The largest markets in the Asia-Pacific region are seeing positive momentum in regard to hotel demand, with the potential for more growth in the second half of the year.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Hotel News Now podcast, Jesper Palmqvist, STR's senior director of Asia-Pacific, said hotel demand had been negative year over year in the larger Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, but that's starting to level out.
"It'll take a bit of time. This is one of those quarters where we look, 'OK, in the next couple of months, let's see if we can turn a number of those engine markets and start driving it up generally,'" he said. "I think this is more for the second half of the year, but so far signs look like turning around."
In Japan, the price of the yen combined with affordable airlift and slowing hotel supply is leading to strong average daily rate growth across all asset classes, Palmqvist said.
"It's just this really broad, strong growth, and it continues. It surprises people how long it goes on," he said. "There's nothing that indicates that it slows down just yet when it comes to particularly Tokyo when that demand is strong."
India remains a budding hotel market in the APAC region, with supply growing in second- and third-tier markets as the economy grows, too.
"It's a young lodging nation in terms of change," Palmqvist said. "They've had, obviously, hotels a long time, but seeing new brands and trying to fill out as the economy and the [gross domestic product] growth has been so strong in the last decade-plus, we're now seeing the fruits of this when hotels are being planned and executed."
Other topics discussed on this week's episode include:
- Luxury hotels performing well despite uncertainty with macroeconomics.
- The hotel transaction market in Australia.
- Palmqvist attending the Australasian Hotel Industry Conference and Exhibition in Adelaide next week.