Dusit International and its Future Plan
By Wimintra

With more than 60 years experience in the hotel and hospitality industry, Dusit International is now wowing the international market with a flavor of hospitality that is uniquely ‘Thai’. Catherine McNabb, Vice President of Sales and Marketing tells us about Dusit’s big plan.

HH: Who are Dusit’s guests?

Catherine: Dusit International Hotels and Resorts cater to a wide demographic of business and leisure guests in key city and resort locations globally.

HH: What are your expansion plans? What locations? Why?

Catherine: Dusit International is currently opening hotels in Africa, Middle East, Asia and North America. Our expansion priority is in South Eastern and Northern Asia and India, where we seek to work with partners in key locations that have strong growth potential.

We also see great opportunities in Africa and are very much looking forward to opening this summer in Nairobi, Kenya in 3Q 2014. And having a firm establishment in China, where we have entered into a joint venture partnership with a trusted local partner to form Dusit Fudu Hotels and Resorts, is critical to current and future trends. The partnership combines each party’s expertise in hospitality to expand in China, adding another 50 hotels over the next five years.

HH: What trends have you noticed in the past 12 months?

Catherine: There has been strong growth in arrivals from China, India and Russia to our hotels and resorts. The exponential growth in Asian tourism specifically has fueled business opportunities not only to our properties in Asia, but also to Dusit’s other key destinations, such as the Middle East (where we have hotels in Abu Dhabi and Dubai) and the Maldives.

HH: What trends are you forecasting for the next 12 months?

Catherine: Technology continues to play a key role—the growth in direct bookings on mobile devices, noticeably in same-day bookings, makes forecasting challenging due to short lead times. We expect the surge in digital/mobile to continue.

HH: Why would someone choose Dusit over other high end destination brands?

Catherine: For a guest, Dusit offers the warmth of gracious Thai hospitality no matter where in the world our hotel is located. This, coupled with excellent facilities in key international city and resort destinations, makes Dusit an excellent choice for business or leisure guests looking to have a great experience.

For developers, Dusit offers over 65 years of expertise in operating and owning hotels. The various brands in the Dusit brand family, namely the classically Thai Dusit Thani, the cutting edge dusitD2 and the newly-launched, luxurious Dusit Devarana brand afford a good range of brand options for prospective owners.

HH: Dusit is a distinctive ‘Thai’ brand with ‘Thainess’ communicated through all its properties around the world. How has this been received outside of Thailand?

Catherine: Our service culture, imbued with gracious Thai hospitality, is one of our unique selling points, especially in hotels outside of Thailand. It is always a delicate balance to combine our style of service with the local culture, be it in the Middle East, Africa or China, but we do believe that this strengthens our brand and helps to promote Thai culture worldwide

Source: http://www.hotelierherald.com/dusit-international-future-plan/

-- HOTELIER HERALD 2014-04-10

And they need a foreigner to tell the world about the wonders of Thainess??????

LOL. nice PR piece. While Dusit was asleep, Centara grabbed the opportunities and the profits.