Phuket’s High And Low Season Hotel Rate FOMO-Fever

So why have Phuket hotel owners and operators developed a bad case of FOMO (fear of missing out) for over more than a decade and why can’t they keep it up (rates that is)?

Good insights from Jesper Palmqvist STR stat man at this week’s Phuket Hotels Association quarterly meeting. Did you realize that for the period 2012 onwards for more than a decade, not counting COVID19, that marketwide rates have stood still.

Diving deep is the seasonality factor when most properties rake it in during the 5ish months high period and then drop their pants during low periods. STR data shows a 1/3 reduction in occupancy but a boost in the summer season, though rates at the same time are down 50%.

Is it bad rate management, over-reliance on wholesale business, or just the dreaded fear factor? As rates grow in 2023 and now into 2024 they hold, what will come when the peak season snowbirds leave? Calling all revenue managers.