Short-stay leisure market opens up for Bangkok’s Thonglor

The serviced residence scene in Bangkok’s trendy Thonglor neighbourhood is transforming along with a marked shift away from the traditional Japanese long-stay segment, according to C9 Hotelworks.

The demand for serviced apartments in Thonglor is being driven by expatriates, the majority of whom are Asian.

Hotel Nikko Bangkok among the handful of confirmed properties to rise in the neighbourhood

Today, Thonglor continues to be the preferred location for the expatriate community in the Thai capital. However, where Japanese residents once accounted for 90% of the serviced residence market, today the number has reduced to 65%, C9’s market research shows.

In 2017, the number of Japanese expatriates grew marginally at 0.3%, in contrast to the 8% increase in Indian expatriates.

As well, the proportion of long-stay business “dropped dramatically” to 38%, while the short-stay ratio now dominates at 62%.

“Many serviced apartments, therefore, have adjusted their business model and designs to short/leisure-stay and transient focused guests versus the traditional Japanese long-stay business client,”said Bill Barnett, managing director, C9 Hotelworks.

Besides Japan, other key long-stay sources are Europe and Singapore, while many short-stay guests are from South Korea and China.

Meanwhile, C9 also notes that despite a 2.2% drop in occupancy, serviced apartment average rates bumped up 3.8% in 2017 and rose another 1.2% in 1Q2018.

There are three confirmed properties or 1053 keys in Thonglor’s pipeline, including Ascott Thonglor Bangkok, Hotel Nikko Bangkok and StayBridge Suites Bangkok Thonglor.

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