The management of ASAI Hotels, Dusit International’s new affordable lifestyle brand for millennial-minded travelers, recently hosted students from the esteemed Harvard Business School in Boston, USA, as part of an international work experience program called FIELD Global Immersion.
Arranged especially for first-year students as part of their coursework, the program is held in conjunction with 157 partners spanning 13 countries worldwide. More than 920 students take part.
The program is designed to strengthen and develop students’ ability to manage and operate effectively across cultures and business contexts, by doing fieldwork in an unfamiliar situation.
ASAI executives worked with the team remotely in the months leading up to their arrival in Thailand. The students then conducted field research with consumers around Bangkok, and presented their final recommendations to management at Dusit International’s headquarters.
“We are delighted to work with Harvard Business School to provide their students with a real-world learning experience in Thailand.” said Mr Siradej Donavanik, Managing Director, ASAI Hotels. “As a new brand aimed at millennial-minded travellers, we value the students’ dynamic approach to research, design thinking, and other types of creative learning, thus providing us with a solid platform to build on. The spirit of collaboration was particularly good to see, especially as this reflects Dusit’s very own DNA.”
The first ASAI Hotel is slated to open in Q1 2020 in the heart of Bangkok’s Chinatown district. The brand’s confirmed pipeline also includes three ASAI Hotels in Cebu, the Philippines (in Mactan, Oslob, and the city centre); one ASAI Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar (in the historic Yankin Township); and a flagship ASAI Hotel in Bangkok’s Sathorn district.
