Thai luxury property developer Sansiri, better known for building high-end residences and condominiums across the country, has now forayed outside of the real estate sector as part of a push to diversity its portfolio.
On its agenda is to bring The Standard Hotels, a boutique hotel chain in the US, into Thailand and other South-east Asian countries very soon, announced Sansiri CEO Apichart Chutrakul at a press conference during the Thailand Tourism Forum 2018 in Bangkok yesterday.
The Thai property company is “not new to the hotel game”, stated Apichart, as it already owns two small hotels with about 50-60 rooms in Hua Hin and Khao Yai to complement its condominium business. “We are no longer just a property company; we have now become a mixed development company,” he added.
“We want to bring the West to the East,” Apichart declared. “We want to bring some of the best brands and operators to be based here. We believe tourist numbers will grow and we want to bring Bangkok up to standard with mega cities of the world like Tokyo, London and New York.”
Besides Standard International, the Bangkok-listed developer has recently invested in five other lifestyle and technology businesses – One Night, a last-minute boutique hotel booking app; Hostmaker, a London-based management company for Airbnb hosts; JustCo, a Singapore-based co-working group; Farmshelf, an indoor farm start-up; and lifestyle magazine Monocle.
Together, these six brands, which represent an investment of US$80 million, will enable Sansiri to drive the “transformation” in Thailand’s hospitality and lifestyle sectors to meet the demands of a new generation of travellers.
Meanwhile, Sansiri will continue to seek deals in other hospitality-related businesses in future, revealed Apichart.
