Abstract
In this study of domestic hotels in Thailand, a timeline approach was used to build a cumulative set of insights. Using archival analysis, the study initially traces the development of the domestic hotel in Thailand by exploring hotel sector growth in Thailand from 1962 to 2012. Building on these insights, the perspectives of key stakeholders towards the current state and future development of Thai domestic hotels were then studied empirically. Questionnaire and interviews were conducted with 334 domestic tourists and 33 hotel operators in Prachaup Khirikhan, Chon Buri and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces. Broadly, the prospects for these types of properties were seen as sound with operators and customers predominantly adopting an optimistic view. Key action features for attention to ensure this optimism is not unfounded were identified. The analysis of domestic hotels and change in a leading Asian destination adds novelty and broadens the patterns of trends that can be detected in the global, smaller scale hotel sector.
Introduction
As countries in Asia modernize, the increasingly affluent members of these societies can enjoy and even luxuriate in new tailor-made facilities to suit their tastes, interests and cultural needs. Domestic hotels in Thailand represent one such emerging resource for Thai locals. In this study, domestic hotels are defined, in part, as those owned by Thai personnel, and the tourists who use these properties are mainly but not exclusively Thai citizens. Additionally, the properties considered are not part of a consortium and provide considerable personal interaction between the Thai staff and guests. Further, the domestic hotels of interest often have a special feature (a heritage or historic value) or provide distinctive activities for the guests and may use Thai architectural features and images. They tend to have a moderate rather than a very large level of capital investment. These definitional attributes follow international approaches to studying boutique and local accommodation styles (cf. Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000; Di Domenico, 2005; Getz and Petersen, 2005; Pearce and Moscardo, 1992). The powerful and common threads in these studies of local accommodation properties lie in providing for local cultural preferences in terms of room design, furnishings, informality of host–guest interaction and food styles. Domestic properties in these styles trend to appeal to specific local target markets.
Domestic tourism within Thailand has grown in the last two decades, and this internal tourism growth has been facilitated in part by the rise of domestic hotels. In this study, the trajectory of development and the possibilities for the future of Thai domestic hotels, as defined above, are the focus of interest. The analysis consists of three parts; firstly, an archival consideration of the origins of Thai domestic hotels is set against the backdrop of the evolution of Thai tourism overall. Next, empirical work assessing the current standing of Thai domestic hotels from the perspective of customers and hotel operators is considered. A view of the future of Thai domestic hotels is then offered by again considering the views of hotel operators and customers as key stakeholders. The studies are connected by a clear timeline of interest. The archival work identifies key past and likely continuing external drivers of Thai domestic hotel development. The survey work addresses present and desired requirements, which in turn are employed to shape scenarios to test preferences for future domestic hotel styles and development.
There are some key arguments justifying the importance of understanding the rise, state and future of these kinds of hotels. In an academic sense, very little has been written about these kinds of properties in Thailand and arguably domestic hotels have been understudied in Asian tourism contexts (Huang and Sun, 2014; Pluemmanoo, 2010; Sagnarong, 2009). Attention to these kinds of properties can embellish our understanding of the processes at work in tourism and hotel growth, and these developments might not follow Western models of change. From a more applied perspective, the study can be seen as beginning to document the needs of emerging Asian markets. Both for the citizens who frequent these properties and the owners, managers and employees who work in them, an improved appreciation of the trajectory of domestic hotels from the past into the future is important. As a third impetus to study domestic hotels, it is also apparent that some international tourists do use them. The choice of these hotels by foreign guests may be related to price, but there is ample literature also suggesting that the motivation for outsiders may well be driven by a rejection of standardized, commoditized hotel chains (Morgan, 2014). From this point of view, an understanding of how domestic hotels represent local heritage, and act as cultural sites in their own right, is significant for the overall appeal of the destination (Teo and Chang, 2009; Tidtichumernporn, 2009).
The present study has three aims. It seeks to document the way domestic hotels in Thailand have evolved. It then uses the key points of concern from this information to pursue two further aims: an assessment of the issues surrounding the current state of Thai domestic hotels and an appraisal of their future as seen by two key stakeholder groups – operators and guests.
Literature review
Tourism in Thailand is big business. Alan and Chotihamwattana (2013) noted that across Asia, Thailand was ranked only second to China in terms of earning revenue from the tourist sector. The number of tourists to the country has continued to rise despite the recurring shocks and crises confronting ‘the land of smiles’ (Kanlayanasukho, 2014). Recently available figures indicate that the numbers are climbing towards 30 million international visitors annually (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 2015).
It would be misleading, however, to focus attention only on the growth of international visitors shaping Thai tourism. The domestic tourism developments including the rise of domestic hotels also matter. The present study can be firmly located in the context of global domestic accommodation research efforts. There are a number of studies in varied tourism contexts about boutique, specialist and nontraditional hotels (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000; Freund de Klumbis and Munsters, 2005; Imrie and Fyall, 2001; Morrison et al., 1996; Pearce and Moscardo, 1992). Some of these analyses and related studies are focused on traditional hotel styles in specific countries and could aptly be considered as parallel work on domestic hotels for the present context. For example, within Asia alone, Henderson (2011) has considered the home-grown boutique and chic sector in Singapore, whilst Huang and Sun (2014) have written about the economy hotel in China.
Several key features of domestic and small-scale hotel properties are portrayed in the existing studies. For example, it is well documented that smaller properties may offer economical rates, employ local traditions in food and service styles, provide contact with the actual accommodation owners and deliver flexibility in such basic procedures as check in and check out times (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000). Getz and Petersen (2005) in studying small tourism business operators in both Denmark and Canada remark on the importance of a lifestyle orientation for the hotel operators including enjoying living in a specific community and being able to provide family members and friends with employment opportunities. In Australia, Pearce and Moscardo (1992) noted the way specialist and small-scale domestic accommodation facilities showed great pride in their region, whilst Di Domenico (2005), studying properties in Scotland, emphasized that local guest house operators wanted to keep their businesses at a fixed scale to avoid stress and more work. Both business needs and lifestyle needs seem to play a role in the global orientation of small domestic accommodation properties.
The point of comparison, the dialectic for the purposes of our argument, is the international brand hotel with its corporate structure, international marketing, management prowess and standardization. There is no shortage of these internationally owned hotels and rooms in Thailand. (Of course some of Thailand’s most expensive hotels are owned by wealthy Thai individuals and Thai companies. These properties deserve their own research study and are not included in the present considerations and definition where the domestic market is the principal target group of interest.) For over a decade, Thailand has maintained one of the largest accommodation capacities in Asia with a total of more than 300,000 guest rooms in hotels and similar establishments (PATA, 2014). Many of these properties are in beach and island locations. The idea of spending a holiday on a palm-fringed, sun-drenched, tropical beach in a large, enclave style international resort has been widely promoted in the form of Internet advertising, brochures, posters and postcards. Such images have attracted tourists to several destinations in the Asia-Pacific region for some time (Cooper, 1994; Teo and Chang, 2009). Thailand’s tourism industry promotion typifies this emphasis but does add a diversity of cultural attractions and activities for mass tourism. Promoting Thailand as a sun, sea and sand (and sex) holiday enjoyed in the comfort of quality hotels typify the product style for Phuket, Pattaya and the southern Thai islands (Kaosa-ard, 1998; Kaosa-ard et al., 2001).
In Thailand, the international hotel chains have been active both historically and in contemporary times. Major international chain hotels attracted to invest in the Thai hospitality market have included Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide. Standardized features of such consortia characterize many of these hotels (Holiday Inn, Ramada). Such properties benefit from brand awareness, marketing collateral, sales team programmes and loyalty programmes. They also attract domestic tourists and so any understanding of domestic hotels would be inadequate without some comparative questions on how Thai domestic hotels compete with international chain hotels (Pluemmanoo, 2010; Sagnarong, 2009).
Many international hoteliers and investors currently see opportunities for expanding their business throughout Thailand. Such international hotel chains as Accor, Sheraton, Hilton, Marriott and Crowne Plaza are expanding and building new resorts and hotels, especially in Southern Thailand (PATA, 2014). The future of Thai domestic hotels may partly be determined by such competition, especially because these big international companies may begin to build more budget hotels. Research on Thai domestic hotels must, to some extent, consider the stakeholders’ views towards these other types of accommodation. Not only are the Thai domestic hotels facing the challenges to upgrade their service quality to compete with the international chain hotels, but the entire Thai hotel industry also has to compete with other countries. Intense competition among Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries to recover tourism losses in previous turbulent times also drives the quest to attract guests.
These contextual forces need to be studied to appreciate the key touchpoints for the future of Thai domestic hotels. The approach taken in the present work mixes archival analysis and contemporary survey work to achieve the study goals of assessing the future of Thai domestic hotels. The work is descriptive and documentary in style rather than conceptually or theoretically driven, but the broad application of growth models and tourism development trajectories are briefly considered in the interpretation and discussion of the findings (cf. Butler, 2006; Cohen, 1982, 2005). The research strategy employed here recognizes both the continuities and discontinuities between the past, present and future but attempts to build a continuous thread of understanding by adopting a stakeholder-based approach to the challenges of change. The views of stakeholders are not the only considerations that shape the future but they may be seen as building blocks influencing many other enabling and inhibiting forces (Clarkson, 1995; Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Sautter and Leisen, 1999). The stakeholder approaches offer a cumulative mixed-method effort at building a fundamental understanding of the foundation problems and pressures for the Thai domestic hotel properties.
Study 1
The rise of domestic hotels
Studies employing detailed archival analysis in tourism are arguably not as common as in other social science fields (McCulloch, 2004; Prior, 2003; Rapley, 2007). The value of archival research for the present study lies in thoroughly examining the texts and the information from documented sources to assemble their ‘at-the-time’ explanations of change and its causal agents. In this review of the evolution of the Thai domestic hotel, the focus is on identifying the kinds of causal agents that have shaped these developments with a view to assessing their contemporary and future relevance.
The Thai national library was initially accessed and searched because it is the largest repository of archives in Thailand. A further 17 main libraries were then visited to provide material for the study. Different libraries keep archives in varied types of databases. A total of 90 days was spent by the research team accessing databases and using microfilms to trace the existing secondary data in the established libraries. Jennings (2010) has pointed out that the time and effort to access archival material depend on how systematically the data have been collected and organized. As a result, prior to data collection, the head of each library was consulted to facilitate the study and asked to explain how to access the database before the research team commenced work. At the national library some archived materials included census data and tourism research data stored and kept by both individual researchers and the industry. This information included materials from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Archives in the other established libraries were available to the research team but were kept on microfilm and needed on-site visits to access the contents.
According to the aims and research questions, the period of interest to be documented was the 50-year period 1962–2012. Data collection from the fieldwork consisted of 55 journals, 68 magazines produced by the TAT, 35 dissertations of postgraduate students from both private and public universities, 32 magazines and 40 items from newspapers published by business and industry. Additionally, 32 related websites were chosen for investigation in the study. The results are summarized in Table 1.
Highlights of development and the underlying dynamic forces shaping Thai hotel growth.
Note: TAT: Tourism Authority of Thailand; THA: Thai Hotel Association; R&R: Rest and Recreation.
The wealth of information provided in all the documents reviewed in this phase of the work has two functions in this study. On the one hand, it provides a rich contextual understanding and record of a range of significant forces and events variously stimulating and impeding the growth of Thai tourism. Additionally, and of particular relevance to the timeline strategy employed in this article, it highlights two exceptionally powerful forces in the trajectory of growth. These forces are firstly, the pivotal and ongoing role of government support for marketing and building infrastructure relevant to tourism, and secondly, the growing affluence and aspirations of Thai citizens to travel and enjoy their leisure. These key factors will be considered further in the tracking of the future of Thai domestic hotels in this study. Drawing on these highlights, the next phases of the work also considered the issues of government involvement in tourism, the continuing effects of crises of various types in the region, promotional innovation and success, infrastructure developments related to tourism, the quality of hotel services and human resource development for hotel operations.
Studies 2 and 3
Methodology details
Building on some of the dominant themes and issues shaping the historical rise in Thai tourism and the associated growth of domestic hotels, the following studies sought to uncover the views of both domestic hotel operators and guests towards present operations and future directions. The work was conducted in Prachaup Khirikhan, Chon Buri and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces. These areas include several of Thailand’s famous tourist attractions and, importantly, they are regions where a number of domestic hotels had been built and are being developed in response to the growing numbers of domestic middle-class tourists. The locations are indicated in Figure 1.
Map of Thailand indicating the key study sites.
To gain a suitable sample size of stakeholders, the researchers employed a sampling frame based on the information from the Thai Hotel Association and the TAT. Information from these organizations revealed 442 registered hotels in the selected provinces that were either small to medium hotels. Some of them ranged from moderate to luxury five-star properties. The researchers randomly selected a sample of 33 domestic hotels distributed equally across the three most relevant provinces of Prachaup Khirikhan, Chon Buri and Nakon Ratchasima. These regions contain some of the most concentrated domestic hotel properties in Thailand. The sample size was seen as representing a feasible member of personal interviews with operators, which were likely to achieve saturation of themes and views (Krueger and Casey, 2000). These properties were then used to also sample guests, and a total of 334 guests were sampled in a 3-month time period in 2013.
The questionnaire used in the study and given to guests was written in both Thai and English in order to ensure that the respondents were able to understand all the questions. Respondents were asked to outline their requirements when staying in domestic hotels. Further questions sought information on desired locations for domestic hotels and asked guests to respond to three scenarios about the future of Thai domestic hotels.
The interviews conducted with the hotel operators used the issues identified in the archival study to rate the influence of a set of factors on Thai domestic hotels. The demographic details sought about their work and backgrounds were different from that required in the guest questionnaire. There was more material directed to the operators about the hotel features and sizes, occupancy rates and perceived success of their business. The operators were also asked what they thought guests required and, in common with the guests, were requested to offer their views on the future directions for domestic hotels.
The future scenarios were designed as follows: Please look at the three following scenarios and answer the questions. (Each scenario was accompanied by three photographs depicting appropriate visual images of the points made in the text. These images are available in full colour from the authors). What do you think is the likely future of domestic hotels in Thailand in the next 5–10 years?
These scenarios were formulated based on the researchers’ integrative and creative efforts to consider the important and relevant external drivers of change from the historical archival material combined with the expressed needs of the guests and hotel managers in the survey data. The dominant themes expressed in the scenarios were therefore built on varying levels of the key concept of a continuing rise in the spending capacity of the Thai middle class and a somewhat differentiated but still supportive government environment for infrastructure investment in relevant regions through taxation.
Scenario 1 (high growth)
Domestic hotels will become very popular as more Thai people earn more money. They will be in many sites close to Bangkok and also rural areas. They will not be as expensive as international hotels. The government will provide some tax incentives for investment. Many will be owned by small local families and investors. The standard of food and beverage will be excellent.
Scenario 2 (moderate growth)
Domestic hotels will be somewhat popular as the future develops for people in Thailand. They will not be as expensive as international hotels. The government will provide only a few tax incentives for investment. They will be in many sites in Bangkok and rural areas. Some domestic hotels will be owned by local families. The standard of food and beverage will be good.
Scenario 3 (low growth)
Domestic hotels will not be very popular, and they will find it hard to compete against international hotels. The government will not provide tax incentives for investment. They will be in only a few sites in Bangkok and rural areas. As Thai people earn more money, they will give up staying in domestic hotels and move to more international hotels. The standard of the food and beverage will be average.
Respondents were then specifically asked: How likely is it that this (each scenario) will be the future of domestic hotels in 5–10 years? They were also asked: Do you have further ideas to describe the development of domestic hotels in the next 5–10 years?
After initially interviewing the owners or general managers of the selected domestic hotels, the research team distributed the questionnaires to hotel guests in the lobbies of the hotels. Hotel guests were approached after they finished checking out at the reception desk. At that time, the aims of the research, including an explanation of what was meant by domestic hotels, were explained.
Results
Study 2: Current views of domestic hotels
The data drawn from the guest survey focused on their view of the current facilities in domestic hotels and their preferences for these services. Guests mentioned that staying in domestic hotels where the facilities made them feel like they were at their home was very important. One reason that respondents want to feel ‘at home’ appears to be so they can cook or eat local Thai food whilst staying in the hotel. Location was also a key part of the desired hotel attributes with access to temples and special activities such as markets and festivals being rated highly. A number of within-sample variations were recorded for the desired attributes of the Thai domestic hotels. Chi-square analyses of these within-sample differences supported the following differences. Female respondents emphasized Thai culture, the Thai lifestyle and an interest in the local Thai community more than their male counterparts (χ 2 = 18.38, df = 1, N = 332, p < 0.001).
Younger respondents (less than 30) as compared to older respondents (over 40) placed a premium on the hotels delivering and expressing a Thai lifestyle (χ 2 = 11.54, df = 2, N = 332, p < 0.05) and stressed the positive value of Thai hotel staff presenting themselves as well dressed and stylish (χ 2 = 8.45, df = 2, N = 332, p < 0.05). The younger respondents also preferred their domestic hotels to be in locations giving them access to adventurous activities (such as Phi Phi Island) (χ 2 = 5.59, df = 2, N = 332, p < 0.05).
Those with less income as well as those with considerable experience of staying in domestic hotels paid greater attention to budget promotional deals (for less income χ 2 = 12.97, df = 3, N = 332, p < 0.05; for different experience levels χ 2 = 8.55, df = 2, N = 332, p = 0.03). There were also differences among those who stayed in different regions (χ 2 = 23.52, df = 2, N = 332, p < 0.01) Forty-two per cent of those from Nakonratchasima province (in the less developed Northeast) were more likely to emphasize country atmosphere as a reason for choosing the domestic hotel, whilst 60% of those from Chon Buri province (closer to Bangkok and relatively well developed) were significantly more likely to emphasize privacy and relaxation. In general terms, these needs of the Thai domestic tourist seem to be based on clear objective attributes related to their local and distinctive way of using these kinds of hotels.
The data drawn from the hotel operator interviews provided their perspectives on both the positive and negative forces shaping the growth of domestic hotels. They identified, in order of increasing importance, the following hindrances and limitations to the growth of Thai domestic hotels – The impact of terrorism of United States in 2001, The SARS crisis between 2002 and 2003, tsunami in Thailand in 2004, bird flu in Thailand in 2004, the terrorism of the South in 2004 to present, political crisis of Thailand from 2005 to 2006 (yellow shirt demonstration), political crisis of Thailand in 2010 and the flooding of Thailand in 2011. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) results for these mean ratings, F(8, 320) = 19.59, p < 0.05, and follow-up post hoc Scheffe tests indicated that the issue 6 (political crisis of Thailand from 2005 to 2006), issue 7 (political crisis of Thailand in 2010) and issue 8 (flooding of Thailand in 2011) were considered to be more important negative issues than other concerns. Issue 2 (SAR crisis between 2002 and 2003) and issue 4 (bird flu in Thailand in 2004) were considered to be at a moderate level of importance. Issue 1 (the impact of terrorism in the United States in 2001), issue 3 (tsunami in Thailand in 2004) and issue 5 (the terrorism of the South from 2004 to present) were still considered to be important, but not as important as other issues.
By way of contrast, the ranking of the positive influences, in increasing order of importance, was as follows: the improvement of staff competencies in the hotel, the improvement of logistics systems in hotels, the increase in demand and taste of domestic tourists in seeking diverse experience from tourist attractions and accommodation, the establishment of sustainable tourism of Thailand in 2001, the opening of the new airport in Bangkok in 2006, the promotion of the MICE market in 2006, the development of e-tourism from 2003 to 2006 and the improvement of tourist attractions. One-way repeated-measures ANOVA results for these mean ratings, F(8, 320) = 21.34, p < 0.05, followed by post hoc tests indicated that the development of e-tourism from 2003 to 2006 and the improvement of tourist attractions were significantly more important than other mechanisms in boosting Thai domestic hotel development. Nevertheless, it is important to point out that all factors were considered to be contributors to the development of the Thai domestic hotels, with the substantive meaning of the rankings being important to very important as the mean data points were between 3.8 and 4.9 on a 5-point scale, where 5 = highly important.
Some fundamental descriptive and business performance information about the hotels was collected and can be taken as somewhat typical of these kinds of operations across these key regions of Thailand. The hotel operators themselves were predominantly male (70%) had a bachelor degree (60%), were typically between 36 and 50-years old and were married. The properties they operated had mostly been in business less than 10 years although there were some accommodation properties (30%) that had been established more than 20 years ago. The domestic hotels in Thailand should not be thought of as all small-scale boutique or specialist accommodation operations with 42% having more than 100 rooms, 45% offering 31–100 rooms and 36% being in the smaller range of 1–30 rooms. Domestic tourists were estimated by the operators to comprise 65% of the clientele. The current occupancy levels were reported as lying predominantly in the range of 51–75%, with 27% of the hotels claiming better figures and 15% reporting lower room usage.
Hotel operators were also asked to assess their perceived competitive advantages and disadvantages at the present time (Table 2). This information was collected as a part of understanding the positioning and competitive dynamics of the Thai domestic hotels in the overall treatment of their past, current and future trajectory.
Competitive advantages and disadvantages of domestic hotels compared to the international hotels.
Note: N = 33.
Study 3 views of the future of domestic hotels
Three future scenarios were used to investigate the domestic tourists’ views. The overall results indicated that the highest scores from the guests were for the high-growth and moderate-growth scenarios, with the low-growth scenarios being rated consistently less likely. A one-way ANOVA revealed that there were statistically significant differences for the perceived scenarios according to the provinces where the tourists were located. In the results, there were significant differences among domestic tourists’ views for scenario 3 (low growth), F(2, 6.76) = 6.65, p < 0.00. Respondents from Chon Buri province predicted scenario 3 (low growth) more than respondents from other provinces. One possible linking issue producing this outcome is the influence of the new Bangkok airport (Suvarnabhumi). It can be argued that the consequence of the establishment of Suvarnabhumi Airport in 2006 has resulted in rapid growth in a number of nearby international hotels. Chon Buri is the nearest province to the airport and tourists staying there may be more aware of and have direct experience of the growth of international hotels; this experience may shape their prediction of lower domestic hotel growth. This is consistent with the work of TAT (2015), who supported the view that the establishment of the new airport in Bangkok boosted all tourist arrivals and bolstered new high standards of accommodation. As a result, it can be argued that domestic tourists from Chon Buri tend to predict the likely development of international hotels more than domestic hotels in the next 5–10 years. For the hotel operators, the overall results indicated that the highest scores were for the high-growth and moderate-growth scenarios with the low-growth scenarios being rated consistency less likely. There were no regional differences in the hotel operators’ responses to the scenarios.
Additional information about the future challenges for the development of the domestic hotels was sought from each group of stakeholders. This material is summarized in Table 3 for the responses from hotel guests. In Table 4, the views of hotel operators on a series of linked future-oriented issues are presented.
Domestic hotel users’ views of their future needs for staying in domestic hotels.
Future issues and concerns from the hotel operators.
Further suggestions from domestic hotel operators about the development of domestic hotels in the next 5–10 years.
Results of operators’ views of what domestic tourists want from domestic hotels in the next 5–10 years.
Operators’ views of how domestic hotels will compete with the international hotels in the next 5–10 years.
Discussion
Multiple findings of interest from the three studies exploring the trajectory of Thai domestic hotels serve to address fully the aims of the study. The forces shaping the development of Thai domestic hotels were documented to be initially external agents, notably the US armed forces, who required a kind of accommodation unavailable in a developing Buddhist country in the 1960s (Cohen, 1982). In many models of Western hotel development, the international capital follows rather than precedes local growth; thus, the Thai situation inverts the common pattern (Butler, 2006). Together with government action and infrastructure improvements for transport, the rise of the Thai middle class in the early 1980s was perhaps the most powerful stimulus for domestic hotel growth. Throughout the 50-year period considered in the archival record, tourism in Thailand was buffeted by a number of serious shocks, but the resilience of the sector to these growth impediments may be partly explained by the point that none of the issues identified were hostile activities targeted specifically at either domestic or international tourists (Kanlayanasukho, 2014).
In the survey and interview work carried out in three important regional locations where domestic hotels are a strong part of the Thai tourism, it was established that guests were generally favourable towards these properties seeing them as a home away from home. In particular, they were viewed as serving Thai needs in terms of cultural access, activities and advantageous locations. Domestic hotel operators identified the rise of e-tourism to be of particular importance as a positive growth factor, but it does have some complexities in its use and operational requirements. The role of Internet distribution and the marketing challenges for the smaller domestic hotel tourism operators are considerable, but the way the large-scale distributors represent and rate these distinctive properties can be problematic for their competitive positioning. There is ample opportunity to investigate these Internet opportunities and challenges in future work on Thai domestic hotels.
Other supporting positive forces included the increase in demand and taste of domestic tourists in seeking diverse experience from tourist attractions and accommodation, the establishment of sustainable tourism across Thailand in 2001, the opening of the new airport in Bangkok in 2006 and the promotion of the MICE market in 2006. Impediments to growth were mainly the large shocks to the whole tourism system and the most recent of these events, the flooding of 2011 and the political instability in the same period, were foremost in this list. Additional problems were noted at a different scale when operators highlighted the lack of market orientation, inconsistency in service standards, high staff turnover, limited networks and inadequate financial support for the development as constraints compared to the competition provided by international hotels.
It might be expected from this consideration of their views of the present that the hotel operators might be sanguine about the future of domestic hotels. In evaluating future scenarios for the sector, this proved not to be the case with a moderate or high growth in the next 5–10 years seen as realistic scenarios. This may be explained partly by the construct of a sunk cost fallacy, that is, they are in this sector and have to make it work (Seligman, 1990). The core explanation of the sunk cost notion here is that individuals immersed in a particular activity or world continue to be optimistic about its future even though an outside view might be less positive. The optimism towards the future expressed by the hotel operators was buttressed by the view of the guests who mostly also endorsed the high and medium growth scenarios.
Both the responses from the guests and the hotel operators constitute an action agenda to ensure the future of domestic hotels does indeed meet these optimistic expectations. Key factors for attention include consistency of good service in a Thai style, continued and enhanced promotion of Thai tourist attractions, stimulating the market through smart discounting practices and the use of technology to facilitate the service. The boost to domestic properties through the ability to market the domestic hotels using the Internet and to receive customer endorsements through the same channel are forces of special importance to the domestic hotels since these marketing and communication tools partly offset the networked and promotional power of the international competitors.
Some elements necessary to understand the future of such properties were not clearly identified in the present work. Only the guest and the hotel operators were considered as stakeholders. The role of the government in making important decisions about taxation and investment incentives are further perspectives that could modify the likelihood of domestic hotel success. The views of front-line staff and international tourists could also be collected in future work. Additionally, the strategies of international brand hotels to move into the moderate priced marketplace and mimic the features of domestic hotels is a further issue requiring analysis of the broader picture of the future accommodation patterns in Thailand. This study does not offer definitive results about the size or scale of ideal domestic hotels, though in applying the definition in the regional areas the properties studied tended to be smaller rather than at the expansive scale of large international hotels. A smaller size appears to confer some management advantages and can perhaps be designed in a more distinctive Thai style with architectural and interior design nuances to appeal to those looking for different experiences. As one reviewer of this article pointed out, there are parallel and important studies to be done on the way Thai people (and groups) operate some of the major international hotels. The present article has not considered the introduction of the Thai cultural elements into the large-scale properties oriented principally to the international market. It is possible to see the designation of such a study under the title ‘Affluent Thai entrepreneurs and expensive Thai hotels’.
In conclusion, despite the identification of positive directions for their future, at this point in the trajectory of Thai tourism, domestic hotels are not an assured part of the trajectory of the industry. Further study of these businesses in the context of their competitors may determine which path dominates the coming decades: international control and homogeneity or local diversity and ownership.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.