Business Traveller (Asia-Pacific)
NEW IN TOWN
Bangkok’s constant flow of new hotels is great for travellers but a growing challenge for the properties themselves
Standing in the heart of Bangkok’s Silom central business district, the city’s tallest skyscraper – the abstract “pixel” designed King Power Mahanakhon tower – is an ideal property to house a high-end hotel. When the building first opened in late 2016, it was expected that the opening of Thailand’s first Edition Hotel, the luxury brand developed between Marriott and renowned American hotelier Ian Schrager, would follow shortly after in 2017. But this never happened, leaving the property without one of its planned standout features. In the fourth quarter of 2019, this is set to change with the opening of Accorhotels’ first property under its revived and reimagined Orient Express Hotels brand. The opening is set to cap off yet another flourishing year for Bangkok’s ever-growing hotel sector, which began with the opening of the Rosewood Bangkok in the city’s Lumpini commercial and embassy district at the end of March. By the time the Orient Express Hotel opens its doors, the Capella Bangkok, Avani Sukhumvit Bangkok and Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River are also expected to have opened.
This flow of new properties into an already crowded market makes Bangkok a delight for visitors wishing to stay with their preferred brand, but it also makes the Thai capital a uniquely challenging prospect for the hotels themselves, both new and old. “There aren’t many brands that are missing in Bangkok,” says Herman Ehrlich, general manager of the Conrad Bangkok, which opened 16 years ago in Lumpini. “Most large brands are represented here, so competition drives the product.”
For newcomers, this makes differentiating oneself from the existing competition essential, a task Rosewood Bangkok’s managing director, Thomas Harlander, likens to “being a special goldfish in a shark tank”. This is made especially difficult by the fact that much of the competition has the highestquality hardware, making it harder to offer something better.
“In the world of luxury hotels, looking around us every property has beautiful furniture, amazing hardware and wonderful architecture,” says Harlander. “But ultimately, it means nothing if you don’t get the software right.”
For the city’s existing hotels, the plethora of properties with top-quality hardware isn’t something that can simply be ignored, and established brands are having to overhaul their hardware to keep up with the competition. When I visited the Conrad at the end of March, the hotel was in the latter stages of a two-phase renovation project that is giving its main public areas, conference facilities, guestrooms, suites and executive lounge a facelift.
Such large overhauls can be necessary for long-time hotels in Bangkok’s crowded market, but they are not easy to accomplish. “What makes owners hesitate in markets like Bangkok is the tremendous competition and the