Asia hotel market is witnessing a robust revival, with expectations to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024. Based on “Asia Hotel Brand Blueprint 2023” released by Outbox and Vero, CBRE exposes positive trends in tourism arrivals and hotel performance, driven by domestic travel demand.

1/ Travel Resurgence Factors

Asia leads in travel resurgence, propelled by factors such as a rising middle class, demographic strength, and surging travel demand. The region has outpaced others in international and domestic travel growth, reflecting its strong position in the global tourism landscape.

2/ Hotel Industry Dynamics

Despite challenges, hotel investments in Asia Pacific are dynamic, with a focus on upscale and upper-upscale developments. Asia-based hotel groups like Minor Hotels Group and Dusit Thani are strategically expanding, capitalizing on regional visibility and market presence.

3/ Construction Pipeline and Top Players

The hotel construction pipeline remains strong, particularly in India, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Japan. The top five franchise companies, including Hilton, lead in projects and rooms under construction, indicating sustained industry growth.

4/ Asia’s Hospitality Landscape

While international chains like Hilton, Marriot, Holiday Inn lead the upper-upscale tier, Asian hospitality giants Lotte and Aston are making waves in the upscale hotel segment. This shift highlights the growing strength and influence of Asian brands, shaping the regional market and adding diversity to the spectrum of upscale experiences available to travelers.

Despite this, global hotel brands, notably Hilton, maintain an advantage in brand familiarity over local counterparts. This preference suggests a strong inclination among travelers for the reliability and consistency associated with globally recognized names.

5/ Future Outlook

As Asia’s hotel market evolves, differentiation and innovation will be crucial for success in this competitive landscape. The region’s dynamic growth and strategic investments position Asia as a key player in the global hospitality industry, presenting opportunities and challenges.

For deeper insights, immerse yourself in our latest report, “Asia Hotel Brand Blueprint 2023.” This comprehensive guide goes hand in hand with our model Asia Hotel Brand Survey providing a holistic view of the evolving hospitality landscape. Beyond data, it serves as lens into the soul of the market, capturing the heartbeat of trends and enabling actionable insights.

Introduction

Large hotel groups and boutique brands are in a race to establish their presence in the ever-growing and competitive consumer market in Asia. To distinguish themselves, hotel brands must skillfully address emerging travel trends, meeting the increasing demand for self-planned trips, community involvement, and participation in sustainability efforts. Following a period of recovery from the global pandemic and economic decline, the Asian tourism sector is displaying signs of revitalization. In 2023, countries in Asia are witnessing a strong resurgence in tourism, marked by a significant increase in tourist arrivals, along with a resurgence of travel businesses and hotels capitalizing on growth opportunities and initiating new investment projects.

As we conclude 2023, a memorable journey for tourism industry, The Outbox Company (Outbox), in collaboration with Vero, is releasing the ASIA HOTEL BRAND BLUEPRINT 2023 report, providing readers with research data on Asian hotel market, offering a comprehensive view of the landscape for brands as well as the new shifts in traveler behavior within the region. Not only helping companies in the industry gain fresh insights into the hotel market in 2023, this white paper is also a crucial and useful source of information for predicting new opportunities and challenges in 2024.

In this report, to understand more about travelers’ preferences and brand perceptions, an online survey was conducted across seven Asian countries: Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Outbox utilized ASIA BRAND HOTEL SURVEY solution to provide in-depth insights into the level of awareness, familiarity, and perception of customers in the Asian region towards hotel brands.

Together with Outbox, Vero provides essential strategic advisories, specifically designed for hotel brands to thrive in the dynamic competitive landscape in Asia.

Key Content

The whitepaper “Asia Hotel Brand Blueprint 2023” includes 3 main parts:

1/ Asia Hotel Market

The Asian hotel market continues to grow as travel demand returns: Accordingly, the recovery is primarily driven by domestic tourism, while international arrivals to the region are increasing but still significantly below pre-pandemic levels. Hotel chains are expanding across Asia, with investments in hotels in the Asia-Pacific region experiencing a slight decrease due to difficulties from global economic downturn, such as rising interest rates, cost inflation, and increasing macroeconomic instability. Despite these challenges, there are still positive signs for the industry, and investors may continue long-term projects. However, hotel construction pipelines in the Asia-Pacific region remain robust, indicating a positive outlook for the region’s tourism sector.

2/ Asia Hotel Brand Blueprint

• Hotel Brand Awareness: Hilton is the top brand in the upper upscale segment with a brand awareness of 60.1%. This is significantly higher than the next closest competitor, Marriott, which has a brand awareness of 47,7%. IHG’s leadership in the midscale and upper-scale segments is a testament to the high awareness scores of its Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands. Two Asian giants, Lotte and Aston, are making waves in the upscale hotel segment, showcasing the growing strength and influence of Asian hospitality brands in the regional market.
  
  

  Most Popular Hotel Brands in Asia (by Market)

   

• Hotel Brand Familiarity: International hotel brands hold a significant advantage over local or regional brands in terms of brand familiarity across the Asia – Pacific region. This dominance suggests a strong preference among travelers in this market for the reliability and consistency that come with established global names.
• Hotel Brand Image: Brand values are evaluated by both rational (which are closely linked with the products/services itself) and those based on more emotional factors (which is how the brand makes people feel).

3/ Future Proofing Hotel Brands

Travel is undergoing a transformation anchored in three key shifts – self-planning, authenticity, and environmental awareness — are the driving forces behind the latest trends in travel, ushering in a new era of exploration and compelling hotel brands to offer services beyond the ordinary.

All details are contained in the full report “Asia Hotel Brand Blueprint 2023” released by The Outbox Company.