Thai property developer Boutique Corporation partnered with hotel chain Oakwood to launch Oakwood Studios Sukhumvit Bangkok yesterday.
The launch comes as the tourism industry continues its rebound and borders are reopened.
The 177-room hotel, valued at 1.25 billion baht, has 60% of rooms targeting long-stay customers and 40% for short stays.
The hotel is Oakwood's second property in Asia with a studio design. The main customer base is young millennials and Southeast Asian travellers.
Prab Thakral, president and group chief executive of Boutique Corporation, said as foreigners have started returning to Thailand, he has observed the Indian market filling the gap left by the Chinese market, becoming a sustainable source of tourist arrivals.
"We are looking at many Asian travellers, from Japan, South Korea and a lot of Indian tourists coming in. It is hard to judge the final proportion because it will depend on each country's airlift to Thailand. I predict India will be No.1 or No.2 for foreign arrivals after Malaysia," he said.
"In the pre-Covid era, the marketing was pushed towards China. I think depending on one large market is not a good strategy for this country.
"It's good we are now attracting Indian tourism because the population of these two countries are about the same."
Mr Thakral forecast the hotel occupancy rate would return to the pre-pandemic level by 2024.
"We are bringing Oakwood Studios into a new era with the introduction of our new guest experiences in the Sukhumvit area, one of Bangkok's most action-packed and important areas, offering excellent shopping, dining and nightlife," said Lina Abdullah, director of operations at Oakwood Thailand.
Singapore's Ascott announced it is acquiring Oakwood last month and the transaction is expected to be complete in the third quarter of this year.
LAND AND PROPERTY TAX
In 2020, the government issued a 90% cut to the land and building tax to ease the burden on owners of land and building sites because of the severe impact of the pandemic.
This tax cut was in effect from 2020-21, but the Finance Ministry declined to extend it past last year.
This year landowners have to pay a greater percentage, though the law still offers a payment discount in 2022, the last year for such a rate cut.
Mr Thakral said the higher tax rate should not affect Boutique Corporation much.
"We are generating income, so we factor that into our profit and loss, but it does not have a significant effect. We have operated with the land tax for a long time and we factor it into our forecast," he said.
Next year Boutique Corporation plans to open a lifestyle community mall on Charoen Krung Road in Bangkok as well as a hotel.
Aside from the firm's well-known build-operate-sell business model, Mr Thakral said Boutique Corp is diversifying by entering new business segments, including storage and the cannabis-related sector.
"Cannabis is a big selling point. It is a massive potential market. We will open wellness centres and dispensaries in most of our hotels," he said.
"We are fully legal and have a full value chain. We grow, process and dispense to our clinics and dispensaries."
In 2020, Bespoke Life Science, a company under Boutique Corp, signed a memorandum of understanding with Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna to promote R&D of hemp and cannabis products.
