Carlson Rezidor plans 6 new hotels in Thailand within 18 months
The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group will be adding six new hotels in Thailand over the next 15 to 18 months. Thorsten Kirschke, president of the group for the Asia-Pacific region, said it was bullish on the Thailand market.
"We believe that the fundamentals for Thailand [are] the way forward. We want to be a major player and take part in that," Kirschke told a media briefing at Radisson Blu Plaza Bangkok yesterday.
Although specifics on the location of the new hotels were not given, he said the group would concentrate on popular destinations such as Bangkok and Pattaya, with possibly a Radisson Red hotel in Bangkok, and expand more into the resort arena.
The group currently operates four hotels in Bangkok under three brands: Radisson Blu Plaza Bangkok, Radisson Suites Bangkok Sukhumvit, Park Plaza Sukhumvit Bangkok and Park Plaza Bangkok Soi 18.
Radisson Blu Hua Hin is expected to open by next quarter.
Kirschke said the hotels in Thailand achieved a record occupancy of around 70 per cent last year despite the Erawan Shrine bombing in August.
"I am a very strong believer in the Thai tourism industry, which has shown enormous resilience against external influence.
"Of course we [were] impacted just like everyone else, but we came back very strong after a lag of about two months. With the record occupancy rate in 2015, we should not complain," he said.
He added that the group fared better last year than in 2014 when Thailand was embroiled in political turmoil.
On the Asia-Pacific front, Kirschke said the group was looking to add another 100 hotels over the next five years to the more than 100 already operating under the group in this region.
"Asia-Pacific has one of the highest GDP [growth rates] in the world. If we don’t go in this time, then we will be missing an opportunity to expand," he said.
The markets that are targeted in the region include Indonesia, where four new hotels will be added, the Philippines and Australasia. Kirschke revealed that the group was also negotiating to expand into Yangon.
"Yangon is a market that we have been looking at [for] a while. It is a market that is very typical of new emerging markets that [have just opened] to the world, which is characterised by enormous volatility.
"Coming from a small base, while the trend is positive and everyone is excited about the future market in Myanmar, it would be naive to believe that it is going to be an easy ride. It’s going to be a bumpy road, but it’s a path going towards the right direction," Kirschke said.
