Flight Centre agrees to acquire Asian hotel group

Flight Centre Travel Group has agreed to acquire Bespoke Hospitality Management Asia (BHMAsia), the Bangkok-based hotel management company.

The acquisition will be the Australia’s based travel company’s first investment in the accommodation sector. The aim is to “strengthen [Flight Centre’s] rapidly expanding in-destination travel experiences division” – its third strongest business unit, following its extensive leisure and corporate travel operations.

The agreement will provide a major boost to BHMAsia, enabling it to ramp up its extensive expansion plans, which already include a pipeline of new X2 and X2 Vibe hotels in several major Asian markets.

“Strategically this is a perfect fit,” said BHMAsia’s CEO, Anthony McDonald. “Flight Centre has customers that need hotels and BHMAsia has hotels that need customers. By leveraging FLT’s global distribution network, BHMAsia-managed hotels can deliver improved returns to their owners and an end-to-end experience for FLT customers.”

BHMAsia’s current hotel portfolio includes properties in Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui, Pattaya and Chiang Mai, ranging from individual villas and apartments to hotels and resorts. Most of these are boutique-style properties, but the company is starting to take on larger projects, including the recently-opened 266-rooms X2 Vibe Sukhumvit Hotel in Bangkok and 230-key X2 Vibe Hoi An Residence, which is scheduled to launch in 2018.

McDonald, who founded BHMAsia in 2013, and will remain as the company’s CEO following the acquisition, along with other key BHMAsia executives.

They will oversee the company’s continued expansion, including the openings of the 65-key X2 Vibe Pattaya Seaphere Residence in Q4 2017, 85-key X2 Vibe Phuket Bangtao Residence in Q1 2018, and 40-key X2 Vibe Koh Samui Nautilus Residence in Q2 2018.

Full details of the transaction and Flight Centre’s strategic plans for the hotel group will be released after the formal completion of the deal.