SK Hotels’ Scott Walton talks new hotels and destinations coming up in Thailand, innovation and technology
The submit SK Hotels’ Scott Walton talks new hotels and destinations coming up in Thailand, innovation and technology appeared first on TD (Journey Day by day Media) Travel Daily Media.
SK Accommodations is constant its enlargement in Thailand, with a handful of latest properties arising within the capital Bangkok and new locations throughout the nation set to broaden its current portfolio. Managing director Scott Walton talks with TDM concerning the progress, and the way innovation and know-how are taking part in key roles.
Journey Day by day Media (TDM): Are you able to give us a top level view of the present SK Accommodations property portfolio, and bearing in mind your progress plans, new properties within the pipeline?
Scott Walton: SK Accommodations was established as a three way partnership between Siamese Asset, a publicly listed property developer based mostly in Bangkok, and Kew Inexperienced Accommodations within the UK, a hospitality group with a portfolio of 44 owned and 16 managed properties throughout the UK and Europe. The partnership was born from a strategic imaginative and prescient: leaders from Siamese Asset visited the UK and have been struck by how effectively Kew Inexperienced had structured its operations – not solely when it comes to resort administration, but additionally in areas like finance, human sources, and industrial assist. These capabilities have been embedded regionally in a manner that stood other than the extra inflexible company buildings usually seen in Thailand.
This go to sparked the formation of SK Accommodations in Bangkok, with a transparent mission to deliver the identical sort of streamlined, performance-driven working mannequin to the Siamese Asset resort portfolio. In doing so, we’ve created a nimble, centralized assist construction that has already confirmed efficient throughout a number of newly launched properties.
Since rising from the pandemic, SK Accommodations has opened six properties throughout Bangkok, together with the Wyndham Queen Conference Centre, Wyndham Backyard Sukhumvit 42, Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Sukhumvit 48, Ramada by Wyndham Sukhumvit 87, TRIBE Residing Bangkok Sukhumvit 39, and Cassia by Banyan Group in Rama 9. Every of those properties entered the market post-COVID and have responded nicely to the resurgence in worldwide and home journey. Some properties hit the bottom working with exceptionally robust efficiency, whereas others rapidly discovered their footing, delivering optimistic outcomes all through 2023 and into 2024.
Trying forward, our pipeline consists of a number of high-profile openings. The Crowne Plaza Bangkok Rama 9 is scheduled to open quickly, adopted by Cassia by Banyan Group in Ram Intra, after which a Hilton Backyard Inn, additionally within the Ram Intra district. These upcoming launches replicate our ongoing confidence in Bangkok’s potential, however we’re additionally increasing our imaginative and prescient past the capital.
We’re at present in superior discussions on properties in main leisure locations similar to Hua Hin, Pattaya and Phuket, with promising leads rising in Koh Samui and Chiang Mai. The timing is true: our Bangkok-based properties have stabilized, and the centralized assist infrastructure that now we have constructed throughout industrial, finance, HR, and IT now permits us to develop the portfolio with power and agility.
With this stable basis in place, SK Accommodations is poised to proceed its enlargement throughout Thailand, bringing effectivity, innovation, and efficiency excellence to every new vacation spot.
TDM: We perceive innovation performs a key position in your operations, particularly in relation to enhancing property efficiency. Are you able to increase on this?
Scott Walton: Innovation has turn into a defining pillar of our operations. The speedy rise of AI post-COVID, alongside evolving visitor expectations and a extra complicated working surroundings, has pushed us to rethink how we work. Because of the forward-thinking nature of our three way partnership companions, we’ve embraced these adjustments head-on, however with warning and intent.
At SK we don’t implement AI to switch human roles, we use it to amplify efficiency. For instance, when revising our menus at TRIBE Residing – a course of that usually includes weeks of costing, sourcing, and coordination – we used AI instruments to streamline procurement knowledge, automate price comparisons, and pace up documentation. This allowed our cooks to focus absolutely on culinary creativity and innovation, enhancing the visitor expertise somewhat than being slowed down in admin.
Our innovation can be deeply supported by Siamese Know-how, an inside division of Siamese Asset centered on enhancing visitor expertise via environmental design and development know-how. They’ve pioneered developments in air high quality management, acoustic insulation between rooms and corridors, and energy-saving strategies all of which contribute to extra sustainable, snug visitor environments. This partnership has helped a number of of the properties developed by Siamese Asset and managed by SK to earn EDGE certification, a globally acknowledged ESG normal originating from Singapore.
These improvements not solely scale back working prices but additionally make sure that we are able to meet or exceed model and sustainability requirements with confidence and consistency.
TDM: With meals & beverage and wellness additionally being cornerstones of your improvement technique, what can visitors count on from SK Accommodations properties in these areas?
Scott Walton: Meals and beverage are on the coronary heart of each property we open. Our technique begins by contemplating the native market and what elements can be found, what the group craves, and the place we are able to break from the anticipated. We take inspiration from world tendencies whereas all the time remaining domestically related.
This imaginative and prescient is championed by Siamese Asset’s possession, who constantly encourage us to problem the norm. We experiment with new ideas, elements, and working fashions to stay forward of evolving shopper expectations. Whether or not it’s via centralized manufacturing kitchens that enhance consistency and effectivity, or by embracing the “Instagrammable” development to attraction to the visual-first buyer, our strategy is grounded in a ardour for reinvention.
I’m a agency believer that consistency, nonetheless, is simply as essential as innovation. One of many earliest classes I discovered in hospitality, working in Auckland’s restaurant scene, was that if one thing works, make it constant. If it doesn’t, change rapidly. We apply this precept at each property, guaranteeing that strong-performing gadgets or providers are refined and delivered flawlessly, whereas underperforming ideas are reimagined.
Wellness is a key element of our improvement technique and continues to develop in significance as fashionable vacationers place higher emphasis on steadiness, mindfulness, and self-care. At SK Accommodations, we strategy wellness as an integral a part of the visitor expertise and as one thing that ought to really feel purposeful, accessible, and woven into the very cloth of every property.
To ship on this imaginative and prescient, our properties have partnered with Pravinia Wellness and Magnificence Heart, Sense Cera Spa, and Yumoto, bringing a various vary of wellness experiences to our motels. These partnerships enable us to tailor every providing to the distinctive character of the vacation spot, whereas nonetheless reflecting world tendencies in holistic wellbeing. For native residents, our wellness centres present an city sanctuary, a spot to unwind and rejuvenate near residence. For worldwide vacationers, they provide a welcome second of calm amid a busy itinerary, with remedies starting from conventional therapies to fashionable spa rituals and health options.
Every area is designed with intention, permitting visitors to both reconnect with themselves via restorative practices or to fully disconnect from the stresses of on a regular basis life. We acknowledge that wellness right this moment means various things to completely different individuals, and we intention to satisfy these wants in methods which can be considerate, regionally related, and constantly uplifting.
Alongside wellness, we’re additionally responding to a rising demand for versatile, purposeful workspaces as extra visitors search to mix enterprise and leisure of their journey routines. Our motels are being thoughtfully tailored to assist this hybrid life-style, with communal areas reimagined as fashionable, productive environments that assist work with out sacrificing consolation or hospitality.
Via partnerships with coworking platforms similar to Reef Rocks, an app that connects distant staff with welcoming areas, we’ve remodeled our lobbies and lounges into vibrant, related work hubs. These areas are geared up with dependable high-speed web, ergonomic furnishings, accessible charging factors, and ambient design that encourages visitors to remain so long as they want.
This evolution not solely enhances the visitor expertise but additionally permits us to activate areas which can be historically underutilized throughout sure elements of the day. By creating environments the place visitors and locals alike can work, meet, and chill out, we’re constructing motels that stay related in a world the place work now not matches a nine-to-five mannequin. Extra than simply locations to remain, our properties have gotten dynamic, multifunctional areas that assist how individuals dwell, work, and join each on the highway and near residence.
TDM: Inform us concerning the Thailand centre of studying, monetary providers, recruitment, income, digital spine and operations assist that SK Accommodations has established?
Scott Walton: After we launched SK Accommodations within the aftermath of COVID, we have been met with the identical challenges going through the worldwide hospitality trade. Chief amongst these was a dramatic lack of expertise. Many expert professionals had left the sector altogether, some beginning small companies, others returning to their hometowns or pursuing new industries completely. To rebuild, we knew we needed to take a contemporary strategy, not simply to recruitment however to the long-term improvement of our individuals and the techniques that assist them.
The institution of a decentralized Centre for Studying marked a turning level. Quite than chase the identical restricted pool of expertise, we selected to spend money on people who could not have beforehand thought of hospitality. College leavers, current graduates, and profession switchers have been introduced into the enterprise and given the construction, mentoring, and assist wanted to succeed. In simply three years, many of those people have turn into integral to our operations and are already progressing into management roles.
In parallel, our strategy to recruitment has continued to evolve. With conventional channels yielding diminishing returns, we’re at present constructing an intuitive, user-friendly careers platform inside our web site. This new system will make it simpler for candidates to discover alternatives, perceive our tradition, and apply based mostly on potential somewhat than simply prior expertise. We’re searching for mindset and angle people who find themselves hungry to develop inside a fast-paced, agile surroundings.
Alongside expertise improvement, we’ve constructed a monetary providers platform that goes past the usual GOP focus typical of resort administration corporations. Our finance staff operates with a transparent mandate: to prioritize investor returns and long-term worth. That is achieved via robust inside controls, audit-centric reporting, and streamlined processes designed for transparency and accountability. Our finance management, beneath Ms. Rapeepan Banyen (Khun Jay), has embedded a tradition of fiscal self-discipline whereas enabling operational flexibility. It’s this steadiness that offers our traders confidence and our resort groups readability.
Within the space of income technique, we’ve taken a hybrid strategy. Every of our motels is provided with instruments similar to IDeaS and Avalon, giving them dynamic pricing and forecasting capabilities tailor-made to their particular markets. These instruments are additional enhanced by the legacy data and techniques introduced in from Kew Inexperienced Accommodations, whose affect has helped form our industrial path and strategy to demand optimization. Supported by a centralized industrial staff beneath Mrs. Tassanee Mangkala-apinun (Khun Pait), this hybrid mannequin permits every resort to reply domestically whereas being backed by broader market intelligence and strategic oversight.
Our digital and advertising and marketing operate has additionally turn into a significant progress engine. Via a mix of structured digital technique and untapped inventive expertise – a few of whom we jokingly name “diamonds within the tough” – our advertising and marketing division has developed robust, narrative-led campaigns for every property. These should not generic resort adverts, however model tales that resonate with their goal audiences, crafted via the good use of AI, viewers analytics, and localized storytelling. The work has helped our properties stand out in a crowded digital market and has pushed measurable will increase in consciousness, conversion, and direct bookings.
Lastly, our IT infrastructure has been a foundational pillar from day one. The IT division has applied strong techniques throughout all properties, guaranteeing not solely performance however scalability as we develop. Each resort beneath SK Accommodations is provided with standardized {hardware} and software program from PMS and back-office techniques to firewalls and IPTV options guaranteeing operational effectivity and knowledge safety. The IT staff additionally performs a proactive position in property assist, rolling out centralized updates, troubleshooting points remotely, and sustaining the cyber integrity of each guest-facing and inside platforms.
These departments – Studying, Finance, Income, Digital, and IT – should not working in silos. They’re built-in and aligned to assist SK Accommodations’ mission: to function effectively, innovate responsibly, and empower our individuals to create distinctive visitor experiences. It’s a construction that places individuals first, however does so on a spine of course of and precision, guaranteeing that as we develop, we accomplish that sustainably and with confidence.
TDM: Clarify to us the position that know-how is taking within the ongoing progress of SK Accommodations’ main proprietor Siamese Asset’s portfolio?
Scott Walton: Know-how sits on the core of SK Accommodations’ progress and is deeply built-in into each Kew Inexperienced and Siamese Asset’s broader technique. From the outset, I used to be impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit of Siamese Asset’s management, particularly their early embrace of good constructing applied sciences, AI, and sustainable development strategies. Likewise with Kew Inexperienced’s ever evolving distribution, analytics and visitor satisfaction initiatives – a mix that’s uncommon within the trade.
One standout instance of our dedication to know-how and wellbeing is the deployment of Siamese Air of Life, a proprietary air filtration system now put in in all visitor rooms throughout our new properties. This method has confirmed particularly helpful through the annual burn-off season, when air high quality in Bangkok and surrounding areas can deteriorate considerably. Visitors are capable of monitor each indoor and outside air high quality in actual time via a devoted app, whereas every room additionally includes a dwell show of present air high quality readings. This stage of transparency and environmental management has not solely reassured visitors, however has additionally turn into a compelling differentiator for our model companions and ESG-focused traders. It speaks to our dedication to visitor consolation, operational innovation, and sustainability in equal measure.
TDM: What thrilling issues can we count on from SK Accommodations sooner or later?
We’re getting into an thrilling new section of progress. Along with increasing our city footprint, we’re exploring alternatives in additional distant locations throughout Thailand. In some instances, these properties could require robust model partnerships; in others, the vacation spot itself is likely to be the draw, permitting us to launch distinctive, unbiased resort ideas.
We’re additionally persevering with to develop strategic partnerships just like the one now we have with Siamese Asset. These alliances enable us to leverage our shared infrastructure – centralized finance, HR, IT, and industrial experience – decreasing prices and enhancing efficiency on the property stage. In contrast to extra inflexible company buildings, our management works contained in the motels, for the motels. This leads to sooner decision-making, stronger staff assist, and in the end, higher visitor experiences.
On the coronary heart of our philosophy is a straightforward however highly effective mission: to function motels with a relentless give attention to effectivity and excellence, empowering our individuals to create distinctive visitor experiences. We emphasize transparency, sustainable progress, and partnerships grounded in operational brilliance.
Above all, we imagine in widespread sense. It’s a price that usually will get misplaced in over-complicated enterprise processes however one which constantly solves issues, enhances experiences, and strengthens relationships with visitors, stakeholders, and our groups alike.
I’d prefer to share a current instance that highlights the sort of sensible intelligence and calm management we worth throughout our groups. It happened through the quick aftermath of the March 28, 2025 Myanmar earthquake, a day of widespread disruption, uncertainty, and logistical chaos throughout Bangkok.
Amid the aftermath, considered one of our engineering staff members seen uncommon foot site visitors close to a little-used emergency exit that led right into a service hall, an space usually quiet and safe. Regardless of the calls for of the day and the overwhelming distractions going through each division, they selected to behave on intuition. They flagged the priority to administration, reviewed the CCTV footage, and found that an unauthorized third-party vendor had been utilizing the area to maneuver items with out supervision or correct clearance.
Whereas it may have been straightforward to miss or deprioritize given the broader disaster at hand, the staff dealt with it discreetly and decisively. Entry controls have been instantly strengthened, distributors have been re-briefed, and the breach was resolved with out disruption to visitors or compromise to the property.
What stands out on this situation is the usage of situational consciousness, widespread sense, and initiative, within the chaos of a real-world disaster. These are precisely the qualities we nurture at SK Accommodations: a tradition the place staff members are empowered to behave, to suppose past checklists, and to guard each our visitors and our model status within the moments that matter most.
As we develop, this core perception in sensible intelligence and human connection will proceed to information each choice we make. At SK Accommodations, the longer term isn’t nearly enlargement it’s about evolving well, sustainably, and with function.
The submit SK Hotels’ Scott Walton talks new hotels and destinations coming up in Thailand, innovation and technology appeared first on Travel Daily Media.