Top 5 luxury villas in Phuket and Koh Samui for your next holiday

Ask people to name the most beautiful places in Thailand, and you'll often hear Phuket and Koh Samui being mentioned. Who would disagree? One is renowned for its bustling nightlife, vibrant culture, and lively beach scene, while the other is famed for its calm waters,...

3 days ago

Property Videos

  • Enjoying the fruit of Thai land

    Enjoying the fruit of Thai land

    PHUKET: In the last Property Legal column (published in print on November 30 and online December 3, story here), Phuket’s International Law Office (ILO) touched on the topic of usufruct agreements, a lesser known form of property contract that could be a considerable option for those looking to secure interests in Thai property; particularly foreigners …

  • Tesco Extra officially open in Phuket

    Tesco Extra officially open in Phuket

    PHUKET: Tesco Lotus recently held the official grand opening for its first “Extra” format store in Phuket. The rebranding and re-opening of the shopping center, its main Phuket store located off the bypass road in Sam Kong, follows an extensive renovation project undertaken in the final quarter of 2013. The development also complements the grand …

  • Phuket Property Watch: Walking in the shadows of dinosaurs

    Phuket Property Watch: Walking in the shadows of dinosaurs

    PHUKET: With New Year’s celebrations mostly behind us now, the question everyone has is what’s in store for fourteen? My biggest challenge each and every successive drum roll of another 365 (or 366 in the case of leap years) is to remember to change the date on whatever I’m writing at the time. Typically things …

  • Phuket Property Watch – Not such a long way from home

    Phuket Property Watch – Not such a long way from home

    PHUKET: It’s that time of year again – Christmas. And while Phuket’s idea of a whiteout is sand swept beaches, I find it hard not to get into a sentimental mood as soon as the calendar rolls around to the twelfth month of the year. Somehow the pace quickens in December, year in and year …

  • Phuket Property Watch: A case of tech-induced nostalgia

    Phuket Property Watch: A case of tech-induced nostalgia

    PHUKET: It’s festive time in the US, which is where I am, hacking out this column caught in the joys of the holiday season. Or perhaps not. Having spent three days here since taking the great plane trip over the ocean, my mind calculates the time-line as some thirty-eight hours. But who’s counting? The short …

  • Phuket Property: Centara anticipates tougher times ahead

    Phuket Property: Centara anticipates tougher times ahead

    PHUKET: The insight, influence and impact that the Bangkok-headquartered Central Group employs and exerts across nearly every sector in Phuket is undeniable. The group’s interests encompass retail, infrastructure, construction, real estate, and especially hospitality – through its flagship hotel chain Centara Hotels and Resorts (CHR). The Gazette recently caught up with CHR Senior Vice President …

  • Boutique or bust – Phuket Prop Watch

    Boutique or bust – Phuket Prop Watch

    PHUKET: Obsession is quite a long word – with its three little Ss that sort of roll off the keys with winding twists and turns. Nothing is as it appears, nor is there a straightaway to pull away from the pack. When it comes to design hotels, these enigmatic properties just love to live the …

  • Phuket Town’s Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel acquired by Accor Group

    Phuket Town’s Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel acquired by Accor Group

    PHUKET: Some good news for the property market in the heart of Phuket Town: the old Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel has been acquired by an owner affiliated with the Accor Group of hotels and is now undergoing a complete renovation for a scheduled rebranding under one of that group’s many hotel chains. Work at the …

  • An invitation to Sleep With Me

    An invitation to Sleep With Me

    PHUKET: A newcomer to the island’s hotel industry, “SLEEP WITH ME Design Hotel @ Patong” is comprised of 258 guest and suite rooms, overlooking the high-rises of Patong Bay. Located in the heart of Patong, close to Jungceylon Shopping Center, “Bangla Road” walking street and only a three minute walk to the beach, the hotel …

  • The ins and outs of usufruct – Phuket Property Legal

    The ins and outs of usufruct – Phuket Property Legal

    PHUKET: The right of usufruct is rarely used and often overlooked when it comes to securing one´s interest in immovable property. Usually, lease rights are registered against the property – providing use and possession rights for the benefit of the beneficiary until the lease is terminated or expired. The right of usufruct, which is a …

  • Construction: Thai Watsadu Phuket now open for business

    Construction: Thai Watsadu Phuket now open for business

    PHUKET: Numbered are the days of expensive and overpriced construction, home improvement, furnishing, landscaping and gardening materials in Phuket: The Central Retail Group have officially opened the doors of their Thai Watsadu store on Thepkrasattri Road in Thalang, just north of the Heroines Monument. Phuket Governor Maitree Inthusut presided over the ribbon cutting this morning, …

  • Merry in the Maldives – Phuket Property Watch

    Merry in the Maldives – Phuket Property Watch

    PHUKET: I’ve spent more years than I can recall hovering around sea level. Visualize Robinson Crusoe walking around a desert island, umbrella in hand and deep in conversation with a coconut named Friday. A week ago I found myself on a small atoll about 45 minutes north of Malé, the capital city of the idyllic …

  • AMCHAM real estate event

    AMCHAM real estate event

    PHUKET: Tomorrow (Friday November 22) the American Chamber of Commerce Thailand (AMCHAM) will hold a real estate event at Angsana Laguna Phuket. Topics covered will include the trend in leasehold ownership, regulating real estate agencies in Thailand, big development news in Phuket real estate and current property tends. Shine PR’s, Natasha Eldred will moderate the …

  • Phuket hotelier seeks help to give kids a break

    Phuket hotelier seeks help to give kids a break

    PHUKET: They say “what you give is what you get”. But Simon Luttrell, a Phuket-based hotel owner wants to take it one step further. His goal is to give to people who have very little and expect nothing in return. It was 2005 when Simon built his first hotel in Phuket – a small building …

  • Diamond condo sparkles – Phuket Property

    Diamond condo sparkles – Phuket Property

    PHUKET: Diamond Condominium, the latest project to be developed in Phuket’s high-end Bang Tao Beach area, is located just 400 meters from the beach, and minutes from the Laguna resort complex. The six rai (9,600sqm) property will contain four separate buildings surrounding a central swimming pool and landscaped community recreation area. In all, the four …

  • Commercial real estate thrives – Phuket Property Watch

    Commercial real estate thrives – Phuket Property Watch

    PHUKET: Direct investment volumes in global real estate markets reached US$125 billion in the third quarter (Q3) of the year, preliminary findings by real estate capital solutions firm, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) show. Preliminary transaction volumes in the first three quarters of 2013 are up 16% over the same time period in 2012, according to …

  • Due diligence on outstanding tax – Phuket Property Legal

    Due diligence on outstanding tax – Phuket Property Legal

    PHUKET: When land and/or buildings are held by a Thai company, many owners of such companies, when contemplating a sale of the company owned property, require prospective purchasers to buy and take over their existing company in lieu of a direct sale and transfer of the underlying properties. In many cases, such companies have a …

  • Bumper to bumper in Myanmar – Phuket Property Watch

    Bumper to bumper in Myanmar – Phuket Property Watch

    PHUKET: There is nothing quite like raw, naked ambition. Well not exactly, but that’s perhaps best left for another time and place. Last week I found myself straight in the middle of boomtown – Yangon, Myanmar. Stopping off as I usually do for an afternoon coffee at the historically-twinged Strand Hotel, the smiling waiter pulled …

  • Building for sustainability – Phuket property

    Building for sustainability – Phuket property

    PHUKET: The earth possesses a finite amount of natural resources – ores, timber, oils, for example – but our demand for those resources is growing exponentially. It is time we start looking at serious alternatives to help reduce the amount of waste we produce in our quest for ever more buildings. It doesn’t take a …

  • Phuket Property Watch: Lost in Chiang Mai

    Phuket Property Watch: Lost in Chiang Mai

    PHUKET: I’ve always had an aversion to things that go bump in the night, but as our Thai Smile jet ramps up to 33,000 feet, an extended period of turbulence has left my forehead battered, but not bruised. Yes, the flight attendants shock orange uniforms put me into a Halloween mood, yet they move about …

  • Royal Phuket Marina taps into rental market

    Royal Phuket Marina taps into rental market

    PHUKET: Royal Phuket Marina (RPM) plunged into the island’s property rental market, releasing scores of luxury apartments for rent since the beginning of this year. There are almost 100 units in the RPM complex, and of these 40 units are available for rental, though currently only 20 per cent remain vacant. Formerly RPM was focused …

  • Phuket’s ACE condo holds all the cards

    Phuket’s ACE condo holds all the cards

    PHUKET: ACE condominium, a nine storey building planned on Pang-meangsai Kor Road in Patong, on Phuket’s west coast, aims to attract people seeking an independent, fast-paced and fun, urban lifestyle. Deputy Managing Director of Patong Centre Co Ltd, Ms Alisa Likitittiruks,stated that the company expects to sell as much as 80-90 per cent of the …

  • Phuket Property: A fine finish for your pool

    Phuket Property: A fine finish for your pool

    PHUKET: Currently expanding their operation in Phuket, Pebble Pools is leading the charge to bring an innovative and superior swimming pool surfacing product to the Thailand Market. Trained and certified by market-leading American company Pebble Technology Inc, Pebble Pools’ staff are able to surface any pool in Thailand with a patented, fine aggregate pebble finish …

  • Phuket Property: Best of the best 2013

    Phuket Property: Best of the best 2013

    PHUKET: Thailand’s real estate industry came together on Thursday, September 19 to acknowledge the best of the best at the 2013 Thailand Property Awards tand awards presentation ceremony held at the Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Center at CentralWorld. In total, 33 awards were on offer, including regional awards for best condominiums and villa developments …

  • Phuket Property: Local retail sector booming

    Phuket Property: Local retail sector booming

    PHUKET: Our paradise island has been famed (and defamed) the world over for its many “s” attractions (and distractions) – sea, sun, sand, surf, sailing and sport… among others. Nowadays, the island is increasingly associated with one more “s”: shopping. Although residential projects – condos, housing subdivisions, hotels and luxury villas – continue to make …

  • New hotel chain born in Phuket

    New hotel chain born in Phuket

    PHUKET: A new globally focused hotel chain, Bugatti, is using Phuket as a platform for widespread expansion. While here in Phuket development is already underway on the east coast of the island, and on nearby Phi Phi Island, overseas plans call for branded properties in Bali, Myanmar and the Bahamas. By no means is this …

  • Laguna Park project unveiled

    Laguna Park project unveiled

    PHUKET: Project plans and fully-furnished show units of the island’s latest middle-upper income residential project, Laguna Park, were previewed this morning at the project’s sales office. Developed by Laguna Property, part of the Laguna Resorts and Hotels and the Banyan Tree Group, the project will be the island’s largest residential community, comprising up to 2,000 …

  • A bright horizon – Phuket Property

    A bright horizon – Phuket Property

    PHUKET: Southeast Asia continues to see upbeat investment sentiment with Thailand seeing real estate owners inject assets into property funds while overall commercial real estate transaction volume in Asia Pacific declined by 11% q-o-q to US$19.2 billion after an unusually strong Q1 2013. The market remained active and the quarterly total was in line with …

  • Samui’s tender trap – Phuket Property Watch

    Samui’s tender trap – Phuket Property Watch

    PHUKET: Everywhere you turn these days, tourism talk inevitably winds up on the subject of the mass market. It’s not unlike barreling down a dead-end street on a supercharged, high-speed bulldozer. There is no such thing as a damage control button to push. Yes, there will be collateral damage. Meanwhile back on the broader Thailand …

  • Still fond of Phuket: Poll

    Still fond of Phuket: Poll

    PHUKET: The island fell one spot to 3rd in the Top 10 Holiday Destinations in Asia list of this year’s “Smart Travel Asia Awards”, which was based on an Internet travellers’ choice poll that ran from May to July. Although Bali narrowly edged Phuket, just like last year, the Indonesian leisure hub didn’t have highest …