Asia-Pacific hotel pulse: India's hotels see increased interest from travelers, investors

Read the latest news from around the Asia-Pacific region.

India's hotel industry is benefiting from the combination of strong travel demand, low new supply and investor interest, reports HNN's Stephanie Ricca from the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific.
 
"India's the best we've ever seen it, probably ever," said Vijay Thacker, partner and CEO of Crowe Advisory India and a managing director for Horwath HTL India. "It's under supplied — though supply is growing substantially — and there's strong demand."

Inbound travel to India has grown since the pandemic, reaching 9.2 million tourists in 2023, a 23% year-over-year increase. Domestic travel drives much of current demand, and will continue to in the future.

After more than two and a half years at war in Ukraine, Russia continues to feel the effects of isolation from the West. Its hotels are enjoying a steady level of domestic demand, but the hospitality industry is struggling to find enough workers to meet that demand, writes HNN contributor Vladislav Vorotnikov.

In December 2023, the Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Economics reported the country lacked nearly 5 million employees across all industries. It also predicted the labor shortage would persist in 2024.

Olga Kiseleva, general director of the Admiralteyskaya Hotel in St. Petersburg, said: "The labor shortage in the industry is close to catastrophic."

The recent spate of hotel deals in Japan is the result of investor appetite, stronger tourism demand and a weaker yen, reports HNN's Terence Baker.

The increase in hotel investment activity gave a boost to the country's commercial real estate sector. During the second quarter, while the sector was down overall, hotel transactions accounted for approximately 40% of total commercial real estate transaction volume. Hotel sales in Japan grew by 49% year over year in the first half of 2024.

“Asian markets continue to see higher than normal office vacancies, and more investors look for industrial and hotel assets for good returns. This [Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba] deal obviously stands out since it is of substantial size, but we’ve generally seen an uptick in deals this year, and we see this likely to continue in 2025,” said Jesper Palmqvist, area director, Asia-Pacific, STR.

The surge in domestic travel within and international travel to Thailand is driving hotel demand, said Alexandra Murray, Hilton’s area vice president and regional head of Southeast Asia, writes HNN contributor Tamara Thiessen. This summer, Hilton opened the Hilton Garden Inn Rayong and the Hilton Garden Inn Bangkok Riverside.

Thailand is playing a big part in Hilton’s expansion, Murray said.

“Eighty-six properties in Southeast Asia are under development, with 21 of these in Thailand," she said.

China remains a major influence on travel trends in the Asia-Pacific region, and other countries have been adapting as China recovers from its economic struggles. In turn, hoteliers are responding to changes in travel demand, reports HNN's Stephanie Ricca from the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific.

“Is the Chinese economy collapsing? No, it is not,” said Jesper Palmqvist, regional vice president for STR. “China has proven they can turn things around quickly.”

Paitoon Wongsasutthikul, chief investment officer of real estate investor and developer Asset World, said the level of inbound Chinese travel coming to Thailand is about 50% to 60% of what it was pre-pandemic.

“But Thailand is a destination. This year we are expecting the inbound tourism number to be around 35 [million] to 36 million,” he said. “In 2019 that was about 40 million, so we’re getting close.”

During the company's latest earnings call, IHG Hotels & Resorts CEO Elie Maalouf said hotel performance in Greater China this year is down compared to last year, but there are signs it may improve, reports HNN's Terence Baker.

Maalouf said outbound travel from China continues to be strong to Southeast Asia and Japan, and outbound flight capacity is almost back to 2019 levels. Inbound, however, has yet to recover.

“Most [Greater China] decline is rate, not occupancy, as upscale travelers went to other regions,” he said.

• South Korea's JB Asset Management bought the 270-key Mercure Ambassador Seoul Hongdae from fund manager Hyundai Asset Management for 300 billion South Korean won ($213.4 million).
• New Zealand-based Prime Hotels bought the 148-key Waipuna Hotel & Conference Centre in Auckland for an undisclosed sum.
• Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand, a subsidiary of Singapore-based City Developments, is buying the 67-key Mayfair hotel in Christchurch, New Zealand, from Mayfair Hotels and the Stapley family for 31.9 million New Zealand dollars ($18.9 million).
• Australia-based investor Mazen Tabet bought the 34-key Adelphi Hotel in Melbourne for 19 million Australian dollars ($12.4 million).
• Singapore-based CapitaLand Investment is creating a joint venture with China's Jin Jiang Hotels to grow further in China.
• U.S.-based TPG Angelo Gorden has partnered with Japan's Kenedix to buy the 882-key Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba hotel from Hulic Co. for 106 billion Japanese yen ($686.4 million).
• Japan's Ichigo Hotel REIT Investment Corp. sold the 171-key Valie Hotel Hiroshima for 1.785 billion Japanese yen.
• Singapore-based Hotel Properties Limited bought the 407-key Concorde Hotel and retail podium for 821 million Singapore dollars ($613.5 million), which includes 213 Singapore dollars to up the existing land lease for 99 years.
• Hong Kong-based AB Capital Investment bought the 219-key Ai Hotel Keikyu Kamata-ekimae for an undisclosed amount.
• U.S.-based Club Wyndham bought the 32-key Shirakabaso Resort in the Shiga Kogen area of Nagano, Japan, for an undisclosed amount.
• Thailand's KS Hotels is buying the 34-key La Résidence Phou Vao in Luang Prabang, Laos and the 59-key La Résidence D’Angkor in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

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