Onyx looks to future following transformation

Onyx Hospitality Group expects to expand its portfolio by approximately 50% to more than 100 hotels across Asia Pacific and the Middle East by 2023.

Ten years on from the start of a major transformation plan, the group is now both reflecting on its progress and laying down new goals. The move from having a single hotel brand (Amari) in a single country (Thailand) towards becoming a multi-brand, pan-Asian hotel group included the launch of, among others, the midscale Ozo and Shama serviced apartment brands.

And speaking to Travel Daily at the World Travel Market this week, Duncan Webb, the company’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said that 2017 will be a milestone year for Onyx as the company’s first 10-year plan nears completion.

“As we approach 2017, so many of the plans that we put down on paper are now coming to fruition,” Webb told Travel Daily in London. “2017 is a turning point for us when we can truly say that we’ve transformed ourselves from a single-brand, single-destination company into a multi-brand, multi-destination company.”

The last nine years have seen Onyx expand to a portfolio of 68 hotels, both operating and in the pipeline. And Webb revealed that, with considerable expansion still planned in 2017, the company expects to hit its target of 80 properties by 2018.

“Our 10-year strategy goal was to have 80 properties (open or signed) by 2018, and I think we’re pretty much on track to achieve that. As I look ahead we’re now working on our plan up to 2023, and we would envisage that we’d be over 100 properties by that time.

“[We’re] starting to see true momentum across the region,” he added.

2017 will see some significant openings for Onyx, including its first Amaris in Sri Lanka and China (Amari Galle and Amari Yangshuo respectively), the company’s first hotels in Malaysia (Amari Johor Bahru and Ozo Georgetown) and its inaugural property in Vietnam (Ozo Hoi An). This follows Onyx’s debut in the Maldives earlier this year.

When Onyx set out its 10-year plan it made the decision to focus on the pan-Asian region, “from the Middle East down to Australia,” as Webb puts it. And the company recently secured a key element of this geographical strategy with the signing of the Shama Luxe Aurora Melbourne – its first property in Australia. Laos will also welcome its first Onyx properties in the coming years, as will Indonesia, where the company has a signed property in Bali. And Webb told Travel Daily that India will also be a key component of the pan-Asian strategy.

“Once we get started in India, the India-Sri Lanka-Maldives region will be very important for us,” he said.
But the most significant growth will be in China. The country is already the largest source of guests to Onyx hotels, at 23%, and as the company’s portfolio continues to expand away from its Thai roots, the focus on China will increase.

“Currently, broadly speaking, 70% of our inventory sits in Thailand and 30% sits outside. But if we look to the future, that will be reversed. And a large amount of that 70% outside Thailand will sit in China and Hong Kong,” Webb revealed. “Down the line, [China] is going to be very important to us.”