Thai hotels expand abroad

Major hotel operators in Thailand are expanding abroad as competition becomes too costly at home.
New hotels continue to spring up in Bangkok, where room rates are on average lower than those of other major Asian cities.

The Thai hotel market is one of the most competitive in the world. Many global hotel chains have luxury hotels in the country, including the U.S.-based Marriott International, France's Accor, Hong Kong's Mandarin Oriental and Japan's Hotel Okura. This abundance of high-end lodging has resulted in a price war.

Dusit International CEO Chanin Donavanik says the biggest problem for hotel operators in Thailand is that there are too many new hotels opening up. According to a government survey, there were 9,865 hotels in Thailand as of the end of 2011, almost 4 times the amount in 2003.

According to Hotels.com, the average daily rate for a room in Bangkok in 2013 was just under $100. In Singapore it was around $230 and in Kuala Lumpur it was roughly $135.

Dusit International s focusing on China for expansion. The company's plan is to manage more than 50 hotels in China by 2019.

Dusit already operate hotels in India, Maldives and the United Arab Emirates, and plans to open by the end of this year a hotel in the U.S. territory of Guam.

Although 10 of the company's 23 hotels are outside of Thailand, the company still generates only 20% of its sales overseas. Chanin hopes to make this at least 40% by 2019, and more than 50% soon after that.