Why are so many hotels for sale?

[Big Boy]

A drop in Chinese arrivals and a supply glut are just a few of the reasons.

Several factors have forced numerous small and medium-sized hoteliers to put their properties on the block.

Some industry observers are astonished to see so many hotel operators put their properties up for sale during the high season, when they are expected to reap profits.

A recent news report said about 50 small and medium-sized hotels in Chiang Mai are in dire financial straits because of plunging Chinese guests. The decline of the Chinese market has forced some operators in that market to sell.

Hotel analysts and property agents in Chiang Mai, Phuket and Bangkok believe that technological changes and imminent new laws, notably the Hotel Act, could be the main reasons for the sales.

Full story: Bangkok Post

[buksida]

Supply glut would be my guess. We get zero Chinese tourists where I live yet half the resorts in the area are for sale because they're empty - even in December.

Too many rooms - too few tourists.

[NOKYAI]

If you have ever been up to Phetchaburi there are many good looking resorts that look like a ghost town.

[Big Boy]

I agree - somebody has a successful business, 20 more offering the same product in the same road. You can only get so many slices from a cake.

[HuaHin61]

maybe it's the (for me) very significant drop in tourists, especially European tourists,

on my flight now at the end of Nov. from DUS via AUH to BKK the (Etihad) plane had about 30% - 40% empty seats

and currently in HuaHin one sees clearly less tourists both on the streets and
much less in the hotels.

This then leads to long faces at smaller retailers and small service providers

high season - does not look like, yet

[Big Boy]

I think High Season will happen, but it gets shorter every year.

This is traditionally the lowest part of the year. I remember back in 1989, you could get a week in Thailand (flights & hotel) for 199 Pounds during the first week in December. The rest of the year it was 500 Pound+ just for the flight.

It's just too many hotels trying to get a decreasing number of visitors.

[Ginjaninja]

I think many tourists are going for the condo short/longer-term lets... cheaper in the long-run than hotels/resorts.

[usual suspect]

I have a family of 4 coming to stay at Xmas..My idea was to put them in a mid-priced hotel near Beach/Binta/nightmarket etc.
To my amazement 2 of the hotels I've used for visitors before have hiked their nightly rate up by 3-400B on last year's rate...now on a 1000b/night room that's a helluva %age!
(Same old Thai logic...takings/business is down so they put the price up to compensate... )

[caller]

That is the most ridiculous contradictory report ever - glut of hotels, over supply, then demand will increase. I think Pinocchio and his cohorts are beginning to get found out.

[MDMK]

I think many tourists are going for the condo short/longer-term lets... cheaper in the long-run than hotels/resorts.

absolutely agree with this, airbnb will be (is already) the death knell for large swathes of the hotel industry

even a top spec villa with private pool and maid service daily is much cheaper than the Hilton or Intercontinental

and although I haven't priced it, I am 99% sure a small apartment will be a lot cheaper than a guest house/cheap hotel

The whole airbnb thing (and all the other "homes away from home" type of websites) are transforming how people holiday

[STEVE G]

...even a top spec villa with private pool and maid service daily is much cheaper than the Hilton or Intercontinental...

Obviously it's cheaper out of town but is it possible to get anything comparable in the centre and on the beach?

[MDMK]

...even a top spec villa with private pool and maid service daily is much cheaper than the Hilton or Intercontinental...

Obviously it's cheaper out of town but is it possible to get anything comparable in the centre and on the beach?

I suppose it depends on what you mean by comparable.

Beach front villas in Hua in, not many and those I did see didn't appeal to me. There are however hundreds of beach front condos on airbnb. €50 a night will get you a very good beach front condo. But there are loads priced under that, especially studio apartments or small one bed apartments. We stayed in one and it's currently priced @ €50 per night, 2 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, beautifully furnished and included everything you could possibly need. It was very close to the Intercontinental. The Intercontinental is charging in excess of €125 per night (for their cheapest room).

For me personally it's become a no brainer.

There are lovely beach front villas on airbnb, but those were more down Dolphin Bay way. I am looking at one at the moment and it's directly on the beach, 2 bed, 2 bath, 100 sq meters, about 10steps from the beach, no pool, it's around €60 pn.

And indeed the vast majority of the villas on airbnb in HH, you need a car.

The villa we stayed in earlier this year (about 2km inland up soi 102) was extremely luxurious, 3 bed, 2 bath, beautiful pool and garden, came in at around €65 per night. Even adding on car hire and daily maid service it came in at much less than I would have paid for a standard room at Hilton/Interc/Sheraton/Marriott etc. I say much less - but probably only about €20 per night less. But over a month or more, that's a big saving.

I love airbnb.

I do like posh hotels too, I won't deny that, but I feel I get so much more via airbnb and still save money.

[STEVE G]

Yes, for sure it's always been possible to rent a house for a month or more for far less than staying in a five star hotel, even before Airbnb. I used to rent a small house for the whole year and leave it empty for eight months and it was still cheaper than a hotel but in those days we used to ride around on a scooter looking for notices on gates rather than going online!

[oakdale160]

I know one really run-down hotel in BKK that was on the edge of closing that got a contract with a Chinese travel company and now the 200 room hotel is solidly Chinese. This only works with BIG hotels with good parking for buses but it could happen in HH.

[Motyduke]

if you ask owners of hotel , you will know that the businness is very bad. there is a huge drop of nights saled. And the revnue goes down too. I really think the tourism economy is not so good as officials say. And the airbnb stuff make a huge hit to them. There are still a lot of condos renting in airbnbfor short stays , even if it is forbidden so they are direct competotors for hotel