Swiss revenue management provider RoomPriceGenie has appointed consultancy Ultsch Consult to lead its market development in Thailand, as the country’s hotel industry contends with falling arrivals and rising room supply.
Thailand recorded around 32.97 million international visitors in 2025, a decline of 7.23 per cent year-on-year and the first annual drop since the pandemic. Arrivals remained 3.11 per cent below prior-year levels through early July 2026, prompting the Tourism Authority of Thailand to revise its full-year forecast down to a range of 30 to 34 million.
The pressure is showing up in hotel performance data from Cushman & Wakefield Thailand. Bangkok occupancy fell to 73 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, down from 77 per cent the previous quarter, with RevPAR declining seven per cent to THB2,672. In Phuket’s luxury and upscale segment, occupancy dropped to 80 per cent in the first half of the year from 84.1 per cent a year earlier, while average daily rate fell four per cent to THB6,820 and RevPAR declined 8.7 per cent.
A March 2026 survey of 138 properties by the Thai Hotels Association and the Bank of Thailand found close to half of hotels across all categories expected room rates to fall in the second quarter, with roughly one in seven anticipating a drop of more than 10 per cent.
Ultsch Consult founder and chief executive Florian Ultsch said the shift in market conditions was changing how hotels needed to approach pricing.
“As long as hotels were full, owners could set prices based on experience,” Ultsch said. “That doesn’t work anymore when occupancy is falling and supply is growing at the same time. I regularly sit with owners who manage their rates through a spreadsheet and a glance at OTA results. That’s not negligence, it’s a resourcing issue, and it costs more in a downturn than in a boom.”
Ultsch Consult has represented RoomPriceGenie in the Thai market since August 2026, with responsibility for nationwide market development, including access to independent hotels and regional groups, and translating the product’s value proposition into local operating conditions.
RoomPriceGenie head of global partnerships André Kaufmann said the local appointment reflected how business is done in the region.
“Decisions in Southeast Asia’s independent hotel sector run on relationships, not forms,” Kaufmann said. “We can build a product that works for independently owned properties, but we can’t build trust from a distance.”
Mordor Intelligence puts the size of Thailand’s hospitality industry at US$24.53 billion (AU$34,49b) for 2026, growing to US$36.26 billion by 2031. According to Skift Research, only around ten per cent of hoteliers worldwide use a dedicated revenue management system.
