Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is expecting Hua Hin's tourism market to rebound back to normal levels in 2024 as its newly-acquired hotel's occupancy rate has slowly picked up to 30%.
Wyndham has a positive outlook for Thailand both this year and next year, said Dominic Egger, a regional director of operations in Thailand.
He said although the demand is not the same as in 2019, its room rate is coming back.
"Thailand has always been very resilient," said Mr Egger. "That's why we see a big opportunity for expansion."
Thanate Charoenchitpaisarn, the resort's manager, said Hua Hin and Pranburi mostly welcomed the domestic market from Bangkok and nearby areas at around 70-80%.
He said the current occupancy rate is quite low at 30% as tourism hasn't yet fully recovered, as well as oversupply in Hua Hin with more than 800 rooms added next year.
Meanwhile, the minimum room rate of 3,000 baht is still 15-20% lower than that recorded in 2019.
Mr Thanate said the Hua Hin market may return to normal in 2024 at the earliest.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts operates hotels in Thailand across different brands, such as Ramada and Wyndham Grand, in Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi and Phangnga.
The Wyndham Hua Hin Pranburi Resort & Villas is a 5-star accommodation with 154 rooms and 40 pool villas spanning a 50-rai plot.
The hotel was rebranded from 20-year-old Evason Hua Hin with a renovation budget of 300 million baht.
By joining an international brand, the hotel can benefit from 800,000 members of Club Wyndham, a timeshare ownership scheme across the US and Asia-Pacific markets, said Mr Thanate.
At the end of the membership term, they will also receive a return on investment.
Mr Egger added that there's also a growing number of members in Thailand and Asia.
Besides domestic guests, Saudi Arabia is also a potential market for the hotel since they prefer peacefulness and private pool villas.
He said the future of hospitality will be driven by how hotels can offer unique experiences to guests, as well as utilisation of technology, such as mobile applications to raise service standards.
Its new hotel in Hua Hin is preparing a system upgrade step-by-step and aims to achieve the first level certificate for Wyndham Green sustainability standard by the end of this year.
Cheryl Ong, marketing director for Wyndham Destination Asia Pacific, said its loyalty programme, Wyndham Rewards, already has over 94 million users.
