Thailand-based company ONYX Hospitality has an extensive history in hotel management and development going back more than half a century and its four key brands, Amari, Shama, OZO and Oriental Residence are growing at a steady pace.

Here, ONYX Hospitality Vice President of Global Sales, Sunny Kim, discusses the South East Asia market and the unique selling points of its four key brands at the recently renovated and rebranded Amari Hotel in Bangkok.

Can you tell us a little about ONYX Hospitality?

As you know, ONYX Hospitality is a Thailand-based company, and we aim to expand in Southeast Asia with our four key brands and already have a foothold in Malaysia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Greater China and Laos.

We have 47 hotels, mostly under management, with plans to bring that number to around 70 in the next few years. We try to be the best among the premium medium-sized hospitality management companies in Southeast Asia, not the biggest.

Can you tell us a bit about your four key brands?

Sure. Amari is our city and upper upscale resort 5-star hotel brand with MICE and business facilities in the key locations.

OZO is our upper mid-scale, fun and colourful “lifestyle” brand with a strong 4-star-plus rating. But OZO can also cater for business travellers like our Pattaya property.

Shama is our serviced apartment brand that also has three tiers Shama Luxe, Shama and Shama Hub. There is also our luxury Oriental Residence brand with just the one property currently in the Bangkok embassy precinct.

Last year, we received the new Michelin Key rating and it’s also in the Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) group. And yes, we are planning more here in Thailand for now.

[Note: In January, ONYX Hospitality announced a new joint venture with Equatorial Group from Malaysia to co-develop “EQ Phuket”, a luxury hospitality project in Phuket, Thailand. Expected to open in 2028. This will be another brand in the ONYX portfolio.]

In a market as competitive as Thailand and Southeast Asia generally, how do the ONYX brands maintain unique selling points?

As you say, there are so many international and regional brands in the market, but with our well-known flagship brand, Amari, we are enjoying a healthy revenue stream thanks to our ability to meet the expectations of specific source markets like Australia, Europe, Singapore and Asia generally.

We are also well-placed to meet the needs of business travellers, family, FIT, group and MICE in all the key destinations. Our newest property in Bangsaen, Thailand (a rebranding of The Tide Resort, located in Chonburi Province) will include substantial product updates.

Even though I have only been with ONYX less than a year, the first thing I noticed is how well our Amari brand is known among our key clients overseas and it’s no doubt the product we deliver stands out among the many other brands. For the Australian market specifically, we see a strong demand for wedding packages, and we’ll be putting energy into developing that segment.

[Note: Former Tourism Authority of Thailand Marketing Manager, Ohm I. Ayutthya, has been appointed to represent Thailand specialist sales in Australia.]

Do you have any plans for expansion in the Pacific region?

That region is not in our plan yet, as the company vision is to concentrate on Southeast Asia. Massive expansion like some other brands is not our goal. We want to be more quality-driven, rather than quantity-driven. It’s more important to maintain brand standards than just to strive for more and more properties.