Centara aims for 130 properties in five years
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CENTARA Hotels & Resorts, one of the country's largest hotel chains, plans to nearly double its portfolio from 75 to 120-130 properties, including those under management contracts, within five years.
Thirayuth Chirathivat, chief executive officer, said yesterday that the company would explore market opportunities in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the United States to boost its international business to about 35 per cent of its portfolio in five years.
The company is working on a deal to develop a greenfield hotel in Yangon under a management contract or a joint venture with a local investor in Myanmar. It should be finalised in two to three months. Construction and development will take three or four years.
In Asia, the company manages hotels in Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos and is looking to manage particular hotels in Malaysia.
It operates more than 75 hotels, both its own developments and properties managed for others. About 44 hotels have already opened and 15 of them belong to the company.
It plans to open nine to 10 hotels this year, both in Thailand and overseas, including in Muscat, Bali and Vietnam. Most of them are through management contracts.
The latest hotel managed by the company just opened this year in Krabi with 80 rooms in the first phase.
The company aims to win 10-15 management contracts annually over the next five years.
It will develop one or two of its own hotels each year, with each taking two to three years for development.
Centara expects its revenue to rise by more than 10 per cent this year amid many challenges, particularly the huge shortfall of tourists from Russia, which has been offset by an increase in visitors from China.
The company’s revenue rose by only 0.7 per cent to Bt8.5 billion last year, but it foresees a rebound this year after posting double-digit growth year on year in the first quarter.
“Most of our hotels are running more than 80 per cent full,” Thirayuth said.
“On behalf of the private sector, we would like to urge the tourism authority and other agencies to focus not only on volume, but also on the quality of tourists they are wooing from overseas.
“Thailand should not be treated as a cheap destination, but as a place with plenty of attractions and culture and value for money,” he said.
