CENTARA Hotels & Resorts is pursuing an asset light expansion strategy as it looks to grow its domestic and overseas footprint following robust performance in 2011.
Last year, group-wide hotel revenues rose by 19.9 per cent year-on-year to 4.9 billion baht (US$159 million), driven by 18 per cent hike in RevPAR, 22 per cent increase in management revenues to 133 million baht, and 3.6 per cent growth in room inventory.
Centara will beef up its portfolio of 31 hotels through the addition of eleven management contracts in 2012. Focusing on four-star and value brands, Centara is poised to open six properties in Thailand this year, and five more overseas.
Two Centra value brand hotels will launch in Bangkok in the second and third quarters. Chris Bailey, SVP sales & marketing, Centara Hotels & Resorts said: “We are finding this is a popular concept and demand is good.”
The group’s four-star Centara and five-star Centara Grand concepts will be exported to the Maldives, Mauritius and Sri Lanka, capitalising on demand from stalwart source markets in Europe and Australia, and emerging Asian markets to a lesser extent.
Demand is particularly strong in the French market, and Centara is set to open a sales office in France later this year.
“By the keeping same product, Centara is able to manoeuvre guests between locations and maintain client loyalty. These new destinations share source markets with existing hotels, so Centara can utilise its current sales infrastructure,” said Bailey.
The additional inventory is expected to take 2012 management revenues to 180 million baht. Thirayuth Chirathivat, SVP project management, Centara Hotels & Resorts, has forecast 20 per cent growth in overall hotel revenue to 5.5 billion baht, driven by improved business at properties in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.
Further ahead, Centara intends to boost its portfolio to 56 properties by end-2014, including market debuts in China and India in 2013.
Reporting by Timothy France
