The Erawan Group is a

hospitality Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt describes ...

company of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, formerly known as Amarin Plaza PCL. The company and its affiliates operate

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

office building An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

s and shopping centers. The Erawan is headquartered in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

and listed on the

SET100 Index The SET50 and SET100 Indices are the primary stock indices of Thailand. The constituents of both lists are companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in Bangkok. Calculation The SET50 Index and the SET100 Index were created "to acco ...

of the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

History

The Erawan Group was founded as the Amarin Plaza Company in 1982, a partnership between the Vongkusolkit and Wattanavekin families, in order to build and operate the

Amarin Plaza Amarin Plaza ( th, อัมรินทร์พลาซ่า) is a shopping mall and office building complex located in the Ratchaprasong shopping district in the city centre of Bangkok. It comprises a five-storey shopping mall podium with ov ...

shopping mall. It was the Vongkusolkits' first diversification into real estate, as the family, owners of the Mitr Phol Group, mainly did businesses in the sugar industry. The Wattanavekins were the founders of

Kiatnakin Bank Kiatnakin Phatra Bank ( th, ธนาคารเกียรตินาคินภัทร) is a full-service bank based in Thailand. The bank was founded in January 1971 in Bangkok with 17,000 million baht in funds, and has grown to 52 branc ...

, and also had sugar and cane businesses. The project was conceived when Isara Vongkusolkit was offered a deal with the Srivikorn family, who owned the land on

Phloen Chit Road Phloen Chit Road ( th, ถนนเพลินจิต, also spelled Ploenchit, ) is a major road in central Bangkok. Located entirely within in Lumphini Subdistrict of Pathum Wan District, it runs a short distance of between Ratchaprasong Int ...

near the

Ratchaprasong Intersection Ratchaprasong ( th, ราชประสงค์, ; also spelled ''Rajprasong'') is the name of an intersection, and a shopping district named after it, in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok, adjacent to the Siam area, at the BTS Skytrain's Ch ...

. The company expanded into the hospitality industry in a government joint-venture to rebuild the

Erawan Hotel The Erawan Hotel ( th, โรงแรมเอราวัณ) was a luxury hotel in the Thai capital Bangkok. It was one of the first modern hotels built to accommodate the expansion of international air travel, and was operated by the governm ...

, which neighboured Amarin Plaza. The company was listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in 1988 in order to raise capital for the project, which was opened as the

Grand Hyatt Erawan The Grand Hyatt Erawan is a luxury hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. It opened in 1991, replacing the ailing government-owned Erawan Hotel, on a corner of Ratchaprasong Intersection in the modern city centre. It is jointly owned by Thai hospitality com ...

in 1991. The company then expanded into further properties, opening the Ploenchit Center office building and the JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok in 1997. The company survived the 1997 financial crisis thanks to its hotels, which were able to quote prices in dollars and thus benefited from the baht's loss of value, but was still forced to offload several properties and offer

preferred stock Preferred stock (also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds) is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock, including properties of both an equity and a debt inst ...

to WREP Thailand Holdings, a real estate fund of Singaporean/American investors. The company has since focused on the hospitality industry, which came to generate over 70 percent of its revenue by 2004, when the company was recategorized as such by the SET. As of 2010, the company is 39 percent owned by the Vongkusolkit family, 31 percent by the Wattanavekin family, and the remaining 30 percent is held by funds and individual investors.

Operations

Erawan's business is organized into two areas: *Hotels: Erawan manages the

Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok The Grand Hyatt Erawan is a luxury hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. It opened in 1991, replacing the ailing government-owned Erawan Hotel, on a corner of Ratchaprasong Intersection in the modern city centre. It is jointly owned by Thai hospitality com ...

JW Marriott Bangkok JW may refer to: *Jack Wills, a clothing company *Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian religious group *''John Wick'', an action film starring Keanu Reeves *Joko Widodo, 7th President of Indonesia, 16th Governor of Jakarta and 15th Mayor of Surakarta * ...

THE NAKA Island a luxury collection resort & spa Phuket ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, Courtyard by Marriott Bangkok and the Renaissance Ko Samui Resort and Spa. *Office buildings and shopping centers: shopping center operations include Ploenchit Center and Erawan Bangkok Boutique Mall. The company has eight subsidiaries involved in

property management Property management is the operation, control, maintenance, and oversight of real estate and physical property. This can include residential, commercial, and land real estate. Management indicates the need for real estate to be cared for and monit ...

and

References

External links

* Hospitality companies of Thailand Companies based in Bangkok Companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand Hospitality companies established in 1947 1947 establishments in Thailand Real estate companies established in 1947 {{Asia-company-stub

History

Operations

References

Further reading

External links