S Hotels & Resorts moves forward with the hotel reopening plan and adjusts its strategy to meet New Normal
Bangkok, 12 November 2020, – S Hotels and Resorts Public Company Limited or ‘SHR’, the hospitality arm of Singha Estate Public Company Limited has reported its operational results for the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2020 (9M2020) performance with the revenue from services of THB 1,266 million or a decline by 52%, comparing to the same period last year.
As a result of the temporary suspension on hotel operations from April 1, 2020. The Company progressive resumed its hotel operations in relation to various conditions of each country, started at July 15, 2020 after the easing lockdown measures in several countries. Currently, 35 properties out of the 39-hotel portfolio have been resumed its operational.
Mr. Dirk De Cuyper, Chief Executive Officer of S Hotels & Resorts Plc, revealed its 9M2020 performance with a drop in both operating revenue and profit, dragged down by the stagnant tourism industry due to the tightened travel restrictions in several countries. Amid the challenging situation, we emphasized to manage cashflow effectively and headed for “Unlocking Model” strategies in the third quarter of 2020, focusing on adjusted its strategies including manpower planning, cost cutting initiative, and the commercial activities to adapt to the changing tourism industry in which heavily dependent on domestic market. SHR aim to expand market in domestic & inter-regional to capture the business opportunity for short term pend-up demands.
We expect to see the relaxing international travel restrictions in the end of the year or the beginning of 2021, causing the full reinstatement of the hotel operations and hospitality businesses.
The cost controlling and the adapted commercial strategies have affected to many properties, reflected by the tendency of operational performance, and expected that it was bottoming out in Q3/2020. Nonetheless, we predicted that some properties will show the positive operational performance by the ending of the year, especially the hotels in Maldives and some property in Thailand such as Phi Phi Island Village Beach Resort in which its business on book continued to improve progressively. Additionally, hotels in United Kingdom and Fiji saw rising demand on the back of improvement of local tourism markets and average occupancy rates in September stood at 40% and 24%, respectively.
SHR has proactive efforted to drive its reopening plan with the stringent health and hygiene protocols, to be in line with the World Health Organization and local health authorities. Along with the high standards and attentive services to our customer, stakeholders, community, social, and environment, emphasizing sustainability vision of SHR.
Recently, SHR’s three resorts have wonderful achievements. Firstly, Santiburi Koh Samui was commend by our guests as the best hotel that foreigners would like to stay with, guaranteed by the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice “Best of the Best” Award 2020 and Agoda’s 2020 Customer Review Awards. Santiburi has enhanced its environmental credentials by signing the UNESCO Sustainable Tourism Pledge. Created in partnership with the Expedia Group and Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), this initiative is a key part of the global mission to rid the world of single-use plastic and promote low-impact travel. It also forms part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global blueprint for a more responsible future.
Nonetheless, two of its idyllic island resorts were honoured in the 2020 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards. Phi Phi Island Village Beach Resort, the stunning seafront retreat, has been named as the sixth best resort in Thailand, while Hard Rock Hotel Maldives, the music-inspired five-star resort, was voted as the 23rd best resort in the Indian Ocean.
“Amidst the sluggish tourism situation, we continue to seek opportunities for expanding long-term investments. We maintain our target to doubling our portfolio within 5 years through Asset Light Model or the management of third party assets on the Hotel Management Agreement (HMA) model in which expected to see the significant progress by 2021.” said Mr. De Cuyper.
