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 on property sales but since early 2013, the development’s management began to eye the potentially lucrative rental market. As part of this new strategy, the company now facilitates the rental of privately owned apartments in its complex to third parties. While it is still early days – the rental facilitation service has not been officially announced yet – the response, from both owners and renters, has been very positive.

There are three kinds of rental agreements on offer from RPM; daily, weekly and monthly. And the range of residences to choose from includes two, three and four-bedroom apartments. Sales Director of Royal Phuket Marina Kanittha Prasopsirikul said that the two-bedroom apartments at RPM are very unique: “We have the two-bedroom with pool deck, and the two-bedroom duplex – which is a two- storey apartment with a jacuzzi on the top,” she said.

Rates for the two-bedroom apartments range from 8,000 to 15,000 baht per day; depending on the season and period of stay. For three-bedroom apartments, the prices range from 10,000 to 18,000 baht. Monthly rental rates start from 60,000 baht and range up to 250,000 baht. Factored into these rates are the various services provided by RPM such as meals and housekeeping, which customers can choose to utilize.

“Customers can choose to pay for the room only, or the room plus breakfast and cleaning, high speed internet, bed sheet change, and so on. Everything is flexible. It’s VIP living, customers can request what they want. Most importantly, RPM will take care of them 24 hours a day,” said Ms Kanittha.

Ms Kanittha went on to talk about the various benefits of RPM’s central location, which she expects will attract expats seeking convenience coupled with a luxury lifestyle.

“The selling point of RPM is our location. We don’t have an ocean view but we are in the heart of the island. It takes less than 30 minutes to go anywhere (except during rush hour).

“Our main residents are those who have boating businesses, executives from big hotels and company employees who have their children studying at the nearby British International School.

“In the morning, it takes at least one and a half hours to drive from Rawai to the school or 45 minutes from Laguna. So, living at RPM lets people have more of a city lifestyle – not an island lifestyle.

“Therefore, many people have moved to RPM because it’s more convenient for them to drop their children off at school and in the daytime, mothers can go to the fitness center or restaurants. Most customers we have are European, about 80 per cent, but Russians also make up about 10 per cent and about 10 per cent of our customers are Thai as well,” said Ms Kanittha.

Ms Kanittha also spoke about the added benefit of its rental services for customers interested in investing in the next phase of RPM.

“The positive results from our property rental service leads into our new project in RPM (Phase Three). This project is especially good for investors who want to buy an apartment to release for rental. We will also be able to help them find customers.”

For more information contact Kanittha Prasopsirikul on +6681-8103328, +6676-360811-2 or via email: kanitthap@royalphuketmarina.com