OUTGOING PERSONNEL

The general manager of the soon-to-be-opened Park Hyatt hotel in Siem Reap, Franz Mascarenhas, won’t be on hand to see the fruits of his labour on the hotel’s opening day.  He has accepted an opportunity to return to New Zealand to work with the Langham Hospitality Group as managing director of the Langham Auckland hotel.

He told Man About that the primo job, coupled with the fact that he and his wife would be reunited with their children “was too much to resist.”

He added, “Mr Sholto Smith, an experienced Hyatt professional currently in the Park Hyatt Melbourne will take over from me in the month of June 2013. Dates to be firmed up in the near future.”

Franz, during his brief tenure in town, proved to be a warm-hearted and sincere character and his presence will be missed.

 

INCOMING PERSONNEL

New in town is former Yorkshire man David Baron, 31, who checks in as director of golf at the Angkor Golf Resort, replacing the popular Adam Robertson, who has moved to a prestigious new gig in Singapore.

David Baron has, not surprisingly, a pedigree golfing background, and started chasing the little white ball at age 12 when a new golf course opened near his home town.

As a member of British PGA, he turned pro in 2003, completing a three year degree in professional golf in conjunction with Birmingham University.

In 2002 he began a four-year stint as head assistant professional at the Ganton Golf Club in the UK, which is a Ryder Cup venue and a World top 100 course.

In 2006 he signed on for another four-year stint as senior professional at The Hong Kong Golf Club, one of Asia's oldest and most prestigious clubs.

He then moved to mainland China in 2010, acting for one year as director of golf for the pre-opening of the Lan Hai International Golf Club, a private golf club in Shanghai featuring a 36-hole Nicklaus-designed course.

In 2011, he started work for 18 months as director of golf at a resort course and hotel in Qingdao, China.

Now firmly ensconced as director at the premier Angkor Golf Resort, he says he is, “Delighted to join the team and looking forward to the new challenge ahead. I'm looking forward to continuing the growth and success of the resort whilst also focussing on the overall development of golf and tourism in Cambodia.”

He’s also eagerly anticipating the second Faldo Series Cambodia Championship which tees off at the resort on June 29-30, when golfers from throughout the region will compete for a spot in the Asia Grand Final.

International and local golfers will also challenge for the 2013 Cambodia Championship, won last year by 17-year-old Kim Dong-Hyun from South Korea.  Boys and girls aged 12 to 21 will compete over 36 holes on the award-winning Faldo Design course.

 

ASEAN PUBLIC TOILETS

Le Luong Minh, the new ASEAN Secretary-General who took office for five years in January, has imparted many of his views on regional tourism in a press release delivered on May 8.

To ensure the quality of tourism in ASEAN, he gave a rundown of some of the policies and initiatives to be implemented.

He said a set of ASEAN Tourism Standards for ASEAN green hotels, spa services, homestays, clean tourist cities and “ASEAN public toilets”, all with a certification process, have been developed since 2011. The target is completion and implementation by 2015.

He also stressed the significance of a widely ignored hospitality sector– homestays.  He said, “There is a need to further develop tourism products that would involve and benefit the local community. Homestay is one of the good examples on how tourism could provide trickling down effects to the community using experience and daily life as a main attraction.”