Hilton adds two Thai properties; Singha buys U.S. hotel chain

 

Hilton will be putting on the Ritz in the Kingdom as the United States-based luxury hotel group said last week it will add two new properties to its lineup in Thailand, while Thailand’s own Singha Corporation announced it will buy Outrigger Hotels, a U.S. headquartered hotel chain.

“We are deeply committed to expanding our presence in Thailand and introducing more brands from our portfolio,” said Gary Phillips, Hilton senior vice president of development for Asia and Australasia.

The new acquisitions are in addition to Hilton’s plan to open the Waldorf Astoria Bangkok sometime during the next four months on Rajadamri Road, a tony area of the capital city lined with five-star hotels. The 171-room Waldorf is the first presence in Southeast Asia for the Waldorf Astoria brand, which is synonymous with top-echelon, ultra-luxury hospitality.

Hilton, however, is a multi-brand hotel group, and its next two properties will be a 251-room DoubleTree in Bangkok and a 177-room Hilton Garden Inn in Phuket. The U.S. company has purchased and is taking over existing properties from other hotel groups in both cases and renovating and rebranding them in the Hilton mold.

Garden Inn and DoubleTree are mid-market hotels. From 2007-15 DoubleTree was the fastest-growing brand in the Hilton lineup in terms of the number of new rooms worldwide, until it was surpassed in 2016 by Garden Inn. In Bangkok, the Garden Inn will be located on Sukhumvit Soi 2, while the DoubleTree will be located on Bang Tao beach on the tropical island of Phuket.

Hilton’s horizons are stretching even further in the Kingdom, company executives said. The group is also eyeing Krabi, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai as potential locations to develop properties, Peter Webster, Hilton’s regional general manager for Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, told TTG Asia, a travel industry publication.

Headquartered in Virginia, Hilton Worldwide Holdings has 11 brands across a spectrum of market segments, with over 5,200 properties in 105 countries and territories. Its revenues in 2016 totaled $11.66 billion.

In another investment trend that has seen Thai companies expanding overseas, Singha Estate said last week it will buy six hotels in four countries from Outrigger Hotels, headquartered in Hawaii, for $250 million.

Singha Estate is the real estate division of Singha Corporation, the famed brewer of Singha beer, the leading Thai-made beer.

Two of the four properties are in Thailand on the resort islands of Phuket and Koh Samui. The other four properties are in Fiji, Mauritius and the Maldives.

Photo courtesy of www3.hilton.com