Samui hotel growth steadies

SAMUI, 15 August 2012: New hotel investments on Samui are showing signs of slowing, but there are still three major projects that are due to open by 2014, adding another 400 rooms to the island’s inventory.

Local tourist executives agree hotel investment trends on the island are slowing as most of the prime land plots near beaches have already been sold.

Samui Island Municipality mayor, Ramnate Chaikwang, told TTR Weekly that the trend will shift to  takeovers of existing properties to renovate and then raise room rates.

However, there are three projects under construction that will be managed by hotel chains; two international chains and one under a Thai hotel company.

According to C9 Hotelworks the three properties are Movenpick Resort& Spa Mae Nam Beach Koh Samui (81 rooms) on Mae Nam Beach due to open this year, Vana Belle Samui Resort & Spa (180 rooms) on Chaweng Beach due to open this year and Ozo Chaweng Samui (208 rooms) due to open in 2014.

The first two properties will be managed under international hotel chains – Movenpick, a Switzerland based hotel group and Vana Belle Samui will be under management of the Starwood group branded as part of its Luxury Collection. Vana Belle is owned by liquor tycoon, Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi.

The last property, OZO Chaweng Samui will be managed by the  Thai hospitality group, ONYX  and will be the first under its OZO brand in Thailand after the launch of the brand in 2009. The first OZO to open will be in Hong Kong;  OZO Wesley Hong Kong, in 2013.

Samui is currently facing an oversupply of rooms. With the cap on flight capacity due to environmental concerns, there is a maximum capacity of 3,000 tourists coming to the island daily by airline, but the island has around 19,000 rooms to fill up.

However, those who are pressing for more flights ignore the ferry service supply channel that supplies most of the tourists in resorts in two to three-star categories. When that factor is taken into account demand and supply are much closer.

According to the data from the Tourism Coordination Centre Tourism Authority of Thailand, Samui Island has 487 hotels with around 19,000 rooms. The average length of stay is around five to six days and the average room rate around Bt2,5000/ night with an average spending of Bt3,800 to Bt3,900/ day/ person.