Minor Hotels has built its Vietnam business around beach destinations for more than two decades. Its Anantara and Avani flags at Hoi An, Mui Ne and Quy Nhon carry that history. The group now wants hotels in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the country's two commercial hubs.
A Resort Portfolio Turns Toward the Cities
Omar Romero, the chief development and luxury officer at Minor Hotels, set out the change to Skift. "Our presence to date has been built around resort destinations, simply because that's where we saw the strongest opportunity for international demand," he said. "Vietnam today is a very different market."
Romero said the group is looking for urban opportunities. He named Ho Chi Minh City as a priority and named no project there.
The First City Property Sits in Bach Mai Ward
The first signed city project is the 310-room Avani+ Hanoi, scheduled to open in 2028. Minor Hotels signed a management agreement with Trading Construction Works Organization for the new-build hotel, TTG Asia reported on 18 September 2026.
The hotel occupies part of Hinode City, a mixed-use precinct with a new lifestyle mall and 1,099 residential and serviced apartments. The address sits at the intersection of Minh Khai and Kim Nguu Street, a ten-minute drive from the Old Quarter.
Minor positions Avani+ Hanoi as a premium lifestyle hotel. The published facility list runs to an indoor swimming pool and deck, a fitness centre, all-day dining and specialty restaurants, and meeting and function space. The signing gives Minor its first Hanoi property and its first city hotel in Vietnam.
Four Resorts Carry the Existing Footprint
Minor Hotels operates four properties in Vietnam, all under the Anantara and Avani brands. They are the Anantara Hoi An Resort, the Anantara Mui Ne Resort, the Anantara Quy Nhon Villas and the Avani Quy Nhon Resort. The group also runs luxury train carriages under the name The Vietage by Anantara.
Each of those four addresses is a leisure destination. Avani+ Hanoi adds a commercial address to the portfolio and puts the group in a city market it does not serve today.
137 Million Domestic Trips in 2025
Romero tied the strategy to three changes in the Vietnamese market. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have grown into commercial and cultural centres, air connectivity has improved, and domestic travel has expanded.
Vietnam recorded 137 million domestic tourist trips in 2025, up about 25% from 110 million the year before, according to the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism. An earlier VNAT year-end estimate placed the 2025 figure at 135.5 million, so two numbers circulate for the same year.
The same authority has set a 2026 target of 150 million domestic trips and 25 million international visitors. Vietnam closed 2025 with nearly 21.2 million international arrivals.
The Coastal Pipeline Savills Describes
Savills Vietnam describes where the country's new hotel supply is landing. "Over the next three years, new hotel supply is expected to remain concentrated in coastal destinations, with Da Nang and Phu Quoc leading in future pipeline volume," the consultancy wrote.
City inventory growth runs constrained against that coastal pipeline. The Hanoi signing enters a city segment with thinner competing supply across the three-year window Savills measures.
The Guest Mix Minor Targets
Minor is building the city product for corporate travellers, meetings, short-stay leisure and long-stay guests. Romero named South Korea and China as key source markets, with Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe and Australia alongside them. Vietnamese travellers form "a very important part of the mix," he said.
The long-stay and meetings segments sell in lower volume at a beach resort. A city hotel with meeting and function space can hold weekday corporate demand and weekend leisure demand inside one building.
Ho Chi Minh City and the Open Questions
Romero placed Ho Chi Minh City at the front of the group's urban search. The stated intent names no signed project, no partner and no date.
Three items remain unpublished: the development cost of Avani+ Hanoi, the number of rooms Minor intends to add across its Vietnam network, and the terms of the management agreement with Trading Construction Works Organization.