Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra opens in Asia

Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra has opened its doors on the banks of the Mekong River, boasting 201 rooms that couple classic European design and contemporary Cambodian style with wooden floors, high coffered ceilings and wooden lattice.

Its 1,800-square-meter ballroom ranks as the largest in Cambodia while its So Spa and the executive club, Club Millésime, are the first purpose-built facilities of their kind in Southeast Asia.

Eighty percent of the hotels' rooms boast views of both the Bassac and the Mekong River and the hotel's cityside front rests against Phnom Penh's old French quarter. Guests can also to the Royal Palace, the National Museum and Sisowath Quay, a quaint waterfront café.

Accommodation ranges across seven classes, from 121 Superior rooms to 45 Luxury, 23 Junior Suites, 11 Prestige Suites and one Opera Suite.

Diners at the hotel can also nosh on a range of culinary traditions and styles—
La Coupole
features Indochinese and French cuisines, Do Forni is Italian, Fu Lu Zu is Chinese, Hachi offers up Old World Japan and Chocolat is a Belgian patisserie.

So Spa, which debuted in London last year, features French cosmetology, a menu that reads like a meal and a blending of private and public space. Five of the spa's 10 private treatment rooms are designed for involved Khmer and Thai treatments; the other five rooms, each an ample 30-square meters, are to be used for various beauty treatments.

In addition to two squash courts, the grounds feature four, floodlit tennis courts and two locales for workouts — So Fit and the Phokeethra Sports Club. Likewise, the hotel's two pools - one in the hotel building itself and the other in the adjacent sports complex - cater to both guests and members respectively.

While Phnom Penh currently lacks a direct air connection to the major cities beyond Southeast Asia,  Air France will initiate Cambodia's first direct air link to Europe since 1974 in March.

"The city's ready," said general manager Didier Lamoot. "People are coming, for leisure and for meetings, and increasingly for a mixture of both. That's one of the most exciting new segments of the market, a traveller with intertwined intentions. This hotel was designed with exactly that traveller in mind."