PHUKET, THAILAND, 21 July 2021: Outrigger Hospitality Group has bought the Manathai Hotels and Resorts brand, owned by a local Thai hospitality firm that managed three beach resorts in southern Thailand.
As part of the acquisition, Outrigger will refresh the former Manathai Koh Samui (148 rooms), Manathai Khao Lak (158 rooms) and Manathai Surin Phuket (66 rooms) before rebranding and re-opening by the year-end. They will be renamed Outrigger Koh Samui Beach Resort, Outrigger Khao Lak Beach Resort and Phuket Manathai by Outrigger. (A branding variant due to its off-beach location.)
Outrigger Hospitality Group president and CEO, Jeff Wagoner, said the unspecified investment directly aligned with Outrigger’s strategic business plan to expand in the Asia Pacific.”
Having a 70-year track record in the resort business, Outrigger Hospitality Group expanded from Hawaii to resort destinations that eventually included Fiji, Mauritius and Thailand. However, in recent years it appeared to slow its expansion in Southeast Asia.
A Google search ‘Outrigger Hotels & Resorts’, navigates you to the corporate website of Singha Estate, a public listed company in Thailand and Singapore, majority-owned by the Bhirombhakdi beer baron family and its related companies. In 2018, cash-rich Singha Estate bought six Outrigger resorts from the Hawaii-based owner Outrigger Hospitality Group for USD310 million. It acquired ownership of the Outrigger Ko Samui Beach Resort, Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort, Castaway Island Fiji, Outrigger Mauritius Beach Resort and Outrigger Konotta Maldives Resort.
According to the Q1 2021 executive summary, Singha Estate’s hospitality arm S Hotels (SHR) terminated the hotel management agreements with Outrigger and in Q1 2021 employed a self-managed platform in three of the six Outrigger resort properties — Samui, Phuket and the Maldives.
Singha Estate has expanded its property investment mainly in resorts across the Asia-Pacific through S Hotels and Resorts Public Company (SHR), a subsidiary company overseeing its hospitality business. In 2021, S Hotels & Resorts reports it owns and operates 38 hotels with 4,574 keys in top destinations such as the Thailand Maldives, Fiji, Mauritius and the UK.
