SK Hotels’ Scott Walton talks new hotels and destinations coming up in Thailand, innovation and technology

SK Hotels is continuous its enlargement in Thailand, with a handful of new properties coming up in the capital Bangkok and new destinations throughout the nation set to broaden its current portfolio. Managing director Scott Walton talks with TDM concerning the progress, and how innovation and technology are enjoying key roles.

Travel Daily Media (TDM): Can you give us an overview of the present SK Hotels property portfolio, and making an allowance for your progress plans, new properties in the pipeline?

Scott Walton: SK Hotels was established as a three way partnership between Siamese Asset, a publicly listed property developer based mostly in Bangkok, and Kew Green Hotels in 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 Green had structured its operations – not solely in phrases of lodge administration, but in addition in areas like finance, human sources, and business help. These capabilities had been embedded regionally in a approach that stood aside from the extra inflexible company constructions sometimes seen in Thailand.

This go to sparked the formation of SK Hotels in Bangkok, with a transparent mission to carry the identical sort of streamlined, performance-driven working mannequin to the Siamese Asset lodge 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 Hotels has opened six properties throughout Bangkok, together with the Wyndham Queen Convention Centre, Wyndham Garden Sukhumvit 42, Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Sukhumvit 48, Ramada by Wyndham Sukhumvit 87, TRIBE Living Bangkok Sukhumvit 39, and Cassia by Banyan Group in Rama 9. Each 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 working with exceptionally sturdy efficiency, whereas others rapidly discovered their footing, delivering optimistic outcomes all through 2023 and into 2024.

Looking 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, and then a Hilton Garden Inn, additionally in 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 are at present in superior discussions on properties in main leisure destinations reminiscent of 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 we’ve 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 Hotels 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, in explicit in the case of enhancing property efficiency. Can you develop on this?

Scott Walton: Innovation has grow to be a defining pillar of our operations. The fast rise of AI post-COVID, alongside evolving visitor expectations and a extra advanced working setting, has pushed us to rethink how we work. Thanks to 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 Living – a course of that sometimes includes 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, enhancing the visitor expertise relatively than being slowed down in admin.

Our innovation can be deeply supported by Siamese Technology, an inside division of Siamese Asset targeted on enhancing visitor expertise via environmental design and building technology. 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 in addition be 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 friends count on from SK Hotels properties in these areas?

Scott Walton: Food 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 neighborhood craves, and the place we are able to break from the anticipated. We take inspiration from international developments whereas at all times 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 shopper expectations. Whether 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 method is grounded in a ardour for reinvention.

I’m a agency believer that consistency, nevertheless, is simply as essential as innovation. One of the 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 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 higher emphasis on stability, mindfulness, and self-care. At SK Hotels, we method 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 Beauty Center, Sense Cera Spa, and Yumoto, bringing a various vary of wellness experiences to our hotels. These partnerships enable us to tailor every providing to the distinctive character of the vacation spot, whereas nonetheless reflecting international developments in holistic wellbeing. For native residents, our wellness centres present an city sanctuary, a spot to unwind and rejuvenate near dwelling. For worldwide vacationers, they provide a welcome second of calm amid a busy itinerary, with remedies starting from conventional therapies to trendy spa rituals and health options.

Each house is designed with intention, permitting friends to both reconnect with themselves via restorative practices or to utterly disconnect from the stresses of on a regular basis life. We acknowledge that wellness as we speak means various things to completely different individuals, and we purpose to fulfill these wants in methods which might be considerate, regionally related, and persistently uplifting.

Alongside wellness, we’re additionally responding to a rising demand for versatile, purposeful workspaces as extra friends search to mix enterprise and leisure in their journey routines. Our hotels 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.

Through partnerships with coworking platforms reminiscent of Reef Rocks, an app that connects distant employees with welcoming areas, we’ve reworked 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 friends to remain so long as they want.

This evolution not solely enhances the visitor expertise but in addition permits us to activate areas which might be historically underutilized throughout sure elements of the day. By creating environments the place friends and locals alike can work, meet, and calm down, we’re constructing hotels that stay related in a world the place work now not suits a nine-to-five mannequin. More 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 dwelling.

TDM: Tell us concerning the Thailand centre of studying, monetary companies, recruitment, income, digital spine and operations help that SK Hotels has established?

Scott Walton: When we launched SK Hotels in the aftermath of COVID, we had been met with the identical challenges going through the worldwide hospitality business. 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 fully. To rebuild, we knew we needed to take a recent method, 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 Learning marked a turning level. Rather than chase the identical restricted pool of expertise, we selected to speculate in people who might not have beforehand thought of hospitality. School 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 grow to be integral to our operations and are already progressing into management roles.

In parallel, our method 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 relatively than simply prior expertise. We’re in search of mindset and perspective people who find themselves hungry to develop inside a fast-paced, agile setting.

Alongside expertise improvement, we’ve constructed a monetary companies platform that goes past the usual GOP focus typical of lodge administration firms. Our finance workforce operates with a transparent mandate: to prioritize investor returns and long-term worth. This is achieved via sturdy inside 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 stability that provides our traders confidence and our lodge groups readability.

In the realm of income technique, we’ve taken a hybrid method. Each of our hotels is provided with instruments reminiscent of IDeaS and Avalon, giving them dynamic pricing and forecasting capabilities tailor-made to their particular markets. These instruments are additional enhanced by the legacy information and programs introduced in from Kew Green Hotels, whose affect has helped form our business course and method to demand optimization. Supported by a centralized business workforce below Mrs. Tassanee Mangkala-apinun (Khun Pait), this hybrid mannequin permits every lodge to reply domestically whereas being backed by broader market intelligence and strategic oversight.

Our digital and advertising operate has additionally grow to be a significant progress engine. Through a mixture of structured digital technique and untapped artistic expertise – a few of whom we jokingly name “diamonds in the rough” – our advertising division has developed sturdy, narrative-led campaigns for every property. These usually are not generic lodge advertisements, however model tales that resonate with their goal audiences, crafted via 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 sturdy programs throughout all properties, guaranteeing not solely performance however scalability as we develop. Every lodge below SK Hotels is provided 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 workforce 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 inside platforms.

These departments – Learning, Finance, Revenue, Digital, and IT – usually are not working in silos. They are built-in and aligned to help SK Hotels’ 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: Explain to us the function that technology is taking in the continuing progress of SK Hotels’ main proprietor Siamese Asset’s portfolio?

Scott Walton: Technology sits on the core of SK Hotels’ progress and is deeply built-in into each Kew Green 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 building strategies. Likewise with Kew Green’s ever evolving distribution, analytics and visitor satisfaction initiatives – a mixture that’s uncommon in the business.

One standout instance of our dedication to technology 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 system has confirmed particularly useful in the course of the annual burn-off season, when air high quality in Bangkok and surrounding areas can deteriorate considerably. Guests are capable of monitor each indoor and outside air high quality in actual time via a devoted app, whereas every room additionally contains a stay show of present air high quality readings. This degree of transparency and environmental management has not solely reassured friends, however has additionally grow to be 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 Hotels in the long run?

We’re getting into an thrilling new section of progress. In addition to increasing our city footprint, we’re exploring alternatives in extra distant destinations throughout Thailand. In some circumstances, these properties might require sturdy model partnerships; in others, the vacation spot itself is perhaps the draw, permitting us to launch distinctive, impartial lodge ideas.

We are additionally persevering with to develop strategic partnerships much like the one we’ve with Siamese Asset. These alliances enable us to leverage our shared infrastructure – centralized finance, HR, IT, and business experience – lowering prices and enhancing efficiency on the property degree. Unlike extra inflexible company constructions, our management works contained in the hotels, for the hotels. This outcomes in sooner decision-making, stronger workforce help, and finally, higher visitor experiences.

At the center of our philosophy is a straightforward however highly effective mission: to function hotels with a relentless concentrate on 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 consider in frequent sense. It’s a price that usually will get misplaced in over-complicated enterprise processes however one which persistently solves issues, enhances experiences, and strengthens relationships with friends, 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 passed off in the course of the instant 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 workforce members observed uncommon foot site visitors close to a little-used emergency exit that led right into a service hall, an space sometimes quiet and safe. Despite 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 house to maneuver items with out supervision or correct clearance.

While it may have been straightforward to miss or deprioritize given the broader disaster at hand, the workforce dealt with it discreetly and decisively. Access controls had been instantly strengthened, distributors had been re-briefed, and the breach was resolved with out disruption to friends or compromise to the property.

What stands out in this situation is using situational consciousness, frequent sense, and initiative, in the chaos of a real-world disaster. These are precisely the qualities we nurture at SK Hotels: a tradition the place workforce members are empowered to behave, to suppose past checklists, and to guard each our friends and our model repute in the moments that matter most.

As we develop, this core perception in sensible intelligence and human connection will proceed to information each resolution we make. At SK Hotels, the long run isn’t nearly enlargement it’s about evolving neatly, sustainably, and with objective.