Room rates at luxury hotels on Koh Samui have surged by 40-50% after season 3 of The White Lotus aired two weeks ago, but they still have not reached the peak levels recorded in Phuket and Bangkok, according to property consultant JLL.
Rathawat Kuvijitrsuwan, senior vice-president of advisory and asset management for Asia at JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, said the overall average daily rate (ADR) for luxury hotels on Koh Samui exceeded 10,000 baht per night over the past two weeks.
"This rate jumped by 40% once the filming locations were revealed," he said. "However, this rate was primarily for newly opened hotels, while older properties recorded rates of 8,000-9,000 baht per night -- still a healthy figure considering their age."
Mr Rathawat said this phenomenon may mirror the situation in Chiang Mai in 2013, when an influx of Chinese travellers visited Thailand following the release of the Chinese film Lost in Thailand in December 2012, which was filmed in Chiang Mai.
However, the tourism markets in Chiang Mai and Koh Samui differ. While Chiang Mai can accommodate a large volume of travellers, Koh Samui is limited by flight capacity and its airport, which is owned and operated by Bangkok Airways, positioning the island primarily for the upper-end market.
"We have to wait and see how long the impact from the series will last," Mr Rathawat said. "At the very least, hotels around the TV settings will benefit."
Last year, the average occupancy rate of hotels on Koh Samui was 75%, while the total number of foreign visitors to Thailand tallied 35.5 million.
"While the Samui hotel market will see a boost, it won't reach the same level as Bangkok and Phuket, which have performed exceptionally well for over two years and attracted investors looking to acquire existing hotels," he said.
In Bangkok, the ADR for luxury hotels last year surged by 49% compared with pre-pandemic levels, with many hotels exceeding 10,000 baht per night, and new properties commanding rates as high as 15,000 baht.
Phuket's hotel performance was even more robust, with ADR soaring nearly 120% between the end of 2019 and the end of 2024.
While the mid- to upper-scale hotel segment also performed well, its growth was not as pronounced as that of the luxury segment.
In contrast, budget hotels remained sluggish due to the delayed recovery of tour groups, which represent their primary target market.
"In 2025-26, we may not see the same surge in ADR as we did over the past two years as the current ADR is already quite high and may not be affordable for consumers," said Mr Rathawat.
"The growth rate this year is expected to be around 2-3% on average."
He said the surge in the hotel sector and tourism market two years ago drove demand from investors looking to acquire hotels.
Last year hotel transactions in Thailand reached 22.3 billion baht, the highest on record, surpassing 21 billion tallied in 2018.
JLL projects hotel transactions to reach 13 billion baht this year.
"According to our sentiment survey, hotel operators and owners in Thailand are concerned about workforce challenges, struggling to fully rehire staff," said Mr Rathawat.
"They have found it particularly difficult to recruit staff for front office positions."
