PTT Plc, the national oil and gas conglomerate, has dusted off its plans to build budget hotels at its petrol stations in a bid to strengthen its non-oil business and widen its customer base.
Executive vice-president Suchat Ramarch said the company had been approached by six Thai hotel companies to jointly develop the budget hotels at PTT petrol stations nationwide. The company will choose the hotel partner by year-end.
The business will either be a joint venture or be funded directly by PTT, which will hire a hotel company to manage the property.
The company plans to have 50 budget hotels at PTT petrol stations across the country within the next 3-5 years. Each budget hotel will have 70 rooms with a room rate of 700 baht per night.
The petrol stations where the hotels will be sited must be located on main roads. The company needs 3.5 rai to develop each hotel.
"Hotels may not contribute a great deal of income but we want to round out the services at our petrol stations," said Mr Suchat.
In addition, PTT is looking for Thai brands and products from small and medium-sized enterprises to open their booths at its petrol stations both locally and abroad. The company has negotiated with two to three brands on the matter.
For Texas Chicken, which PTT secured the rights to open in the Thai market, the company plans to open nine outlets in Bangkok and its suburbs this year, requiring an investment of 6-7 million baht per store. The number of Texas Chicken outlets is targeted to reach 20 by the end of the year.
Mr Suchat said the company recently bought a master franchise for Hua Seng Hong Chinese restaurants, to be opened at PTT petrol stations and shopping complexes.
The company signed a contract with the owner of Hua Seng Hong restaurant for 10 years. Currently, there are 20 Hua Seng Hong restaurants in the country, a figure which is expected to rise to 200 within the next five years.
To widen its customer base, PTT has adjusted the design of more than 100 PTT petrol stations to be more user-friendly. It will spend 140 million baht to make 1,500 PTT petrol stations more customer-friendly in the next couple of years.
Moreover, the company plans to make its petrol stations more accessible to local communities. Currently, 20 petrol stations are run under the compact model in communities nationwide.
PTT plans to open 50 more compact petrol stations this year, bringing the total to 70 by the end of the year. It requires an investment of 15-18 million for each outlet.
PTT shares closed last Friday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 393 baht, down 1 baht, in heavy trade worth 1.19 billion baht.