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THIS YEAR will be crucial one for the Bangkok hotel industry, with a swathe of new supply set to descend on the market, in the process ramping up pressure on the city’s occupancy and rates.
In the first three months of the year, the inventory in downtown Bangkok - Sukhumvit, Ploenchit, Silom, Sathorn and Riverside – grew to 29,511 rooms, an increase of one per cent quarter-on-quarter and eight per cent year-on-year, according to commercial real estate company CB Richard Ellis Thailand’s MarketView Bangkok Luxury Hotel Q1/2011 report.
New hotels already opened this year in Bangkok include the 75-key Sivatel Bangkok, 370-key Novotel Bangkok Fennix Ploenchit, 224-key The St Regis, 50-ley Best Western Bangkok Hiptique, 78-key Best Western Plus@20 Sukhumvit, 188-room Ramada Encore, and 125-room Park Plaza Sukhumvit Soi 18.
The rest of the year will see 5,199 keys added to the Thai capital's inventory, a 19 per cent increase consisting of 203 luxury rooms, 2,773 first-class rooms, 1,168 mid-range rooms and 1,055 economy rooms.
The deluge of keys will be provided by the 283-room Novotel Bangkok Platinum, 297-room aloft Bangkok, 39-key The Siam, 166-key Hotel Muse, 421-room Four Points by Sheraton Sathorn, 120-room Golden Tulip Mandison Suites, and 390-room Eastin Grand Hotel Sathorn, all due to open this year.
Increased competition from the slew of new hotels is expected to push down ADR. “The performance of the tourism industry this year will also depend heavily on the outcome of the upcoming election (on July 3),” the report added.
In the luxury hotel sector alone, the report stated that ADR in the first three months of the year was down by 15 per cent to 5,789 baht (US$189), and RevPar declined by nine per cent to 3,685 baht. In US dollar terms, the ADR was US$191, a decline of nine per cent, and RevPar was US$122, a three per cent drop.
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