Asset World Corp (AWC) is banking on a run of global events, led by the 2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Bangkok, to power hotel bookings in the second half of 2026, with on-the-books room revenue already 30 per cent ahead of a year earlier across its Thai portfolio.
Wallapa Traisorat, CEO and president of AWC, said forward bookings as of early August pointed to broad-based demand, led by Pattaya at 283 per cent and Bangkok at 45 per cent year-on-year, with Chiang Mai up 39 per cent, Krabi 12 per cent and Koh Samui 10 per cent.
The figures accompanied second-quarter results showing hospitality revenue of 2,761 million baht (US$83 million), up 5.7 per cent year-on-year.
“Key global events are driving strong bookings in Bangkok and Pattaya,” Wallapa said, adding that she expected the recovery to deepen in the second half of 2026 “supported by government tourism stimulus measures”.
AWC’s Bangkok hotels for meetings, among them The Okura Prestige Bangkok, The Athenee Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bangkok and Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park, are running at 75 per cent occupancy for the event from October 12 to 18, 2026, with average daily rates (ADR) 98 per cent above the same period last year.
In Pattaya, AWC’s hotels, including Pattaya Marriott Resort & Spa and Meliá Pattaya Hotel, are at 62 per cent occupancy for Tomorrowland from December 11 to 13, with ADR up 105 per cent. The Gastech 2026 Bangkok conference from September 14 to 17 is adding further demand in Bangkok.
Second-quarter momentum was led by Pattaya, where RevPAR rose 169 per cent on the back of two hotels opened in 2025, followed by Chiang Mai at 31 per cent and Koh Samui at 10 per cent.
Hospitality EBITDA margin widened from 25.9 to 26.9 per cent on cost control, with EBITDA up 9.7 per cent to 742 million baht.
AWC will open Fairmont Bangkok Sukhumvit, the first Fairmont hotel in Thailand, this month, deepening its focus on luxury MICE. The group is also repositioning operating assets to lift rates, converting The Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa, Phuket into a Ritz-Carlton, which it expects to triple ADR, and rebranding the Jubilee Prestige Hotel Ratchadapisek as a JW Marriott, where it expects ADR to roughly double.
The moves feed a five-year investment plan worth 100 billion baht through 2030 that will grow AWC’s hospitality portfolio to 35 hotels and 9,312 room keys, from 25 hotels today.
AWC is also preparing to establish a real estate investment trust holding up to 50 billion baht of operating hotel and commercial assets, a move the group says will revitalise Thailand’s REIT market and shift its balance sheet towards an asset-light model.
