COMO Hotels and Resorts is stepping up efforts to attract Thailand’s luxury outbound travellers as it expands its presence in Europe.
The strategy coincides with the launch of two new properties in France: COMO Le Beauvallon on the French Riviera and COMO Cordeillan-Bages in Bordeaux.
“Thailand has long been one of Asia’s most sophisticated luxury travel markets, with travellers who are globally minded, culturally curious, and increasingly seeking meaningful, experience-led journeys rather than purely transactional luxury,” said Doris Goh, executive vice president, commercial, at COMO Hotels and Resorts.
Goh said France continues to hold strong appeal for affluent Thai travellers, making the new openings well positioned to capture demand for travel centred on gastronomy, wine and heritage.
Alongside the new French properties, COMO said established European hotels such as COMO Castello Del Nero in Tuscany, COMO Alpina Dolomites and London’s COMO The Halkin continue to attract Thai guests seeking longer stays and wellness-focused escapes.
To strengthen its position in the market, COMO is shifting from a destination-focused sales model to a customer-centric regional structure.
“The Thai luxury traveller remains highly relationship-driven, with trust, familiarity, and personalised engagement carrying far greater influence than traditional mass-market advertising. The strategic priority is therefore not volume distribution, but precision distribution, reaching the right affluent traveller through trusted luxury channels,” Goh explained.
As part of the strategy, Bangkok-based Jocelyn Whiteside has been appointed global director of sales for Thailand and Hong Kong to deepen relationships with luxury travel advisors, invitation-only communities and luxury consortiums.
COMO is also seeking closer collaboration with local luxury DMCs.
“Partnerships (with Thai luxury DMCs) should evolve beyond transactional contracting toward strategic collaboration,” Goh stated, citing opportunities for joint client events and co-created culinary and wellness itineraries.
Goh noted that Thailand presents a different opportunity from more mature outbound markets.
“Compared to the Japanese market, Thai luxury travellers tend to be more experience-driven, social, and flexible in their travel style,” she said.
While Thailand remains a priority market, COMO is also using its restructured sales framework to target other key Asian source markets.
The group’s regional structure, anchored by an ASEAN-focused sales hub in Jakarta, is aimed at capturing affluent outbound travellers across South-east Asia and Hong Kong.
COMO is also continuing to track demand from Singapore, Indonesia and China, focusing on travellers seeking authenticity, privacy and personalised experiences across its global portfolio.
