BANGKOK, 2 March 2026: Centara Hotels & Resorts has reported a strong operational and financial performance for 2025, highlighting the group’s resilience, disciplined execution and strengthening international profile.
The results reflect a year marked by solid revenue growth, improving margins and continued progress in positioning Centara as a globally competitive hospitality brand rooted in Thai heritage.
Revenue per available room increased by 5% compared with the previous year, driven by a 4% rise in average room rate to THB5,922. While profit from the hotel business declined slightly due to development-related expenses and new openings, overall results reflected a resilient operating platform and a portfolio positioned for long-term growth.
A key milestone in 2025 was the full opening of The Atollia by Centara Hotels and Resorts in the Maldives, a large-scale, multi-island, multi-brand destination. The launch of Centara Grand Lagoon Maldives within the project was a major contributor to the group’s revenue growth and strengthened Centara’s position in the international luxury resort segment.
Building on this momentum, Centara has set a revenue growth target of 14-15% for 2026. Growth will be driven by international expansion, portfolio upgrades, brand repositioning and continued recovery in global tourism, particularly in Thailand and North Asia.
Two of the group’s Thai resorts are scheduled for transformation during the year. Centara Grand Beach Resort Hua Hin and Centara Grand Beach Resort and Villas Krabi will undergo extensive renovations and be repositioned under the Centara Reserve brand. The Krabi property will become the second Centara Reserve worldwide by the end of 2026. These initiatives are expected to lift full-year revenue per available room to between THB4,600 and THB4,800, compared with THB4,281 in 2025.
International expansion remains a core pillar of Centara’s strategy. The group entered Nepal in January 2026 with the opening of Himalayan Hideaway Resort Pokhara, The Centara Collection, marking its debut in the country. In the second quarter, Centara Life Namba Hotel Osaka will open, marking the group’s second property in Japan and expanding its presence in a key urban lifestyle market.
In Vietnam, the joint opening of Centara Hotel and Residences Van Don and Crystal Holidays Harbour Van Don will add almost 1,000 rooms to the group’s inventory.
In Thailand, Centara Life Hotel Surat Thani is scheduled to open in the second half of the year, strengthening domestic coverage in secondary destinations.
Centara is also intensifying global sales and marketing activity in 2026. Roadshows across 18 countries and closer collaboration with international travel trade partners are designed to support new openings and reinforce demand in core markets, including Thailand, Europe, Asia, Russia and the Middle East.
Brand development continues to play a central role in the group’s evolution. The Centara Grand Experience will be rolled out globally in 2026, while the group will refine the Centara Reserve brand to emphasise exclusivity, bespoke guest journeys and deeper emotional brand connection.
Technology investment is enabling greater operational efficiency and enhanced guest engagement. A central data warehouse has been established to support advanced analytics and hyper-personalisation across the portfolio. A newly developed booking engine has been designed for scalability, seamless connectivity, and future integration with artificial intelligence.
The Centara mobile application, launched in December 2025, has already recorded more than 100,000 downloads, reflecting growing customer engagement and the continued expansion of the group’s loyalty ecosystem.
Sustainability remains embedded throughout Centara’s operations. In 2025, the group reduced energy consumption by 26%, water usage by 33%, waste sent to landfill by 23% and overall emissions by 24%. Solar panels were installed at 18 properties, enabling Centara to generate more than three times as much solar power as in the previous year.
Centara also became the first hotel group in Thailand to achieve full Global Sustainable Tourism Council certification across its entire portfolio. Responsible business initiatives continued to expand, with partnerships involving 66 educational institutions resulting in more than 3,000 student internships, alongside employment opportunities for senior citizens and people with disabilities that exceeded legal requirements.
The group’s achievements were recognised through multiple awards in 2025, including honours for corporate governance, brand leadership, sustainability and executive excellence from both national and international organisations.
Commenting on the year, Centara Hotels & Resorts President and Chief Executive Officer Thirayuth Chirathivat said 2025 had been a highly productive year despite global industry headwinds, adding that the group remains firmly on track to achieve its long-term ambition of becoming a top 100 global hotel group by 2027.
With expansion already underway, Centara Hotels and Resorts enters 2026 with strong momentum, a clear strategic direction and a continued focus on delivering high-quality experiences through growth, innovation and responsible business.
Speaking in Bangkok, to the press at the Centara Grand at Central World, Thirayuth was asked whether the Chirathivat family’s high-profile international retail investments through Central Retail had delivered indirect benefits to Centara’s hospitality business?
While emphasising that the retail and hotel divisions operate independently, he noted that the reputational halo effect has been meaningful.
The international visibility generated by flagship retail assets such as Selfridges in London and KaDeWe in Germany has helped elevate the broader Central Group ecosystem in global markets.
According to Chirathivat, this enhanced visibility has strengthened awareness of the Centara brand among consumers, partners and investors alike, particularly in Europe, where brand credibility is a critical factor in hospitality growth.
From a financial performance perspective, Centara’s 2025 results were notable not only for topline growth but for the group’s ability to convert that growth into disproportionately stronger profitability. When asked directly how a disciplined 10% increase in revenues could translate into an estimated 15% uplift in EBITDA, Chirathivat was candid in his response.
He explained that the initial margin expansion came from “cutting the fat” — removing structural inefficiencies, tightening procurement, simplifying operating models, and eliminating non-essential overheads to create a leaner, more efficient organisation. This approach delivered immediate benefits across the portfolio without compromising service quality or brand standards.
Importantly, he stressed that the remaining uplift was not achieved solely through cost reduction. A meaningful share of the improvement came from higher labour productivity and improved workforce deployment, supported by focused investment in human resources. Strengthened training, clearer accountability and a more unified performance culture enabled teams across the group to operate with greater efficiency and purpose. Chirathivat praised the strong work ethic and collective spirit within Centara, noting that alignment and moving in the same direction have become a decisive factor in translating revenue growth into sustainable profit expansion.
The group’s finance leadership reinforces this emphasis on financial discipline and organisational effectiveness.
Looking ahead to 2026, Centara remains focused on selective international expansion, with an emphasis on asset-light management contracts and partnerships across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Continued investment in brand development, systems, and people is expected to enhance operational resilience and long-term value creation further.
With a stronger balance sheet, improving margins and a clearer global brand identity, Centara enters its next phase of growth from a position of confidence. The group’s 2025 performance demonstrates how disciplined execution, operational focus and human capital can combine to deliver resilient results in an increasingly competitive global hospitality landscape.
About the author
Andrew J Wood is a respected hospitality industry expert, writer and commentator with more than four decades of experience across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Formerly a senior hotel executive and general manager, he has worked with leading international hotel groups and has been based in Thailand for over 30 years. Andrew is a frequent contributor to industry publications, a regular speaker at hospitality forums, and is widely recognised for his insights into hotel performance, tourism trends and brand strategy in emerging and mature markets.
