An Bang Beach Hideaway has quite a history
Owners Gam and Thuan are the driving force behind it and highly respected members of the An Bang community. The history of An Bang is steeped in fishing. Generations of Vietnamese have survived on the meagre catches from the ocean for their livelihood. Thuan, from a fishing family in An Bang, decided to open a seafood restaurant in Hoi An, for local Vietnamese. It was called White Sail. It quickly became popular with tourists and was moved to a more prominent position in the Old Town where it quickly started appearing in the guide books and tourist “must eats”.
Returning to his village each night, Thuan began to see the tourists in An Bang looking for places to stay. They were few and far between and not of a quality Thuan now knew foreigners expected. Teaming up with a western friend, in 2012 Thuan took the plunge and rented a fishing house and renovated it to a high western standard and called it the Beach House. It was the first 4 star accommodation in An Bang and was a huge success. Thuan, Gam and their friend were able to offer training to local An Bang people in reception, housekeeping and hospitality.
Buoyed by the success of the Beach House, they then moved on to grow An Bang Seaside Village and An Bang Beach Hideaway: a selection of different styles of accommodation spread around An Bang village. Tourists began to discover An Bang and they had somewhere to stay.
Over the years, countless local An Bang people have been able to diversify their income away from fishing, and into hospitality and many of those people have since gone on to open their own homestays and restaurants. Though many in the team have been with Thuan and Gam since day one, such is their ability to inspire loyalty.
Thuan and Gam were given a prestigious award by the government for their efforts in An Bang, as pioneers in the economy and hospitality. In 2015 Thuan and Gam sold their interest in Seaside and concentrated all their combined years of design and hospitality and built Chi Villa, a three bedroom high end Villa in central An Bang. We definitely recommend having a sticky beak at chivilla.com. Their focus now is Chi Villa and Hideaway with plans to add more accommodation to the An Bang Hideaway family of accommodation.
Genuinely lovely folks, they enjoy watching others growing, developing and moving on to open their own businesses, though prefer to avoid the limelight. Instead, they have a western manager and Vietnamese hosts for all their villas and accommodation. Pop on down to The Deckhouse Restaurant and you may just see Gam and Thuan sitting quietly at the bar watching their guests enjoy themselves. Thuan can’t quite leave his restaurant roots behind and The Deckhouse on the beach is his latest creation. Though he is now focused on what is sure to set the standard on the Hoi An beaches: The Shorehouse. Watch this space.