Skift Take
Covid-19 unearthed hotel vulnerabilities, but Thai asset owners are not retreating. That means more branding opportunities for chains, but how they handle the pandemic will be closely watched.
On the website of S Hotels & Resorts, an offshoot of Singha Estate, a note says: “We wish to purchase hospitality projects in Thailand. Interested in selling? Contact us.”
Thai real estate developers with hospitality ventures are on the prowl for opportunities in the country as expectations mount that distressed hotel assets will start to appear in the third or fourth quarter as strains of more months without revenue bear down on some players.
Companies with dry powder such as S Hotels & Resorts and Asset World Corp., which were listed in the fourth quarter of last year, believe this could mean an acceleration of their expansion plans.
Asset World, the hospitality and property firm of Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakd, in particular, has deep pockets for strategic acquisitions. Its stock market listing was one of the largest corporate initial public offerings ever recorded in Thailand, raising $1.6 billion (48 billion baht).
“We are in a strong financial position from our IPO last year. We have limited debts and are looking at investment opportunities. Our expansion plans have not slowed down. On the contrary, we think this is a good opportunity to accelerate them,” Asset World's chief hospitality group officer, Stephan Vanden Auweele, told Skift.
The company intends to double its portfolio to at least 30 hotels with 10,000 rooms by the end of 2030. Its focus is only on Thailand. Currently, Asset World has 15 hotels in operation in Bangkok, Hua Hin, Samui, Phuket and Chiangmai (see chart here). Another four are being built, while six to seven projects will start construction in the next couple of months or next year. New destinations it is entering include Krabi and Pattaya.
Apart from hotels, Asset World also develops retail/office buildings and lifestyle projects in tourist locations. One such is Asiatique, an open-air riverfront mall in Bangkok where it is developing a new landmark tower designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill — architects of New York's Central Park Tower New York and Dubai's Burj Khalifa — that will include an 800-room Marriott hotel.
An expansionary Asset World is good news for hotel chains Marriott, Hilton and IHG, which manage or franchise a num