The Vietnamese-American Hotel and Resort (VAHR) Ltd. signed three management agreements on August 24 with a major hotel operator for the The Ritz Carlton, JW Marriott and Outrigger hotels, all US-headquartered.

VAHR was established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of American company ITC Spectrum LLC to develop the Vinh Hoi Bay Golf Resort Project, which covers 325ha, 25km north of Quy Nhon city in Binh Dinh province.

The Outrigger Vinh Hoi Bay Resort and Spa with 210 rooms and 46 villas will start construction in mid-2011, and is expected to open for business at the end of 2013.

The 100-villa Vinh Hoi Bay , the Ritz-Carlton Reserve, and the 320-room JW Marriott Vinh Hoi Bay Resort&Spa are expected to begin construction in early 2012 and be completed in 2014.

The centerpiece of the 325ha-development will be an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones II of California .

Beside the three hotels in the first phase, residential villa communities, a retail centre, and another culture and entertainment centre, as well as a tropical garden will be constructed.

The later phase of the development will feature three additional hotels and residential properties, as well as a horse race course and marina, according to Canh D. Tran, chairman and CEO of the Vietnamese-American Hotel and Resort Co.

In another development, Bitexco Group has begun a 900,000 USD plan to apply enterprise-resource planning solutions from German-based SAP for the operation and management of the 68-floor Bitexco Financial Tower in HCM City , the country's highest building, which will open in October.

Global CyberSoft ( Vietnam ), in co-operation with its strategic partner, BayanTrade ( Philippines ), will develop the plan over a four-month period.

The modules include financial services and accounting, real estate sales, real estate management, maintenance and document management systems.

All modules are customised to maximise the effectiveness of the tower's functional operations./.