Thanpuying Chanut Piyaoui
|
Thanpuying Chanut Piyaoui |
|
|---|---|
| Born | 1922 (age 94–95) Bangkok, Thailand |
| Nationality | Thai |
| Occupation | Hotelier, businesswoman |
| Years active | 1948-present |
| Known for | Dusit International |
Thanpuying Chanut Piyaoui (Thai: ท่านผู้หญิงชนัตถ์ ปิยะอุย, born 1922) is a Thai businesswoman and entrepreneur best known as the founder of Thai hospitality Dusit Thani International. She served as the managing director and chairperson of Dusit International from 1970 to 2014. She is currently serving as the honorary chairman of Dusit Thani Group.
Thanpuying Chanut was born in Bangkok, Thailand. Her father was a businessman who owned a saw mill in Bangkok and her mother ran a rice mill outside the city. In 1946, Thanpuying Chanut went to the United States hoping to attend Columbia University. Having been unsuccessful in her attempt to gain entrance due to her level of English, she was sent to an English school in New York City. After completing her studies, she traveled around the country, becoming fascinated with the hotels she visited and their modern facilities and quality of service.
Upon returning home in 1947, she aspired to build a hotel that would be like the ones she had visited in the US, but with a distinctively Thai touch. In 1948, Thanpuying Chanut opened her first hotel, the "Princess" on Bangkok's New Road. It had only 30 rooms but had the distinction of being the first modern hotel in Bangkok with a swimming pool. The hotel was the accommodation of choice for the flight crews of Pan American Airways (Pan Am) for several years.
At the time, Thanpuying Chanut took an opportunity to join Pan Am's "80 Days Around the World" program in order to see the world. The trip helped her to get valuable information and insights in the hotel trade that she could incorporate into her own business as a means of improving it. In 1970, Thanpuying Chanut founded the luxury Dusit Thani Hotel near Lumphini Park and became the flagship business for the Dusit Group. It was the first luxury hotel in Bangkok and quickly achieved widespread popularity among locals and foreigners. The 510-room hotel was the tallest building in Bangkok for several years. The Dusit Thani was one of the Thai hotels that attracted foreign visitors and helped tourism overtake rice exports as the leading source of income in 1983.
...
Wikipedia