'The White Lotus' Effect: Thai Hotelier In Hit Show Plans U.S. Expansion
The owner of the Anantara hotel and resort brand, whose hotels were featured in season three of the award-winning HBO show The White Lotus, is looking to ride the hype train across the Pacific Ocean.
Minor International Public Company Limited, one of Asia’s largest hospitality operators, plans to expand into the U.S. following a spike in interest from the show. The company plans to open an Anantara hotel, its flagship brand, in the U.S. by early next year, the company's founder and chairman, Bill Heinecke, told Bloomberg.
Four of the 25 hotels that Minor owns in Thailand, including the Anantara Mai Khao Phuket and Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort, were featured on the third season of the dark comedy, which traveled to Southeast Asia after seasons in Hawaii and Italy.
“This show has really catapulted the international appeal of Minor and of our hotels, specifically Anantara,” Heinecke told Bloomberg. “We haven’t got an Anantara in the U.S. yet, but I hope that we’ll rectify that by this time next year. I hope that we’ll have at least one.”
Just two days before the Feb. 16 premiere of season three, Minor released its 2024 annual report, which showed a 43% increase in net profit year-over-year to 7.8B Thai baht, or roughly $230M.
Minor operates in 58 countries with more than 560 hotels and over 81,000 rooms. It only owns one hotel in the U.S. through its subsidiary, Spain-based NH Hotel Group SA — NH Collection New York Madison Avenue.
It plans to expand to 850 hotels and 4,000 restaurants by 2027 and 1,000 hotels by 2030, according to the report, which made no mention of expansion into the U.S. The company discussed the potential impact of season three and disclosed it would open its first hotels in Singapore, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Since the season premiere, direct online bookings jumped 41% and web traffic doubled over the last month, Bloomberg reported.
The dark comedy-drama follows the lives of guests and staff at an upscale resort. Beyond its murder-mystery plot, the show has sparked what’s known as “The White Lotus effect,” driving heavy tourism to its filming locations.
The first two seasons of the show have been credited for reviving tourism in its first two filming locations, Maui and Sicily, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand expects millions more tourists to visit this year, Skift reported.
