Singapore and London – It will come as no surprise that hotel performance in Thailand has been negatively affected by the recent political turmoil, but the rest of the country seems relatively unscathed. These are the key facts shown in the latest Asia Pacific hotel performance report produced by STR Global and Horwath HTL that has been released this week. The reports combine the reporting power of STR Global, the world’s largest supplier of hotel performance data, with the local market knowledge provided by Horwath HTL Hotel experts, part of the worlds largest hospitality consulting brand.

Other key points in the report shows that regardless of the unrest, all markets in Thailand managed to make year on year gains in average room rate for the first quarter, with the luxury sector making the biggest gains, although at the expense of occupancy. On the supply side, the upscale segment is expected to experience the most significant growth in the country, with the pipeline showing the majority of these coming in the branded segment. A copy of the report can be downloaded from www.horwathhtl.com/publications or www.strglobal.com.

Ambika Gandhi, the consultant at Horwath HTL who co-wrote the report said, “The results show a resilience of a market place that has perhaps become used to the short term impact of political unrest. What is also clear is that these impacts have had far less effect on regional Thailand, which has a very strong leisure industry. We expect to have a much clearer view of what the rest of the year will be like once the elections have taken place in July.”

“Bangkok has suffered the most significant declines in demand of all Thai markets with demand down almost 30% in Q1, while ADR remained flat for the capital”, said Elizabeth Winkle, managing director of STR Global. “With declining demand, we would expect ADR to begin to weaken unless the political unrest comes to an end”, she continued. ”Contrary to the trends in the capital, the resort markets have seen a strong increase in ADR, most significantly in the Luxury segment, leading to a positive RevPAR performance for these markets.

About Horwath HTL

Horwath HTL (Hotels Tourism and Leisure) is the world’s largest and most experienced Hotel, tourism and leisure-consulting brand, with over 50 offices in 39 countries. Horwath HTL provides unequalled expertise for clients around the world, always providing the highest level of service to our clients.

Over the last 25 years, Horwath HTL has gained extensive market knowledge through involvement in thousands of projects.

Horwath HTL is a member of Crowe Horwath International, a professional association of accounting and management consulting firms founded in New York in 1915. Crowe Horwath International is currently ranked among the top ten international professional service groups with offices in close to 586 cities in 108 countries.

About STR Global

STR and STR Global track supply and demand data for the hotel industry and provide valuable market share analysis for international, regional hotel chains and independent hotels. With more than 46,000 hotels participating in our hotel performance surveys, we are the world’s foremost source of historical hotel performance trends on daily and monthly basis. We offer standard reports and customized data sets that help you to understand historic and forecasted market performance and supply and demand dynamics for the hotel industry.

STR and STR Global can be of assistance to operators, owners, investors, destination management companies, local and national governments, vendors, developers, advisors and financiers alike.

James Chappell (HTL)
Global Marketing Director
Horwath