“Virtual office” among offerings as CEO SUITE debuts in Thailand

The serviced office operator CEO SUITE Co is optimistic about the business potential in Thailand with the launch of its first center, in Athenee Tower, aiming to bring international office standards to Thai and Foreign clients.

CEO SUITE occupies the 23rd floor of the new building on Wireless Road with more than 2,000 square metres for 60 executive suites of different size. Shared facilities include conference facilities, meeting rooms and other services needed for a company to establish a business in Thailand, such as legal service, market research and accounting.
The company’s minimum package for office space costs about US$ 1,000 per month, aimed mainly at multinational corporations.

It also has a “virtual office” package staring at US$50 a month targeting Thai clients who can use the centre’s services for five hours a week, according to President Mee Kim.

She said that the company’s customers in Thailand would also have access to branches in the six other cities –Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Beijing and Manila- where CEO SUITE has similar serviced office centres.

“I visited Bangkok 17 years ago and now the city has changed a lot with many new developments but one thing that doesn’t change much is the office operation, which starts from space booking and decoration and so on, she said yesterday in Bangkok.

“Under our concept of outsourcing office space, people can set up a business instantly so it would be easy for foreign companies to start a business in Thailand. However, we also select our clients to ensure that they don’t exploit our reputation” said Ms. Kim.

CEO SUITE started with its first centre in Jakarta in 1997 and now the Indonesian capital has three centres. The company has invested about US$2.5 million to develop the centre in Bangkok where it expects to break even in about six years.

Ms. Kim said the payback periods were different in each market-only three years in Shanghai but seven years in Singapore due to higher competition.

CEO SUITE now has clients occupying 20% of its Bangkok space and anticipates renting out all of the spaces in six to seven months. It expects to have four to five centres in top office buildings in Thailand in the next few years.

The company records about US$20 million per year from its current centres and targets to add about $2 million from Bangkok.

It also expects to add at least four centres in Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Korea and Hong Kong, and is also eyeing at Dubai and Ho Chi Minh City.

Apr 26, 2013