ready to pass on our agricultural innovations and expertise and play leading a role in the efforts to improve the quality of life of farmers as we continue to move closer to our goal of being a leader in the vegetable and fruit business in Asia.”

To mark the brand launch and the opening of its new office in Bengaluru, Chia Tai India has selected varieties of seeds beneficial to Indian farmers as well as developed hybrid varieties. The company also hosted its first field day at Kannamangala in Bengaluru where dealers and farmers from across India were given the chance to explore a demonstration plot and see the varieties of crops launched on the Indian market, such as tomatoes, hot peppers, watermelons, melons, cucumbers and sweet corn, the latter from the company’s latest breeding development program.

Apart from expanding its seed unit to India, the company has also expanded its business to the Philippines by launching a new brand and opening an office in Fairlane, Tarlac City. The company marked its entry to the new market by hosting its first field day in an area of 3,000 square metres at Balibago station in Tarlac City. Outstanding varieties, such as sweet and waxy corn, watermelons, tomatoes, and bitter gourds gained a lot of interest from farmers, collectors and dealers. These varieties can provide good yields and have high tolerance to pests, diseases and unstable weather conditions. Experts from the company also gave presentations at the field day activity to provide knowledge on the products, techniques, and the cultivating methods that best respond to market demand.

“The company firmly believes that our seeds and knowledge will help create value for farmers, customers and communities. Since its founding, the company has been determined to develop quality seeds that bring success to both famers and consumers. Our company will continue looking for opportunities to develop new products and innovations for India, the Philippines, and other countries around the world in the future to meet new challenges in the agricultural industry,” said Manas.

The ad conveys the message of “Your Everyday Progress”, and was directed by Tor Phenomena, an advertising film director. The ad showcases Thanachart Bank workers’ efforts to facilitate customers’ progress toward their goals.

The video was launched on July 11 as viewers watched a new video ad from the bank, entitled “Progress”. This aired for an hour on 3,000 LED screens nationwide in main department stores such as Siam Paragon, The Emporium, The EmQuartier and outdoor video screens at major intersections in every province, in addition to screen at BTS and MRT stations.

The concept “Your Everyday Progress” is to reinforce the Thanachart Bank’s mission to develop and empower customers to make progress” and achieve their goals, with products and services catered to customer needs’ throughout the financial journey.

Praphan anupongongarch, chief executive officer and president of Thanachart Bank Public Company Limited, said that the era of technological advancements has provided customers with greater convenience and speed for access to financial products and services.

“We believe that a little step every day will lead to a big step forward. Thanachart Bank’s primary step today is a determined push to make customers progress every day and help them reach their goal with the fullest ability from our products, services, and staff,” said Praphan.

The film “Progress,” directed by commercial film director, Thanonchai Sornsriwichai aka Tor Phenomena, delivers Thanachart Bank’s message of “Your Everyday Progress” using real insights and situations in which Thanachart Bank has helped customers.

“The ad tells an emotive story signifying human life and empathy that necessitates a push to conquer hardships and move forward,” Tor said.

“The most extraordinary thing about this production is Thanachart Bank’s courage to take a different approach by welcoming new perspectives and delivering strong messages of employees’ solemnity at its highest. The bank worker’s character looks tough and unfriendly, in in a way that other brands don’t dare to go for. The reason behind is that this person has been with you throughout life’s stages and always be supportive but at the same time, can pick you up and make a strong push to get you started. Every step taken is taken together in the journey. Small progress every day will be lead us to success.”

Taketani said he recognises the company’s roles to advance the bilateral economic relationship on trade and investment between Thailand and Japan.

In the regional context, the company is making concerted efforts with Thailand to expand the cooperation and partnership into neighbouring countries for sustainable growth.

Taketani said the company would  promote more startups and innovation activities and to upgrade industries in line with the Thai government’s economic policies under Thailand 4.0.

He will focus on enhancing more cross-border connectivity within the region, as Thailand is a gateway to neighbouring countries.

Taketani joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI, now known as  METI) in Japan in 1990. In his  almost 30 years at METI, he has served in many positions related to policy areas such as the economy, industry, energy and environment, including as the  director of the Global Environment Affairs Office in 2008, director of Electric Device Industry Strategy Office in 2009, director of the gas market division in the  Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) in 2012 and director of the petroleum refining and reserves division in 2013. Prior to coming to Jetro Bangkok, he was deputy commissioner for international affairs of ANRE, in METI.

In 2006 he was counsel for the economy, trade and industry at the Japanese embassy in the US and in 2015, he was director general of the planning department at the weekend Jetro head office in Japan.

Taketani earned a bachelor’s degree in laws from University of Tokyo in 1990 and his master’s degree in political science from Stanford University in 1997.

Claude Seigne, CEO of AXA Thailand General Insurance, said: “This new campaign symbolises AXA’s promise to help people feel more confident to achieve their goals and realise their dreams. I believe that our new tagline Know You Can can resonate well with our customers’ aspirations.

“It is a clear and empathetic message that can fuel people’s self-belief so that they are closer to their goals. We don’t just help people overcome problems; as an encouraging partner, we also help them overcome doubts and feel confident they can go towards a better life.”

In a press release on Friday, the company said it is expected to provide decent long-term returns, given the “excellent quality” of its three initial investment assets of lifestyle malls with high occupancy rates. Its first-year distribution payment is estimated at 8 per cent.

Amorn Chulaluksananukul, the CEO of AIM Group, the independent REIT manager company, speaking as the settlor and manager of AIM Commercial Growth Leasehold Real Estate Investment Trust (AIMCG), said he is confident that the great quality of the three lifestyle malls will produce decent returns.

AIMCG’s initial assets, valued at up to Bt2.88 billion in total, include commercial leasehold interests in UD Town (Udon Thani), Porto Chino (outbound lane of Rama 2 Road in Samut Sakhon) and 72 Courtyard (in the Thonglor-Soi Sukhumvit 55 area). They are lifestyle malls with great potential and unique characteristics, said the release.

Charasrit A Voravudhi, the managing director of AIM Group, said each of the three properties offered sheer quality, unique concepts and location advantages in Bangkok or in an economically important city. He highlighted UD Town’s position as Udon Thani’s largest lifestyle mall and prominent landmark, as well as the project’s location in the city’s core business district and its popularity among the locals, people of neighbouring provinces and Lao tourists. Developed and managed by Udon Plaza Co, an experienced property developer and manager equipped with deep insights into customer behaviour, UD Town posted an approximately 97 per cent average occupancy rate over the past three years and welcomed 20,000-50,000 visitors per day, he said.

Developed and managed by D-Land Properties Co and built as a “neighbourhood mall”, Porto Chino is Samut Sakhon’s first and largest lifestyle mall. It is located on the outbound lane of Rama 2 Road, as a rest area popular among westbound and southbound travellers as well as a food oasis featuring leading brands. The Food Port area is going to be renovated and local well-known restaurants will be added to serve neighbouring residences and locals. Its average occupancy rate stood at approximately 84 per cent for the past three years, and seen 4,000-10,000 visitors daily.

The 72 Courtyard project was developed by Membership Co and is situated in the heart of the prime Thonglor-Soi Sukhumvit 55 area frequented by high-end customers. It offers a unique mix of restaurants and bars that are open day and night. The average occupancy rate reached 100 per cent over the past three years, and its visitors totalled 300-1,500 per day, said Charasrit.

In future, we hope to keep offering passengers many more flying experiences on our new aircraft with great value fares, exciting in-flight entertainment and hot meals served by our dedicated cabin crew.”

The HCMC-Tokyo route operates a daily return flight on the new Airbus A321Neo with flight time of approximately six hours. Passengers can now hunt for super-cheap tickets with the airline’s latest promotion, “Ohayo Saturday, fly to Japan from only 0VND” which runs every Saturday from now until March 31 at http://www.vietjetair.com and applies to all routes to Japan.

Vietjet earlier announced its 5th route to Japan connecting Da Nang with Tokyo (Haneda), which will operate daily return services from October 30. The airline also recently received the membership certificate of the Japan Federation of Economic Organisations (Keidanren).

The firm, which has extensive experience and expertise in developing digital strategies, said the investment strategy would strengthen the company by providing insight into digital knowledge so that it could compete on an international scale

The move would pave the path for it to become the leading consulting firm in strategy development and programme management within 2020, according to a release from the company.

Currently, Bluebik Group has invested in six startups has plans to invest in another two within the next year.

Investment will be focused on the fields of the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), electric vehicles (EV) and fashion, which plays a key role in driving clients’ businesses.

The consulting firm has until now specialised in strategy development, programme management and digital transformation.

Pochara Arayakarnkul, CEO of Bluebik Group Co Ltd, said it pursuing a strategy to differentiate itself from other business consulting firms through digital knowledge enhancement. That would give it the capacity to leverage innovation and technology as well as exposure to new international ideas to elevate clients’ businesses, so as to be competitive in the digital world.

Bluebik Group aims to be the leader in strategy and implementation by the end of next year, Pochara said. In addition to providing consulting services, the company has also positioned itself as a partner of clients, and serve clients seeking a consultant that could enhance their competitiveness.

To achieve this leading position, the company must develop its strength in deep knowledge and understanding of digital disruption. Investing in startups with deep technology that leverage highly complex technologies and have the potential to grow internationally would allow Bluebik to obtain critical knowledge, especially in digital technology, which is a tool for business development across industries, Pochara said.

“Innovations are more often initiated by startups than traditional companies. Startups are more flexible and run by new-generation professionals who have a thorough grasp of technology. Born in the digital age, the people behind startups have a distinct advantage in developing innovations.

“Bluebik therefore, had the idea to gain advantages, as startups do. Thinking like and entering into partnerships with startups will allow Bluebik to deeply understand and learn about the adoption of technologies for clients’ businesses. “

Working with startup strategic partners that specialise in various fields, the consultancy would provide an overview of strategy management as well as in-depth knowledge for each operating process ranging through innovation, design, and the new global way of working such as “design thinking”, Pochara said.

The consultancy has so far invested in six startups, including Blue Parking, a smart parking service provider with an IoT-based automatic licence plate recognition system and Cloud system to optimise convenience for car drivers. Other investments are in Keeps, a fashion house designed for working people through omni-channel experiences; Oxygen, an AI leader in video analytics and conventional chatbots; Ingenio, a Big Data solution provider to enhance business capability; ETRAN, a producer of high-efficiency electric motorcycles and which is a startup under the Almond Digital Group subsidiary of Bluebik Group; and Cashnow, an innovative platform for digitising the lending application process.

Within 2020, Bluebik plans to invest in two more startups with an emphasis on key technology trends that are crucial to creating competitive advantages for clients by reducing costs and increasing business opportunities. The selected tech trends are internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), electric vehicles (EV), big data and analytics, fintech, and retail tech.

It will next focus on the smooth transitions of operations from the successful acquisitions to ensure continuity of petroleum production and sustain the company’s long-term growth.

Phongsthorn Thavisin, president and chief executive of PTTEP, notes that PTTEP successfully concluded business expansion according to strategic directions in the first half of 2019. These include the PSC signing for block G1/61 (Erawan field) and block G2/61 (Bongkot field) in the Gulf of Thailand, the awarded exploration blocks in the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, the acquisition of Murphy Oil Corporation in Malaysia that was completed on July 10 and the acquisition of 33.8-per-cent interests in APICO LLC from Tatex Thailand LLC.

PTTEP has therefore revised 2019 expenditure to take account of these business expansions. The estimated total expenditure for 2019 is US$3.577 billion (equivalent to Bt116.246 billion), up from the previous figure of US$3.256 billion. However, the newly estimated total expenditure excludes the acquisition cost of $2.086 billion.

For the 5-year investment plan (2019-2023), PTTEP has allocated total expenditure of $21.354 billion, up from $16.105 billion.

Additionally, in accordance with the revised 5-year investment plan, PTTEP has also set a higher target of average petroleum sales volume in 2019 at 345,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOED), representing an 8.5-per-cent increase from the 318,000 BOED planned last year. Compounding Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for the 5-year period until 2023 is expected at around 7 per cent.

“Under the Expand strategy, PTTEP recently completed successful expansions by acquiring businesses both in Thailand and in other strategic investment areas as well as winning the bid for exploration blocks overseas as planned. Our focus will now be on the Execution strategy, especially the transitions of operations in the Erawan field and other acquired assets. This also includes accelerating exploration activities in our existing projects to drive PTTEP’s growth in the future.” Phongsthorn said.