Chanut Piyaoui

Life and career

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 USA, 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 crew of Pan American Airways (PANAM) for several years. At the time, Thanpuying Chanut took an opportunity to join PANAM'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 5-star 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.

Since the formation of Dusit Thani Group, Thanpuying Chanut served as the managing director and advisor to the board of the directors. In 1987 she acquired a hotel which was renovated to become the first resort property, Dusit Thani Pattaya, followed by another beach resort in Phuket - Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket. In 1989, a polo club and resort was opened at Hua Hin. In the 1990s, four more luxury resorts and hotels, Royal Princess Chiang Mai and Dusit Island Resort Chiang Rai, Dusit Princess Korat and Dusit Princess Srinakarin Hotel opened in Thailand.

In the 1990s, she had a major conflict with those who were building a 243-km new Metropolitan Rapid Transit subway system, which passed near the Dusit Thani Hotel and needed access to some of its valuable land that was used for parking.

Thanpuying Chanut made the first International expansion of Dusit Brand in 1995 with the acquisition of Dusit Hotel Nikko Manila in the Philippines. After the acquisition the hotel came under the management of Dusit Thani Hotels & Resorts, and was renamed the Dusit Hotel Nikko, Manila. Continuing the expansion, the group opened its first property in the Middle East in 2001 in Dubai, later entered India, China, United States and the Maldives.

In 2001, Thanpuying Chanut introduced Devarana Spa which is now operating in 10 Dusit properties as its own signature.

Thanpuying Chanut's creation of Thailand's leading hotel chain, has grown both in Thailand and Internationally. The group now operates 13 hotels and resorts across Thailand and 18 properties around the world under five hotel brands: Dusit Thani Hotels & Resorts, Dusit's second generation dusitD2 hotels & resorts, Dusit Princess Hotel & Resorts, Dusit Devarana Hotels & Resorts, and Dusit Residence Serviced Apartments.

In 1993, Thanpuying Chanut established Dusit Thani College in order to support Dusit International's expansion providing hotel education in Thailand. The Dusit group now has two hotels schools in Thailand offering bachelor's degrees of Business Administration in Kitchen and Restaurant Management. It also has a culinary school, in a joint venture with Le Cordon Bleu opening in 2007. In 2009 Dusit Thani College initiated a program with Lyceum University in the Philippines which opened in June 2009 with over 4,000 enrollments. A new hospitality school with fully integrated hotel is set to open in Manila in 2017.

In 2014, Thanpuying Chanut retired from the position of managing director handing it over to his son Chanin Donavanik. She is currently serving as the honorary chairperson of Dusit Thani Group.

Awards and recognition

For her great achievement in Thai hospitality industry, Chanut received the title "Thanpuying" which is the highest royal decoration of Thailand. She holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Business Administration in Hospitality Management awarded by Johnson & Wales University, an honorary degree of Doctor in Tourism and Hotel from Sripatum University and another honorary degree of Doctor of Arts in Tourism Industrial from Mahidol University.