The hospitality and commercial real estate markets across Southeast Asia are navigating a permanent shift in consumer behavior. Over the past decade, the traditional, transactional baseline of major properties, where guests visited strictly to purchase a product, eat, or watch a movie, has been entirely disrupted by the convenience of e-commerce. As physical destinations lose their historical monopoly on transactions, Claude Rety, CEO of RH1, argues that developers must pivot away from viewing spaces as static real estate and design them around experience-led commercial success.
Speaking on the evolution of experiential spaces in competitive Asian markets, Rety points out that modern consumers have become hyper-intentional with their leisure time, prioritizing memory creation and emotional engagement over passive consumption.
Speaking on the evolution of experiential spaces in competitive Asian markets, Rety points out that modern consumers have become hyper-intentional with their leisure time, prioritizing memory creation and emotional engagement over passive consumption.
Activating the Ecosystem: Bridging Hotels and Retail
One of the most complex challenges facing multi-use developments in mega-hubs like Bangkok, Jakarta, and Shanghai is the internal fragmentation of their audiences. Frequently, hotel guests and retail shoppers occupy the same physical structure but remain completely separate behaviorally, never crossing paths or interacting with the asset's wider amenities.
Rety asserts that a strategically placed entertainment concept functions as a critical connector, establishing a neutral ground that unifies these disparate groups.
A hotel guest may not enter an adjacent mall simply to shop, but they will cross over for a premium racing track, an immersive venue, or a competitive socializing destination. When done intentionally, ensuring high visibility, seamless access, and smart food and beverage integration, entertainment helps the hotel, retail, and event spaces behave like a unified, high-performing commercial ecosystem.
Rety asserts that a strategically placed entertainment concept functions as a critical connector, establishing a neutral ground that unifies these disparate groups.
A hotel guest may not enter an adjacent mall simply to shop, but they will cross over for a premium racing track, an immersive venue, or a competitive socializing destination. When done intentionally, ensuring high visibility, seamless access, and smart food and beverage integration, entertainment helps the hotel, retail, and event spaces behave like a unified, high-performing commercial ecosystem.
The Macro Value Story: Traffic and Footfall Metrics
While asset valuation is influenced by dozens of market variables, the broader commercial impact of a high-performing entertainment anchor directly supports a property's value story. RH1 measures this correlation across two distinct levels: direct operating metrics (such as EBITDA, utilization, and F&B contributions) and macro asset impacts (including footfall, tenant interest, and overall property perception).
Across its localized venues, RH1 now welcomes roughly half a million visitors annually, providing real-time data on modern consumer patterns.
"One of the clearest examples is The Global City in Ho Chi Minh City," Rety reveals. "The entertainment park is adding roughly 15,000 to 20,000 visitors per month to the destination. For a developing mixed-use area, that matters. It creates traffic, visibility, and a reason for people to experience the location before the full development is mature."
This data proof extends into resort environments, where an expertly curated leisure concept moves the needle on Average Daily Rate (ADR) and long-term brand loyalty. By giving families, couples, and corporate groups a destination-driven experience rather than just a place to sleep, properties can capture premium packages and group event revenue. In fact, across several of RH1's formats, integrated F&B accounts for up to 25% of total venue revenue, demonstrating how entertainment bolsters neighboring hospitality operations.
Across its localized venues, RH1 now welcomes roughly half a million visitors annually, providing real-time data on modern consumer patterns.
"One of the clearest examples is The Global City in Ho Chi Minh City," Rety reveals. "The entertainment park is adding roughly 15,000 to 20,000 visitors per month to the destination. For a developing mixed-use area, that matters. It creates traffic, visibility, and a reason for people to experience the location before the full development is mature."
This data proof extends into resort environments, where an expertly curated leisure concept moves the needle on Average Daily Rate (ADR) and long-term brand loyalty. By giving families, couples, and corporate groups a destination-driven experience rather than just a place to sleep, properties can capture premium packages and group event revenue. In fact, across several of RH1's formats, integrated F&B accounts for up to 25% of total venue revenue, demonstrating how entertainment bolsters neighboring hospitality operations.
Standardizing the Backbone, Adapting the Expression
To scale these concepts successfully across completely different operating environments, such as high-traffic urban malls and secluded luxury resorts, developers must avoid the trap of rigid, copy-paste replication. A mall visitor looking for fast-paced, high-energy group activities has a completely different mindset than a resort guest seeking curated, exclusive intimacy.
The solution relies on structural flexibility: standardizing the core backbone while adapting the local expression.
This scaling discipline was proven across Cambodia, where formats were calibrated from a tight 600-square-meter footprint (Neo Sen Sok) up to substantial 3,000-square-meter regional anchors, depending on the asset's specific traffic bottlenecks.
This spatial calculation fundamentally changes the investment logic. While a heavy-CAPEX flagship anchor is engineered with a target four-year return because it acts as a macro destination-builder, smaller, leaner entertainment formats are designed for a fast two-year or even 18-month payback cycle.
"Entertainment can create traffic, revenue, and differentiation, but it is not magic. It works when the concept, location, investment, operations, and customer needs are aligned. Across our venues, we now welcome around half a million visitors annually, so we see every day that people are willing to spend time and money on experiences - but only when those experiences are relevant, well operated, and worth coming back for."
The solution relies on structural flexibility: standardizing the core backbone while adapting the local expression.
- The Backbone (The Consistent Layer): This includes non-negotiable operational infrastructure: safety protocols, staff training, operating checklists, brand standards, financial controls, maintenance systems, and data backend.
- The Expression (The Adaptive Layer): This encompasses the variables tailored directly to the location's specific catchment and asset objectives: layout size, spatial design, pricing models, activity mix, and tone of service.
This scaling discipline was proven across Cambodia, where formats were calibrated from a tight 600-square-meter footprint (Neo Sen Sok) up to substantial 3,000-square-meter regional anchors, depending on the asset's specific traffic bottlenecks.
This spatial calculation fundamentally changes the investment logic. While a heavy-CAPEX flagship anchor is engineered with a target four-year return because it acts as a macro destination-builder, smaller, leaner entertainment formats are designed for a fast two-year or even 18-month payback cycle.
"Entertainment can create traffic, revenue, and differentiation, but it is not magic. It works when the concept, location, investment, operations, and customer needs are aligned. Across our venues, we now welcome around half a million visitors annually, so we see every day that people are willing to spend time and money on experiences - but only when those experiences are relevant, well operated, and worth coming back for."
About Claude Rety
Claude Rety is the CEO of RH1, an entertainment development and operations company specializing in leisure attractions and venue concepts for commercial real estate and hospitality destinations worldwide. Bringing over two decades of retail leadership across China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, he partners with developers and hospitality operators to position entertainment as a primary driver of asset performance, revenue growth, and long-term valuation.
