Urban Hospitality Group, a local hotel and real estate developer, plans to build a hotel worth 400 million baht in Bangkok's prime Phloenchit area, aiming to serve tourists and business travellers.
Group managing director Wutthiphon Taworntawat said the new hotel, Quarter at Ploenchit, will be the seventh property in its portfolio. Construction is expected to start in February 2018, opening in mid-2019.
Phloenchit is mostly known for its office buildings, embassies, and shopping malls. The area also has a skytrain station and luxury residences.
A new mixed-use project is being developed in this area on the former British embassy site as well as a wellness centre, Bank of Ayudhya's head office, the Rosewood Hotel, a new luxury residence built by the owner of Bangkok Hospital Group, and a new office building to be run by Raimon Land.
Beyond the Phloenchit area, other mixed-use projects include One Bangkok on Rama IV Road, the Dusit-Central joint development at the Silom-Rama IV intersection, and the Langsuan Village project.
"Our feasibility study found this area has high potential to cater to both business travellers and international tourists," Mr Wutthiphon said. "The tourism sector should continue to drive growth for years to come as foreign tourists love Bangkok."
A plot of 250 square wah is occupied by Mr Wutthiphon and his partner to run Lyon restaurant. These investors recently formed a company named Urban Ploenchit Co to develop the project under a 50-year lease contract.
The new hotel will comprise 120 rooms plus a sky pool and Lyon restaurant. The property wants to be a four-star hotel, offering studios, one bedroom and two bedrooms with average room rates of 2,500 to 5,000 baht, lower than many competitors in the area.
As of yesterday, Booking.com offered standard rooms for 6,300 baht for Conrad hotel, 5,500 baht for Plaza Athenee, 3,500 baht for Novotel Ploenchit, 3,300 baht for Aetas hotel, 5,700 baht for Indigo, 5,600 baht for Oriental residence, and 8,000 baht for Okura hotel.
"Many financial institutions, both local and foreign, have offered us very attractive interest rates for this project," Mr Wutthiphon said. "Attracting a loan has been much easier than previous projects."
He said the group just changed its name from Evergreen Place Hotel Group, which has been in the hotel market for 15 years. The group operates three hotels with a total of 750 rooms and three mixed-use hotel, office and retail projects.
Each project is operated under the owner's name.
Last year the group took in revenue of 350 million baht. Total revenue is forecast at 400 million this year and expected to climb to 1 billion baht in 2020.