Thailand's Hotel Industry Struggles With Female Leadership Gap

Women built Thailand’s hotel industry, but they still don’t run itLegacyHospitality has never had a talent problem when it comes to women. It has a seniority problem. Women make up 51.2% of the global hospitality workforce, according to industry data reported by Hospitality Investor in March 2025, yet hold only 30% of executive roles. Thailand’s hotel and tourism sector reflects the same gap, and on 3 September, a new industry platform is aiming directly at it. RISE 2026: Reshaping Hospitality by Empowering Women convenes at SAii Laguna Phuket, organised as a not-for-profit event by C9 Hotelworks, Mrs B Group, and Delivering Asia. The inaugural RISE edition last year drew hospitality professionals from across Thailand for a day of keynotes, workshops, and skills-focused sessions built around the same mission.

The program runs across four themes: Vision and Voice, Systems and Sectors, Emerging Leaders, and Craft, Communication and Self. Three of the women speaking at RISE make the business case better than any statistic: Lily Udomkunnatum, Managing Director of Burasiri Hotel Group, has built and run a hotel company from the ownership side, not just operated one on someone else’s balance sheet. Mary Pakamard, Managing Director and Principal Designer at M2 Plus, sits at the intersection of design and commercial strategy, a combination the industry still treats as two separate careers rather than one. And Wichupan Phukaoluan Srisanya, President of the Thai Hotels Association’s Southern Chapter, represents the institutional weight of the sector’s most important trade body in the south of the country. None of the three built a career waiting for a platform. RISE exists because platforms built specifically for women at this level have been rare, not because the women themselves have been. Wichupan Phukaoluan Srisanya, President of the Thai Hotels Association’s Southern Chapter Udomkunnatum put it plainly as she states that women in hospitality “hold teams together and often carry enormous responsibility,” yet remain underrepresented where ownership and senior decisions get made. Pakamard’s view is sharper still, arguing the industry needs to stop treating this as opportunity-creation and start recognising talent that is already there. I have spent three decades in Asian hospitality, and the pattern is consistent across markets: the operational backbone of this industry has long been female, while the ownership and decision-making layer has not caught up. That gap is not a diversity talking point in Thailand’s hotel industry. It is a capital allocation problem, a governance problem, and eventually a competitiveness problem for any hotel group that cannot draw on its full talent base at the top. RISE is supported by SAii Laguna Phuket, the Phuket Hotels Association, and UN Women. Tickets are 1,000 baht, with proceeds funding the event as a not-for-profit platform. C9 Hotelworks and Delivering Asia are running a second Phuket industry event the day after, the BEING 2026 wellness conference on September 2, for those looking to extend the trip into a broader industry week. You can register for the event through Eventbrite. Photo from Eventbrite The story Women built Thailand’s hotel industry, but they still don’t run it as seen on Thaiger News.