MÖVENPICK Hotels & Resorts will open seven hotels in Asia over the next three years as part of the company’s plan to focus on South-east Asia as a key growth area.
This will see the Swiss hotelier expand its footprint from eight to 15 properties, six of which will be in Thailand.
Jens Reichert, the management company’s vice president of development, said South-east Asia will become an increasingly important market for Mövenpick, which has another 10 properties in the regional pipeline.
“We believe there’s a lot of opportunity within South-east Asia’s existing destinations; it has good ingredients for hospitality and the right kind of entrepreneurs that we can work with (as investors in hotels).”
The company will open seven properties across the region in the next three years: two in Thailand, two in Malaysia and one each in China, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Even though markets such as Bangkok are fiercely competitive and have some of the cheapest five-star hotels in the region, Reichert said Mövenpick believes there is still ample room to build new business within the upscale market.
Beyond South-east Asia, Mövenpick recognises China’s strong development potential but has no plans to significantly expand its footprint there.
Beijing’s current crackdown on graft and profligate spending among public officials has resulted in a notable reduction in the number of luxury hotel licences issued. Said Reichert: “We will only go into China when (a project) ticks all the boxes.”
That said, the hotelier will target Chinese tourists travelling within the region.
“There are about 100 million middle-class Chinese who travel outside of the country each year. South-east Asia is a key destination for them. (While they initially may travel on group tours), by their second or third trip a large chunk of those 100 million tourists will stay at an upscale hotel,” opined Reichert.
