Christopher E. Stafford
THAILAND’s Wongphanlert family is spinning off a new luxury boutique hotel management company, 137 Pillars Hotels & Resorts, from their first hotel, 137 Pillars House Chiang Mai which since opening in December 2011 has been showcasing the brand’s potential.
The 30-suite Chiang Mai property is a restoration of the northern headquarters of the East Borneo Trading Company built 125 years ago.
With land banks in Bangkok and Phuket, the group is now building two more hotels, 137 Pillars Suites & Residences Bangkok, scheduled to open late this year/early 2017 with 34 suites and 179 private residences, and 137 Pillars Estate Phuket, scheduled to open in early 2019 on the north peninsula of Kata beach with 62 suites and villas. Land has also been acquired for another development on Phang Nga island.
It’s all systems go for the family to move into the hotel management business. Christopher E. Stafford, who has been appointed COO to direct and oversee the mission, has put in place executive team members including five group directors, for projects and technical services, sales and marketing, culinary, F&B and finance.
Said Stafford: “I see a window to create a branded luxury boutique hotel company. I’m aiming for 20 hotels in the next five years, their size not more than 60 keys ideally and only all suites or all villas.
“Our advantage is our owners have land banks. I also believe that to expand, I need to look outside the shell of Thailand. The real opportunity today is in places like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.”
Stafford said by the time the 137 Pillars hotels in Bangkok and Phuket open, the group should have secured management contracts to manage luxury boutique hotels for other owners.
“We’re accelerating these deals. Because we’re in a business that is labour and capital intensive, speed really matters; our costs are not going to go away. If you look at Bangkok alone, labour costs have risen 30-40 per cent in the last five years, plus there’s a real shortage of great people. We have to bring in lots of resources and that is costing a lot. If our carrying costs are high to run a management company, we’ve got to leverage them pretty quickly.”
Stafford moved into the COO role from working with the family as vice president hotel operations of SilverNeedle Hospitality, which will continue to manage the 137 Pillars House Chiang Mai until this December. He also headed Anantara from 2000-2007 in Thailand and the Maldives, opening six properties for the group.
