Dusit Thani diversifies to ritzy residential projects
Dusit Thani Plc is set to be a diversified business company with more investments in upscale residential projects in addition to hospitality services.
The focus is on diversification after the closure of the Dusit Thani Bangkok hotel earlier this year to develop the site as a mixed-use project, Dusit Central Park.
Suphajee Suthumpun, group chief executive of Dusit International, said Dusit Parkside and Dusit Residences are residential projects in the mixeduse development it jointly invested in with Central Group at a cost of 36.7 billion baht.
To date, 62 Thais have shown interest in buying these residential units, expected to be ready for delivery in 2024.
“An oversupply in the condo segment has made branded residences, which offer services, more popular.
Our residential projects are on Rama IV Road, a strategic location with less of a glut than the Sukhumvit area,” Mrs Suphajee said.
Last month, Dusit Thani entered into a joint venture with Origin Property Plc to develop the Hampton Sriracha by Origin and
Dusit, a condominium in Chon Buri province, to tap the Eastern Economic Corridor scheme.
For hotel business, she said Dusit aims to add 60 properties with more than 20,000 rooms in 25 countries by 2023.
It has 271 properties in 14 countries, of which 34 are hotels and the rest are villas.
In the first half of 2019, the hotelier opened five new hotels in Thailand and overseas, namely Dusit Suites Ratchadamri, Bangkok; Dusit Thani Mactan Cebu and DusitD2 Davao in the Philippines, Dusit Doha Hotel in Qatar and Dusit Princess Residence Marina in the UAE.
Two more hotels will be opened in the Philippines and three in China this year to reach its business goal to open 10-12 hotels per year.
Next year, two hotels under the Asai brand are scheduled to open — one on Yaowarat Road and the other on Sathon Soi 12.
Asai will expand to Tokyo with a 100% self-owned property in 2021, while Cebu in the Philippines and Myanmar are under management agreements in the future.
Mrs Suphajee said the overall hotel occupancy rate for its Thailand portfolio in the last quarter will stay at 78-80%, close to last year’s figure.
Dusit Thani, a SET-listed firm, reported 2.69 billion baht in revenue for the first half this year, down 4.5% year-on-year. The hospitality sector generated 1.98 billion baht in revenue, down 14.5%. Some 195 million baht came from education business, down 3.9%.
Food business, which is a key driver for the company, earned 212 million baht. The company plans to raise its investment in Epicure Catering to 70% in the first half next year, up from 51%.
Mrs Suphajee said the company set a 10-15% revenue growth target this year but the trade war, political unrest in Hong Kong and Iraq and the strong baht are factors that could affect hospitality services.
She suggested the Thai government support investment in new attractions and seek global partners to build new landmarks in the country such as Universal Studios and Disney theme parks.