Radisson Hotel Group is pushing hard into Southeast Asia Pacific with 89 hotels and 17,000 rooms in operation or pipeline, aiming to double the portfolio by 2031. The growth story sounds great in a press release... the question is whether the owners signing franchise agreements in emerging markets are stress-testing the downside the way the development team isn't.
The effective U.S. tariff rate just hit levels not seen since the 1940s, and the majority of hotel FF&E is manufactured in the countries getting hit hardest. If you're an owner with a renovation bid older than six months, the number on that proposal no longer reflects reality.
Marriott is rolling out F&B credits and member discounts across Malaysia and Indonesia that sound like generous perks for travelers. What owners in those markets should be calculating is how much of that generosity comes out of their margin, not Marriott's.
Vietnam's hospitality market is racing toward $38 billion by 2031, and 50-plus branded residential projects are already in the ground with 30 more coming. The question nobody in the development pipeline is asking loudly enough is what happens when the brand promise meets a Tuesday afternoon in Da Nang.
