Luxury hotels are upbeat about the prospects of a promising fourth quarter and can count on further growth next year as average occupancy has already exceeded 70%, according to Chatrium Hospitality.
The group is preparing to open Chatrium Grand Bangkok in November to capture growing demand.
"We expect our average occupancy rate in December 2023 will reach 75%," said Savitri Ramyarupa, managing director of Chatrium Hospitality.
Chatrium Hospitality manages 12 properties, including hotels and residences under two brands.
Chatrium, its five-star brand, targets the upper-middle to luxury segment, while Maitria, a four-star brand, focuses on young independent travellers.
Mrs Savitri said during the pandemic its properties had strong support from long-stay guests. Without this market, the average occupancy from short-stay guests would have been 55%.
The average daily room rate also improved as it reached 90% of the pre-pandemic level, even surpassing rates in 2019 during certain periods, she said.
Mrs Savitri said she expects the average occupancy rate in 2024 for all hotels under both Chatrium and Maitria to reach around 80% of the pre-Covid level.
Panida Devahastin Na Ayudhya, group director of marketing communications, said the luxury traveller segment is increasing because of pent-up demand during the pandemic.
When travel was able to resume, high-end properties tended to sell faster than other lower-level categories.
The firm's new property -- Chatrium Grand Bangkok -- is located in Ratchathewi. The property required an investment of 5.5 billion baht.
The property, comprising 582 hotel rooms and 50 residential units, is set to open on Nov 28. The average room rate starts at 10,000 baht per night.
She said since luxury hotels in Bangkok have a lower average room rate than those found in other big cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo, this might help attract more tourists to choose the city.
Mrs Savitri added that customers during the early stage of reopening might have been derived from wholesale agencies and the corporate segment.
She said this year the target would initially be Asian markets, such as Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, India as well as the Middle East.
Chatrium Hospitality plans to develop five more hotels within the next three years in various locations, including Samui, Phuket, Vietnam and Indonesia.
The hotel in Phuket will be its own investment, while the remainder will be on management contracts.
