The put up SK Hotels’ Scott Walton talks new hotels and destinations coming up in Thailand, innovation and technology appeared first on TD (Journey Each day Media) Travel Daily Media.
SK Inns is continuous its enlargement in Thailand, with a handful of recent 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 in regards to the development, and the way innovation and know-how are enjoying key roles.
Journey Each day Media (TDM): Are you able to give us an overview of the present SK Inns property portfolio, and taking into consideration your development plans, new properties within the pipeline?
Scott Walton: SK Inns was established as a three way partnership between Siamese Asset, a publicly listed property developer based mostly in Bangkok, and Kew Inexperienced Inns 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 had 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 business help. These capabilities had been embedded regionally in a manner that stood aside from the extra inflexible company constructions usually seen in Thailand.
This go to sparked the formation of SK Inns 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 help construction that has already confirmed efficient throughout a number of newly launched properties.
Since rising from the pandemic, SK Inns 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 properly to the resurgence in worldwide and home journey. Some properties hit the bottom operating with exceptionally robust efficiency, whereas others shortly discovered their footing, delivering optimistic outcomes all through 2023 and into 2024.
Wanting forward, our pipeline contains 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 presently in superior discussions on properties in main leisure locations resembling 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 help infrastructure that now we have constructed throughout business, finance, HR, and IT now permits us to develop the portfolio with energy and agility.
With this stable basis in place, SK Inns 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 function in your operations, specifically relating to bettering property efficiency. Are you able to broaden on this?
Scott Walton: Innovation has develop into a defining pillar of our operations. The speedy rise of AI post-COVID, alongside evolving visitor expectations and a extra advanced working atmosphere, has pushed us to rethink how we work. Because of the forward-thinking nature of our three way partnership companions, we’ve embraced these modifications head-on, however with warning and intent.
At SK we don’t implement AI to interchange human roles, we use it to amplify efficiency. For instance, when revising our menus at TRIBE Residing – a course of that usually entails weeks of costing, sourcing, and coordination – we used AI instruments to streamline procurement information, automate price comparisons, and velocity up documentation. This allowed our cooks to focus totally on culinary creativity and innovation, bettering the visitor expertise moderately than being slowed down in admin.
Our innovation can be deeply supported by Siamese Know-how, an inner division of Siamese Asset targeted on enhancing visitor expertise by way of 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, comfy 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 customary originating from Singapore.
These improvements not solely cut back working prices but additionally be certain 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 company count on from SK Inns 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 substances can be found, what the group craves, and the place we are able to break from the anticipated. We take inspiration from international tendencies whereas all the time remaining domestically related.
This imaginative and prescient is championed by Siamese Asset’s possession, who persistently encourage us to problem the norm. We experiment with new ideas, substances, and working fashions to stay forward of evolving client expectations. Whether or not it’s by way of 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, nevertheless, is simply as vital 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 shortly. We apply this precept at each property, guaranteeing that strong-performing objects or companies are refined and delivered flawlessly, whereas underperforming ideas are reimagined.
Wellness is a key part of our improvement technique and continues to develop in significance as trendy vacationers place larger emphasis on steadiness, mindfulness, and self-care. At SK Inns, 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 material 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 lodges. These partnerships permit us to tailor every providing to the distinctive character of the vacation spot, whereas nonetheless reflecting international tendencies in holistic wellbeing. For native residents, our wellness centres present an city sanctuary, a spot to unwind and rejuvenate near house. For worldwide vacationers, they provide a welcome second of calm amid a busy itinerary, with therapies starting from conventional therapies to trendy spa rituals and health options.
Every house is designed with intention, permitting company to both reconnect with themselves by way of restorative practices or to utterly 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 purpose to satisfy these wants in methods which can be considerate, regionally related, and persistently uplifting.
Alongside wellness, we’re additionally responding to a rising demand for versatile, purposeful workspaces as extra company search to mix enterprise and leisure of their journey routines. Our lodges are being thoughtfully tailored to help this hybrid life-style, with communal areas reimagined as trendy, productive environments that help work with out sacrificing consolation or hospitality.
By partnerships with coworking platforms resembling Reef Rocks, an app that connects distant staff with welcoming areas, we’ve reworked our lobbies and lounges into vibrant, related work hubs. These areas are outfitted with dependable high-speed web, ergonomic furnishings, accessible charging factors, and ambient design that encourages company 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 company and locals alike can work, meet, and loosen up, we’re constructing lodges that stay related in a world the place work not matches a nine-to-five mannequin. Extra than simply locations to remain, our properties have gotten dynamic, multifunctional areas that help how individuals stay, work, and join each on the street and near house.
TDM: Inform us in regards to the Thailand centre of studying, monetary companies, recruitment, income, digital spine and operations help that SK Inns has established?
Scott Walton: After we launched SK Inns within the aftermath of COVID, we had been met with the identical challenges dealing with 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 programs that help them.
The institution of a decentralized Centre for Studying marked a turning level. Slightly than chase the identical restricted pool of expertise, we selected to spend money on people who might not have beforehand thought-about hospitality. Faculty leavers, current graduates, and profession switchers had been introduced into the enterprise and given the construction, mentoring, and help wanted to succeed. In simply three years, many of those people have develop 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 presently 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 moderately than simply prior expertise. We’re in search of mindset and perspective people who find themselves hungry to develop inside a fast-paced, agile atmosphere.
Alongside expertise improvement, we’ve constructed a monetary companies 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 by way of robust inner controls, audit-centric reporting, and streamlined processes designed for transparency and accountability. Our finance management, below 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 lodges is supplied with instruments resembling 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 programs introduced in from Kew Inexperienced Inns, whose affect has helped form our business course and strategy to demand optimization. Supported by a centralized business staff below 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 perform has additionally develop into a significant development engine. By a mix of structured digital technique and untapped inventive expertise – a few of whom we jokingly name “diamonds within the tough” – our advertising division has developed robust, narrative-led campaigns for every property. These will not be generic resort adverts, however model tales that resonate with their goal audiences, crafted by way of the sensible 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 carried out strong programs throughout all properties, guaranteeing not solely performance however scalability as we develop. Each resort below SK Inns is supplied with standardized {hardware} and software program from PMS and back-office programs to firewalls and IPTV options guaranteeing operational effectivity and information safety. The IT staff additionally performs a proactive function in property help, rolling out centralized updates, troubleshooting points remotely, and sustaining the cyber integrity of each guest-facing and inner platforms.
These departments – Studying, Finance, Income, Digital, and IT – will not be working in silos. They’re built-in and aligned to help SK Inns’ 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 achieve this sustainably and with confidence.
TDM: Clarify to us the function that know-how is taking within the ongoing development of SK Inns’ main proprietor Siamese Asset’s portfolio?
Scott Walton: Know-how sits on the core of SK Inns’ development 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 sensible 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 technique has confirmed particularly worthwhile throughout the annual burn-off season, when air high quality in Bangkok and surrounding areas can deteriorate considerably. Company are capable of monitor each indoor and out of doors air high quality in actual time by way of a devoted app, whereas every room additionally encompasses a stay show of present air high quality readings. This stage of transparency and environmental management has not solely reassured company, however has additionally develop 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 Inns sooner or later?
We’re getting into an thrilling new part of development. Along with increasing our city footprint, we’re exploring alternatives in additional distant locations throughout Thailand. In some instances, these properties might 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 permit us to leverage our shared infrastructure – centralized finance, HR, IT, and business experience – lowering prices and bettering efficiency on the property stage. Not like extra inflexible company constructions, our management works contained in the lodges, for the lodges. This leads to sooner decision-making, stronger staff help, and in the end, higher visitor experiences.
On the coronary heart of our philosophy is a straightforward however highly effective mission: to function lodges with a relentless give attention to effectivity and excellence, empowering our individuals to create distinctive visitor experiences. We emphasize transparency, sustainable development, and partnerships grounded in operational brilliance.
Above all, we consider in widespread sense. It’s a price that always will get misplaced in over-complicated enterprise processes however one which persistently solves issues, enhances experiences, and strengthens relationships with company, 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 occurred throughout the rapid aftermath of the March 28, 2025 Myanmar earthquake, a day of widespread disruption, uncertainty, and logistical chaos throughout Bangkok.
Amid the aftermath, certainly 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 dealing with 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 house to maneuver items with out supervision or correct clearance.
Whereas it might have been simple to miss or deprioritize given the broader disaster at hand, the staff dealt with it discreetly and decisively. Entry controls had been instantly strengthened, distributors had been re-briefed, and the breach was resolved with out disruption to company 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 Inns: a tradition the place staff members are empowered to behave, to suppose past checklists, and to guard each our company and our model popularity within the moments that matter most.
As we develop, this core perception in sensible intelligence and human connection will proceed to information each determination we make. At SK Inns, the long run isn’t nearly enlargement it’s about evolving neatly, sustainably, and with objective.
The put up SK Hotels’ Scott Walton talks new hotels and destinations coming up in Thailand, innovation and technology appeared first on Travel Daily Media.
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