With five-star room rates in the city centre dramatically surging, the locally managed Asia Hotel Bangkok still relies on an affordable pricing strategy to maintain healthy occupancy amid intense competition.
Patcha Techaruvichit, assistant director of sales at Asia Hotel Group, said the 59-year-old property has consistently secured a high occupancy rate of more than 90% throughout the year, thanks to its location near the city centre, which is directly linked to Ratchathewi skytrain station.
However, filling up the rooms nowadays requires different strategies, as hotel trends in Bangkok shifted based on the strong growth of independent tourists, she said.
Tour groups, particularly from China, that used to occupy most of its 600 rooms have been replaced by independent tourists, which now make up about 80%, said Ms Patcha, the third generation of the family that owns the hotel.
She said short-haul markets still make up the largest share at 50%, but the guest demographic is more diverse. In addition to Chinese tourists, bookings from Japan, Malaysia and Myanmar are also strong.
The meetings and conventions segment also remains a stronghold of the hotel. Asia Hotel is one of the few in the area that still offers competitive prices that are within the budgets of clients from the civil sector.
Patcha Techaruvichit, assistant director of sales at Asia Hotel Group (no photo credit)
"Not many hotels in the area have a large ballroom of our size, spanning 3,000 square metres and which can accommodate a maximum of 1,200 guests. Our prices are also affordable for state agencies, which have a very limited meetings budget compared to the private sector," said Ms Patcha.
Last year, Asia Group sold out its first bond valued at 480 million baht. Of this budget, roughly 200 million baht was allocated to a major renovation of Asia Hotel Bangkok, where the lobby floor and the meeting functions on the third floor were totally upgraded.
She said the renovation would enable the hotel to diversify its meetings segment to private companies, which should increase to 40%.
This year, the hotel will begin renovating all 600 rooms, dividing the process into phases. Upon completion, the hotel expects to raise the average room rate by 10% from the current 1,580 baht, said Ms Patcha.
Meanwhile, the commercial space for rent on the lobby floor, which typically makes up 8-10% of total revenue at the hotel, has been developed to attract more tenants and increase traffic to the hotel.
"We're planning to use our space more efficiently. Many shops inside the hotel have been redesigned with separate exterior entrances, which could help tenants increase foot traffic. A convenience store will be added to facilitate in-house guests," she said.
Poom Techaruvichit, assistant public relations manager, said the next renovation phase would also focus on the second floor, adding smaller function rooms with capacity for 15-120 attendees.
This renovation will cater to changing demand, with clients requiring more compact meeting spaces.
Ms Patcha, also the secretary-general of the Thai Hotels Association, said the group's development would also aim at elevating sustainable and environmental standards, such as partly using energy from solar cells in its operations.
She said most hotels in Thailand still lack environmental practices, while guests sometimes don't understand the requirements for environmentally friendly hotels.
Only 264 hotels in Thailand have been accredited with the Green Hotel standard, while even fewer have obtained the internationally recognised Global Sustainable Tourism Council standard.