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MCollection - Tailored experiences for connoisseurs of life
By: Bill Heinecke
When I am travelling I want a room that is so comfortable I do not need to leave.
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I want a room that anticipates my needs, with a big television, a personal wine cellar and lots of overall space. My company's exclusive MCollection - so far fronted by Naladhu, in the Maldives - supplies those needs. Naladhu's 19 villas have bedrooms that are about 3,000 sq ft in all and you feel as if you have a lot of personal space, with enormous open-sided bathrooms and outside decks with private pools big enough for proper swimming. Yes, I need that private pool, it is now taken for granted at luxury level. MCollection, by the way, also includes MJets (a Citation-X and a CJ3, which can be used for company travel or charter - I love to pilot myself). MYachts so far consists of a pair of Bangkok-based four-cabin riverboats, plus a Phuket-based 45-ft Sunseeker and a two-cabin two-master in the Maldives.
I like being unfettered. I hate having only one dining place so my resorts, be they MCollection or my bigger brand, Anantara, all have a variety of eating options. Right now there are nine Anantara resorts, and we have another ten under development. My company, the Minor Group, also owns hotels in Thailand that are managed by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts or by Marriott International, and now we are doing a St Regis with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.
I believe in partnerships. In The Maldives both Naladhu and two adjacent Anantara resorts, on neighboring islands, are a joint venture with a local family. In March 2008 the Minor Group bought 50% of Tanzania's Elewana Afrika, owner-operator of Arusha Coffee Lodge, Serengeti Migration Camp and Tarangire Treetops - and Elewana Afrika's CEO Karim Wissanji plans a further six lodges by 2011. Minor International is big in spas, with Mandara Spas in Thailand and
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Vietnam and, everywhere, Antara Spas and MSpas. It also includes such fast-food names in Thailand as Burger King, Dairy Queen and our own The Pizza Company, which has already expanded as far as Kuwait. In Australia and New Zealand we own Coffee Cup - in all, under our various brands, we have over 630 foodservice outlets across Asia and the Middle East. I was born in the USA but now I have Thai citizenship. Although my companies are based in Bangkok they are truly international and in five years' time we will be a major global player. Just watch.
THE AUTHORWilliam (Bill) E. Heinecke is Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Bangkok-based Minor Group. As outlined in his widely-quoted book The Entrepreneur, he has been using his creative initiative since his schooldays, when he proposed and wrote a go-karting column, backed by advertising, for The Bangkok Post. A two-time past president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand, he sat on the Prime Minister’s Foreign Investment Advisory Council, and is also a keen supporter of the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre.
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