Narai Hotel Bangkok has an amazing story to tell

Narai Hotel BKK

Valuable insights from the leaders of Thailand’s family-owned hotel icons. A smart thinking driving development and investments to Bangkok

During the recently concluded South East Asia Hotel Investors Summit SEAHIS 2022 conference in Bangkok, we were privy to listening to Thailand’s new generation of young leaders in the hospitality industry.

The session was billed as The next generation speaks: Where will they take their businesses?

This included a number of valuable insights from the leaders of Thailand’s family-owned hotel icons and the smart thinking that is currently driving development and investment in the sector. 

Youthful Nathee Nithivasin, MD of the Group since 2015, prefixes his LinkedIn profile with his nickname ‘Ton’. He is the third generation of the owning family set to take over the running of the Narai hotel empire as the company enters a dramatic period of change which will see the demolition of the 54-year-old hotel icon on Silom Road.  

Mr. Nathee explained that critical decisions of the board of directors had to follow the family’s conservative but strict golden rules that ensure the safety and long-term security of the family’s core assets and potential to maintain an income stream for future generations. He and all his family members had to refer all major decisions back to the ‘mothership’ suggesting that matriarchal control, so often seen in Thailand’s most powerful families, is still relevant today. 

Nathai
Nathee Nithivasin, MD

The Narai Hotel has been on Silom Road for more than half a century and is set to make a significant transformation to fully meet the lifestyle of Silom visitors. The Narai Hotel pioneered the Silom area to become a business street. The name “Narai” was chosen to signify the ingenuity of King Narai the Great, who was the 27th monarch in the Ayutthaya period. King Narai’s versatility also brought international relations, trade, and diplomacy leading to prosperity.

In discussions with Mr. Nathee he explained the 54-year hotel will be demolished and rebuilt over the next 4 years developing “a new Oasis in Silom,” which will launch in 2026.

Mr Nathee said in an earlier interview that the Narai Group would implement the idea of serving communities in the Silom area under the concept “Be Part of Everyone’s Community”, by providing communal public areas which can be utilized by non-guests while other nearby plots are rented at low rates to SMEs.

The new Narai Hotel will be under 20 stories high and interior designs and room designs will blend classic with new. He explained they would retain classic elements on the lower floors to maintain the ‘vintage atmosphere’ of the legendary hotel, while the upper sections of the hotel would be more luxurious, said Mr. Nathee. Original historic art pieces would be carefully preserved and displayed in the new hotel such as the statue of its namesake, King Narai.

Mr. Nathee, a board member of the Narai Hotel Co Ltd’s board since 2008, commented “I took over from my father in 2008, and I have been living here since birth. My father told me that Narai Hotel was born because Grandfather and all shareholders saw the opportunity to grow demand for rooms and large hotels,” he said. 

He remembers every corner of the 12-story hotel since his childhood, reliving many impressive moments during the past period – the first revolving restaurant and the Narai Pizzeria, which was the first of its kind in Thailand. 

When it opened in 1968, its 500 rooms made it one of the capital’s first large-scale hotels. Its rotating restaurant, towered over the low-lying urban landscape with 360-degree, panoramic views.


The impressive Narai Ballroom served as a key attraction for hosting weddings with its 1000 pax capacity while more than 15.1 million guests had checked in and the Rabiang Thong Restaurant, which started serving as one of the very first international buffets in Thailand, has catered to around 30 million customers. 

The hotel is owned by the Narai Hospitality Group, whose holdings include Lub.d boutique hostels, Riverine Hotel & Residence, and the nearby Triple Two Silom hotel.

The group plans to build two new hotels on Silom Road by 2026, with an investment budget of 8-10 billion baht Mr. Nathee explained. 

This includes the demolition of both the Narai Hotel and the nearby Triple Two Silom. The new project consists of two hotels, the first with 200 rooms, will also be called Narai Hotel, and will be a 4-5 star hotel.

In the past average Narai Hotel room rates were normally around 1,000-2,000 baht per night, but the new Narai is expected to charge more than 5,000 baht per night.

Triple Two Silom, next door will be a 6-star hotel with 100-150 keys. 

The company is currently selecting a hotel brand to help manage this property.

However, the building won’t be another skyscraper in the neighborhood as it will have just 20 stories to differentiate itself from other tall buildings.

Other elements in the project will include a 7,000-square-metre courtyard and canal dividing the two buildings, which will be public space.

Meetings – the project will feature meeting rooms with a capacity of 2,000-3,000 people, as well as a food and beverage area for street food vendors and restaurants.

Every element of this project, which will total around 70,000 sq m of space, will be ready by 2026, Mr. Nathee predicts. 

“Our Vision, mission, and goals laid out in our new business plan have not changed. We still have the same standards. The Narai Hotel has received many awards over the years. Both in customer service and social responsibility. No matter what direction we change the organization, we will continue to adhere to maintain quality, standards and develop continuously and meet the needs of every customer,” said MD Nathee Nithivasin.

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Avatar of Andrew J. Wood - eTN Thailand

Andrew J. Wood - eTN Thailand

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