The hotel built by billionaire Larry Hillblom in Phan Thiet is in danger of being demolished. Since its construction, it has gone through many ups and downs. It is also the site of the much-publicized love story between the hotel owner, an American billionaire, and the hotel's owner.with the Vietnamese maid.

A 4-star hotel owned by an American billionaire in Binh Thuan.

The Chairman of the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province has just issued a notice following a meeting to approve the urban design plan for the Ocean Dunes Resort coastal area in Phan Thiet city, according to a source from the Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper.

Accordingly, the provincial leaders agreed to change the land use purpose of approximately 25,000 m2 of the Phan Thiet Ocean Dunes Resort and Novotel hotel project from commercial and service land to urban residential land and demolish the existing hotel building to create uniformity and consistency with the Phan Thiet coastal urban project.

Billionaire Larry Hillblom, a womanizer with a tragic fate.

Lary's stake in DHL was worth billions of dollars. Despite his wealth, Lary Hillblom's usual attire consisted of faded jeans and short-sleeved T-shirts. Because of this, he was nicknamed "the jeans billionaire" by the business community.

Larry Hillblom was also one of the earliest foreigners to invest and do business in Vietnam. In 1993, after several visits to Vietnam, Larry decided to invest in the hotel and tourism sector.

During his investments in Vietnam, billionaire Larry was captivated by the beauty of Phan Thiet. He bought the Vinh Thuy Hotel from Binh Thuan Tourism Company, upgraded it to a four-star hotel, and renamed it Novotel Phan Thiet, subsequently handing over management and operation to the French Accor Group.

The four-star Novotel hotel has been renamed Ocean Dunes Resort.

After 20 years of operation, in August 2012, the hotel changed ownership and was renamed Du Parc Hotel. On August 19, 2014, it was merged into the Sea Links City resort complex, under the management of Rang Dong Group. The hotel was once again renamed Ocean Dunes Resort.

It is designed like a yacht situated close to the coastline. Despite enduring many historical ups and downs, this hotel system has retained its inherent tranquil and peaceful beauty.

Billionaire Larry also invested in building a stunning 18-hole golf course surrounding the hotel. It was one of the most beautiful golf courses in the Asia-Pacific region at the time, designed and built to world-class standards. The Novotel hotel and Ocean Dunes Golf Club (also known as Phan Thiet Golf Course), covering a total area of ​​65,000 square meters, became a popular weekend destination for foreign businesspeople.

Panoramic view of Phan Thiet golf course

After the billionaire's death, the golf course was sold twice to two different foreign investors. On November 15, 2013, Rang Dong Group acquired the golf course. However, just half a month later, Rang Dong submitted a request to the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province to allow the conversion of the Phan Thiet golf course into an urban area. The demolition of the golf course to build an urban area caused a stir in Binh Thuan for a considerable period.

The love story between the hotel owner and the maid.

During the renovation of the Vinh Thuy Hotel, the "jeans billionaire" met and had a brief romance with maid Nguyen Thi Be (born in 1974, from Tan Xuan commune, Ham Tan district, Binh Thuan province).

Coming from a poor family, Bé was given a job at the Vĩnh Thủy Hotel by a relative. From a frail, dark-skinned girl, Bé blossomed, her skin turned white, her hair grew long, and she caught the eye of the owner, Larry. After several instances of being "noticed" by the owner, Bé became pregnant.

Afraid to confess her pregnancy to her boss, Bé quietly left her workplace and returned to her family's dilapidated house in Tân Xuân. At the end of 1994, she gave birth to a baby boy who looked exactly like Larry. She combined her name and her lover's name to name her son. But when registering the birth, her father clumsily wrote "Lory" instead of "Larry." The name Nguyễn Bé Lory was born from that mistake.

Nguyen Be Lory with her mother when they first arrived in the US in 1998.

Upon hearing the news that Bé had given birth, a friend took three photos of her and baby Lory and sent them to a close relative in Da Lat to forward to Larry. Thanks to these photos, billionaire Larry learned that he had a love child in Vietnam.

But on May 21, 1995, during a seaplane flight from Pagan Island to Saipan, billionaire Larry died in an accident, and his body has never been found.

Some time after the sudden death of the ill-fated, flamboyant billionaire, Ms. Bé contacted a friend who used to work at the Vĩnh Thủy Hotel, informing her that her child was the hotel owner's son. This friend immediately contacted lawyer John Veague, who was in charge of the billionaire Larry's estate distribution. Nguyễn Bé's story of searching for her father to claim her inheritance caused a public uproar for a considerable period.

After a legal battle involving hundreds of lawyers to secure inheritance rights for billionaire Larry's illegitimate children in Southeast Asia, only four of the eight children were officially recognized as Larry's biological offspring: Nguyen Be Lory; two boys from the Philippines; and one from Guam.

At the end of 2015, after turning 21, Nguyen Be Lory inherited a fortune of nearly $100 million. During a recent visit to Vietnam, Lory and his mother also visited the hotel where his late father had invested.

According to Vietnamnet