Thai Hotel Rates Plunge

The Thai Hotels Association said hotel occupancy rates in Thailand plunged to below 50% during May to June, an immediate fallout of the termination of the government’s “Let Us Travel Together” phase 5 campaign in April. The THA predicts less than 50% occupancy rates for June after experiencing a full-scale slowdown in both domestic and international markets. This is the low season for Thailand and international tourists so the timing to terminate the campaign is a bit strange. The North saw the biggest decline to 29.9% occupancy from 42.7% in April. The Central and East regions had the highest occupancy at 59% but that was down from 65.5% and 67% respectively in April. The Southern region decreased to 52.4% from 61.8%.

IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of voco Ma Belle Danang, the first voco hotel in Vietnam and the 50^th opening globally. IHG partnered with Tuyet Lien Son Co Ltd. on the opening in downtown Danang. The hotel is 27 stories, just steps from My Khe Beach. The voco Ma Belle Danang has three restaurants and bars including a rooftop pool and Ciela Skybar and Dining. There also is a luxurious spa, gym and over 521 square meters of flexible meeting and social event space.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of Ramada Encore by Wyndham Amagasaki. The 235-room hotel is the first Ramada Encore by Wyndham hotel in Japan and the first international hotel brand within Amagasaki. Ramada Encore by Wyndham Amagasaki is the second hotel Wyndham manages within Wyndham Destinations Japan. The hotel is located less than 30 minutes from Osaka and within walking distance of the Amagasaki and Hanshin train stations. Wyndham Destinations Japan plans to further renovate and modernize the common areas, guest rooms and more at the property in the coming months.

Mondrian Singapore Duxton has opened its doors. Guests of the 302-room Mondrian Singapore Duxton will have access to a range of amenities from Duxton neighborhood barista cafes, Michelin-starred eateries, bars, galleries and independent boutique. Instead of a lobby the hotel has a restaurant and bar. The hotel also houses a café, cocktail bar and rooftop bar and restaurant.

The Galadari Hotels (Lanka) PLC has entered into a hotel development services agreement and a hotel management agreement with Radisson Hotels Asia Pacific Investments Ltd concerning the five-star 450-room property in Colombo. Galadari Hotels said it intends to engage with Radisson Hotel Asia Pacific and/or one or more of its affiliates to manage the Galadari Hotel Colombo under the name Radisson Blu Hotel Galadari Colombo. The discussions started back in February 2020. 

Macau Treasure Island Resort World Hotel will have its soft opening this summer with its Shopping Center opening on October 1. YOHO Treasure Island Resorts World Hotel was formerly owned by Genting Hong Kong but that was lost when Genting Hong Kong went belly up and had to sell its stake in all its operations and assets. They sold their 50% stake in the property to local investor Ao Mio Leong in November 2020 for US$96.7 million. The property is 8,100 square meters, 70 meters high, has 600 rooms in the hotel with the Resorts World Macau shopping mall among its key features. JLL said 80% of the retail space in the mall has now been leased. JLL is the exclusive leasing and marketing consultant of the shopping center. The mall has five floors with over 400,000 square feet and includes retail shops, restaurants, bars, a cinema, supermarkets, children’s playgrounds and other facilities, expected to be the largest shopping mall on the Macau Peninsula. The Treasure Island Resort World Macau property will not include a casino.

Diaoyutai MGM Hospitality’s inaugural dual-brand project, Diaoyutai Hotel Qingdao and MGM Qingdao officially opened on June 10 in Laoshan District, Qingdao in China. The collaborative effort between MGM Resorts International and Diaoyutai marks Diaoyutai MGM Hospitality’s debut under two distinct names, highlighting its investment and management by SID (Qingdao) Investment Development. MGM Qingdao has 334 luxurious rooms and five dining options on offer at the hotel including restaurants, bakeries, and bars. The hotel includes a banquet hall. The press release, for some reason, did not give the room count for the Diaoyutai Hotel Qingdao just saying it includes the Royal Court Chinese Restaurant and Fangfei Garden Lounge and Fangfei tea house.

OYO said it would onboard and add 300 hill-station hotels to its portfolio by August 2023 to cash in on the summer vacation rush. In north India, the new hotels will be in places such as Manali, Mussoorie, Nainital, Srinagar, Shimla, Dalhousie and Haridwar while in the South, the hotels will be in Ooty, Munar and Kodaikanal. Gangtok, Darjeeling and Shillong in the East and Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar in the West will also see new OYO hotels. In addition to the expansion across hill destinations, OYO is aiming to add 1,800 new hotels to its portfolio in 2023 as part of its ongoing bid for premiumization.

Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation said they would be opening three high-end hotels along the stretch of the Kiratpur-Manali four-lane road.

Personnel Moves

Accor announced they appointed Nidhi Verma as their Director of Marketing & Communication for India and South Asia, responsible for driving the development and execution of integrated public relations campaigns that align with the brand’s marketing strategies, alongside leveraging a 360-degree approach across various media platforms.

Anil Madhok, the founder of Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, has passed away.