Tourists in the mid-priced and budget segments remain sensitive to prices, meaning hotels rated less than four stars struggled to maintain their room and occupancy rates in August.
Thienprasit Chaiyapatranun, president of the Thai Hotels Association (THA), said while the average occupancy rate of hotels nationwide improved to 61.8% from 58.4% year-on-year last month, the figure still lagged the pre-pandemic rate of 64.7%, according to the hotel operator sentiment index for August.
Regarding the categories, he said the situation for hotels rated three stars or lower is worrisome as the average occupancy for this segment decreased to 49.3%, while hotels with four stars or higher reported a surge in the occupancy rate to 68.8%.
Mr Thienprasit said 40% of the 106 respondents were unable to fully resume their revenue, while 20% of them believed they would have to wait until the second quarter or second half of next year to return to normal.
Some 7% expressed pessimism about the situation, predicting they would never fully recover to the pre-pandemic level.
Only 31% said they had already recorded higher revenue than the pre-pandemic level, mostly driven by increasing room rates after investing in renovations and upgrading their services.
The main markets for these hotels were foreigners, representing more than 50% of their occupancy, mostly from China, the Middle East, Europe and other countries in Asia.
However, most hotels that could not raise their selling prices said the price sensitivity among their targeted customers was the most critical reason (63%), followed by intense competition (55%) and a decrease in bookings (42%).
The average room rate for these hotels remained lower than 1,500 baht per night, a stark contrast to five-star hotels at more than 5,000 baht per night, and four-star hotels at 1,500-2,499 baht per night.
The labour shortage remained consistent with July, with around 40% saying they were not able to fill vacant positions. Most of the affected hotels were located in the Central region, said Mr Thienprasit.
