Accor has secured 21 properties in its pipeline for its five-year plan in Thailand, predicting revenue per available room (RevPar) this year for most of its hotels to exceed the level recorded in 2019, propelled by an estimated 25 million foreign arrivals.
Thailand reopened quickly compared with its competitors as tourists yearned for Thai hospitality and destinations, said Ianic Menard, vice-president of operations for Accor in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Mr Menard said some hotels in cities like Phuket and Bangkok already saw RevPar overtake the level recorded in 2019 because of a rapid recovery in flight capacity.
He said the average room rate in prime locations such as beachside in Phuket and Siam Square as well as Sukhumvit in Bangkok picked up faster than others.
The average occupancy rate for Accor beachside resorts in Phuket was around 70% in 2022, while hotels in prime locations of Bangkok exceeded 50%.
The occupancy rate last year was below the level recorded in 2019, by 20 percentage points in Phuket and 25 percentage points in Bangkok, said Mr Menard.
He said hotels in other tourism destinations would have to wait for improvements in both RevPar and occupancy rate.
Two examples are Krabi and Chiang Mai, as these destinations have limited seat capacity compared with Phuket and Bangkok, said Mr Menard.
He said Accor will continue to focus on the domestic market, which helped maintain its business during the pandemic.
Roughly 90% of the company's properties enrolled in the fifth phase of the government's "We Travel Together" hotel subsidy scheme, Mr Menard said.
Accor properties in Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea in the fourth quarter of 2022 recorded a significant improvement in Revpar, with the rate only 4% lower the same period of 2019, amid strong growth in Singapore, Thailand and Japan.
Accor has 87 hotels and 19,977 rooms total in Thailand via 11 brands.
The 21 properties in its pipeline are projected to add 4,900 rooms to its portfolio.
This year the company plans to open at least five properties in Thailand, including the 662-room five-star Pullman Phuket Arcadia Karon Resort, which was rebranded in April from Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa.
The hotel's target customers are families, bleisure travellers as well as clients from meeting and incentive groups. Bleisure is a portmanteau that combines the words business and leisure.
Accor also plans to introduce the Tribe brand in Thailand, opening Tribe Living Bangkok Sukhumvit 39 with 272 rooms.
The company is also slated to open the largest "ibis Styles" property in the world with ibis Styles Bangkok Twin Towers, which has 666 rooms, said Mr Menard.
