A Study of Space Allocation in the Landscape Architecture of Four and Five Star Resort Hotels in Northern Thailand

Abstract

The knowledge and skills in landscape architectural design and planning of resort hotels are important for landscape architects, students, and related organizations to develop landscape architecture design programs and allocate functional space properly. In this study, 9 four and five star resort hotels in the northern region of Thailand (Thai Hotels Association, 2020) were used as case studies. This research was intended to study various aspects of the resort hotels in detail. The resulting data were then analyzed to find their relationships leading to the conclusions and recommendations for the development of similar type projects. The research process started with collecting secondary data from various documents and primary data from surveys. The collected data were analyzed to find the conclusion. The results showed that important factors affected the early stages of program development of the four and five star resort hotels in the northern region including the forms of management and the physical environment of the project sites. They influenced the size of the hotel which was classified by the number of rooms, and the size of the hotel. The physical environment of most resort hotel studied (77.78 percent) are in urban areas on flat lands with easy access to main road. They have provided beautiful distant or close-up views. Most of them are located along the river. There were some resort hotels (22.22 percent) located in suburban areas with outstanding natural environment characteristics. To develop the programs of hotel amenities, factors that must have been taken into account including the proportion of different types of hotel rooms, the hotel service standards (star ratings), and the hotel size classified by number of rooms. For the large hotel group with a large number of rooms, the ratio of the number of suites to the number of single rooms was lower, compared to that of the smaller hotel group with fewer rooms. In planning the use areas of the hotels, the layout of the hotel rooms could be divided into 4 types: U-shaped or V-shaped layout, Central court layout, Linear layout and Centralized layout, by taking into consideration the view from the guest rooms of the resort hotels and from other areas within the hotel, both settings and natural sceneries. The design and layout of the entry ways and parking took into account the connection with the main road and the size of the hotel areas. The facilities and the green areas’ location depended on the layout of the hotel grounds and activities that took place in the resorts. As for the designation of natural green spaces, it also depended on the original natural features of the project areas. The results of this research would benefit both landscape architects, project owners, faculty members, academics and students in the program development of resort hotel projects in northern Thailand to be consistent with the reality in the regional hospitality market.