Thailand’s hotel investment market reached a record level in 2025, with total transaction volume of 26.4 billion baht (US$845.6 million), the highest ever recorded and an increase from 25.1 billion baht in 2024.
Data presented by JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group at the Thailand Tourism Forum 2026 showed that the result exceeded the 10-year historical average of 13.9 billion baht. Despite global economic cooling, the country’s hospitality sector continued to show resilience.
Orn Yomchinda, executive vice president, investment sales, Asia at JLL, said the 2025 figures surprised many in the industry.
“2025 has officially become Thailand’s biggest year yet for hotel transactions, characterised by a robust liquidity environment that outperformed our initial forecasts. What is particularly notable is that while the number of transactions year-on-year remained steady at 18, the average volume per transaction rose from 1.1 billion baht historically to 1.5 billion baht this year and last year,” said Yomchinda.
She also pointed to a shift in where capital is being deployed.
“Bangkok remains the undisputed powerhouse, accounting for 80 per cent of the total transaction volume, followed by Phuket at around eight per cent – quite a significant drop from 23 per cent last year, mainly because there’s not a lot of assets coming up for sale at reasonable pricing or market pricing; also lot of the owners are also long-term owners who are not looking to sell their assets,” she said.
While 2025 set a high benchmark, forecast transaction volumes for 2026 are expected to moderate to around 13 billion baht.
Yomchinda also identified emerging avenues for value creation amid rising costs and geopolitical uncertainty, including secondary markets beyond Bangkok, Phuket and Samui, as well as financing structures such as mortgages or sales with redemption rights.
She added: “Investors are now pivoting toward mixed-use developments such as hotels with branded residences and hotel redevelopments. There is a clear ‘new wave’ of repositioning older hotels in prime locations to unlock their true market value.”
