Minor Hotels has announced plans to brings its NH Collection brand to Asia, with the opening of a property in Thailand’s Chiang Mai.
The 79-room NH Collection Chiang Mai Ping River is scheduled to open in the first quarter of next year, within two low-rise buildings situated on the bank of the Mae Ping River.
Facilities will include a swimming pool and deck (some suites will also feature private pools), as well as a fitness centre and a multipurpose venue combining a restaurant, café, art space and bar.
The property’s design “marries Eastern mysticism and Western spirit of exploration”, and honours the legacy of American missionary-statesman and scholar Daniel McGilvary – who lived and worked in Chiang Mai in the late 19th century – with the McGilvary Bar which features “antique whiskey glasses on silver trays, banker’s lamps and a selection of antique curios”.
Meanwhile the hotel’s Ping Hill Gallery will showcase contemporary Thai art on rotation, and there will be a “campsite” by the riverside, “with folding campaign chairs strewn on a grassy patch under tropical fronds”.
The hotel will be the first under the NH Collection portfolio outside of Europe and Latin America.
The upper upscale brand currently counts 93 properties across the two regions, including recent reflagging of the Carlo IV hotel in Prague.
Commenting on the news Dillip Rajakarier, chief executive officer, Minor Hotels, said:
“NH Collection Chiang Mai with its riverside location minutes away from the Old City, is a singular venue surrounded by history, culture and nature.
“Every NH Collection experience is based on our promise to connect guests with the city’s soul, so getting the destination right was extremely important for our first NH Collection property in Asia.
“Together with our partner Osmo Ping River we look forward to giving the city of Chiang Mai a truly standout property that will speak of its standing as Thailand’s centre of creativity.”