SET-listed Central Plaza Hotel Plc (CENTEL) may set up a real estate investment trust (REIT) for hotels under its management contracts.
Chief financial officer Ronnachit Mahattanapreut said two owners of its managed hotels had shown strong interest in joining the REIT establishment and the company was conducting a feasibility study.
As of Feb 28, the company managed 28 hotels for other developers, representing 65% of the 43 hotels in its portfolio.
Centel plans to add 10 new managed hotels each year, and the proportion of hotels under management contracts will reach 76% of the 1,000 properties in its portfolio by the end of 2020.
This year, Centel targets a better performance for both hotel and food operations and plans to spend 26 billion baht to expand both businesses, he said.
Some 19 billion baht will be used for hotel expansion and the balance for food, which will include mergers and acquisitions or joint ventures worth 1 billion baht.
Among hotel investments, 8 billion baht will go for two hotels in the Maldives and joint-venture hotels in Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
Average occupancy at Centel hotels should reach 78-80% this year, up from 74.8% last year.
The average room rate is likely to remain the same, while revenue per available room will rise by 7-8% this year compared with a 4.2% increase last year.
CENTEL shares closed yesterday on the SET at 31.75 baht, unchanged, in trade worth 103 million baht.
CTARAF closed at 3.80 baht, down two satang, in light trade worth 434,000 baht.