Nida Wongphanlert, General Manager of 137 Pillars Suites and Residences — Photo by 137 Pillars Hotels and Resorts

March may be Women’s History Month, but for many in the hospitality industry, lifting up women in leadership positions across the field is an ongoing effort to pave the way for more women to rise into leadership roles. Meet Nida Wongphanlert, who is the General Manager of 137 Pillars Suites and Residences Bangkok, a luxury hotel in the heart of Bangkok’s arts and fashion district known for its legendary hospitality and service.

Wongphanlert’s path to success has not been a cookie-cutter one, however. With her background in engineering, she brings a fresh new perspective to hospitality management while inspiring women to thrive in leadership roles.

Her work often speaks for itself. An active sustainability advocate, Wongphanlert is currently working on a 200-acre tree-planting initiative and an herbal farm project that will not only offset the carbon footprint produced by the hotel and her family business but also provide essential Thai herbs for an upcoming line of products that will be available in the hotels.

As a woman trained in the sciences with a passion for the arts, Wongphanlert finds herself balancing her penchant for creativity with her own personal brands of management as she makes decisions based on numbers and logistics while embracing the latest innovations. It’s all accomplished without forgetting the human touch in hospitality to deliver the best service to exceed guests’ expectations while embracing her passion for the arts. Whether it’s another creative marketing effort by Wongphanlert’s sales team or paying close attention to growing as a team, she is always focused on creating unique experiences for all 137 Pillars guests.

What are the most challenging aspects of hotel management post-COVID, and how did you overcome those challenges?

Staffing shortages have been a major problem in the industry since the onset of the pandemic. Workers have moved out of this industry and it is very difficult to source the right candidates for the team. Luckily, our brand is well known in the local market and with our competitive benefits, people still apply. Once they are on board, the next challenge is to make sure they stay with us by offering a career path full of growth potential for those high performers on our team.

After COVID, Bangkok has become even more competitive for the luxury hotel segment (many major international brands are already in Bangkok), and with travel still limited compared to pre-COVID times due to limitations in flights, sales, and marketing are crucial and it is essential to put our efforts in the right tasks and strategy. Travel has become more difficult to predict, and we have to forecast quarter by quarter while controlling our costs. Finding this balance and empowering the heads of departments to take this on is a challenge but it is a good challenge in the long run.

One year into your role as general manager, what would you say are the most rewarding experiences working as a GM at a 5-Star hotel in Bangkok during the most challenging time in the history of hospitality?

The most rewarding experience is seeing how business has changed since the pandemic. I am very proud of our team for working together to not only survive but thrive in 2022. We managed to optimize our revenue generation and cost savings and our gross operating profit (GOP) % year-round has exceeded pre-COVID numbers. This is a huge credit to our team given that travel in the first two quarters was still minimal with Thailand’s Test and Go program.

Our focus on our brand pillars continues, however. We started off 2023 by being named one of the Best hotels in Bangkok, and Nitra Serenity Center was recently named one of the best spas in Bangkok by Condé Nast Traveler.

How do feel that your background in engineering and your passion for arts and photography helped bring different perspectives to a management role in the hospitality industry?

Creativity is definitely essential for marketing initiatives and the development of the 137 Pillars brand. This helped us to constantly come up with new products, events, promotions, services, and amenities for our guests. We hosted art events, created the Boutique of Jewels afternoon tea set, curated sustainable drinks suited for our brand story, and many more. For management, it is also crucial to motivate the team to think outside the box, and to be creative and flexible. The result is not only higher revenue generation but also a happy and positive working environment.

My engineering background has equipped me with logical and quantitative skills when we need to make various decisions and embrace new technology and innovations to help us cater to our guests and continue to exceed their expectations.

Revenue management is a crucial function in the industry and it is very important to gain access to data as conveniently as possible. We now use OTA insight, which is a tool for us to pull out data efficiently for analysis. With this analysis, we will be able to optimize revenues and better target our marketing efforts to ensure greater returns in our sales and marketing investment.

We also use Revinate, a system that pulls out all our reviews online together with SARA, which is a maintenance reporting application to review our property’s maintenance and service qualities. With the data mined straight from our guests, we can use this information to continually make improvements to our services, product, and experience. During and after the pandemic, travel slowly came back for each market, and we couldn’t rush into reimplementing everything but instead focused on our customers to know which services are most crucial to them.

Beyond the latest innovation and technology that exists in the industry, you have always been a sustainability advocate. Tell us about your sustainability initiatives throughout your properties.

Sustainability has always been at the forefront of our mission and operations, and we will no doubt continue to enhance our efforts. Our family is currently working on a 200-acre tree planting project and building an herbal farm project that will offset the family business’s carbon footprint while providing essential Thai herbs for our kitchen, among other initiatives.

Going beyond the environmental aspects of sustainability - reduce, reuse, and recycle programs we currently have in place, we always try to support local businesses and economies where possible. Every guest who visits can take comfort in knowing that they’re helping to support the local economy and greater earth— without compromising on luxury.

In an effort to support the local community and economy, 137 Pillars Suites & Residences is partnering with the following Thai-owned and operated businesses, offering curated, bespoke local products on the property: Monsoon Tea, the Chiang Mai-based tea company; Harnn, a Bangkok-based luxury lifestyle brand, and Roots Coffee, a micro-roastery based in Bangkok.

We have recently introduced plant-based menus and are currently working on sustainable cocktails using a zero-waste approach to yet again lead the way.

Nida Wongphanlert

Nida Wongphanlert is the general manager of the luxury hospitality brand 137 Pillars Hotels & Resorts with properties in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Wongphanlert joined her family’s hotel business in 2015 after graduation and used her engineering degree to manage the construction and design of 137 Pillars Suites and Residences Bangkok. A creative at heart, she soon found herself drawn to marketing and communications, spearheading innovative brand campaigns and events centered around art, fashion, history, and music— the cultural elements that define the guest experience at 137 Pillars Hotels & Resorts.

Since joining the company, Wongphanlert has held the positions of assistant manager of development, marketing communications manager, and project manager, before rising up to general manager of 137 Pillars Suites & Residences in Bangkok.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Bristol and Master’s Degree in Industrial Systems, Manufacture and Management from the University of Cambridge. She also holds a Certificate in Hotel Real Estate Investment and Asset Management from Cornell University.

While she never expected to be in the hospitality industry, Wongphanlert now lives and breathes it. She can often be seen on property during her downtime, when she’s often taking photos with her film camera, exercising, or relaxing with a good novel. In essence, she’s enjoying what she helped to build from scratch.