Koh Samui, Chinese Travellers & the Business of Being Seen

From Koh Samui's quiet season to Vietnam's tourism growth and Bangkok's concert crowds, Jon Cannon and Jan Rohweder explore how travellers discover destinations, what hotels miss on Little Red Book, and when enjoying the moment becomes creating content. Jan and Jon kick off JJ Dispatches from Bangkok, with Jon just back from a hotel visit on Koh Samui. They talk about what low season really means for island resorts, why Chinese travellers are now found on Little Red Book rather than through tour agents, how Korean and Indian travel is moving towards Vietnam, and why everyone at a stadium concert seems to be filming everyone else. In this episode 00:00 Where are you? Jon's back in Bangkok during IMF week, after a few days on Koh Samui 01:00 Is October and November a good time to visit the Thai islands? Warm rain, warm water, a cold beer and far fewer people 02:00 The boom-and-bust cycle of resort markets, and why the quiet season is when hotels do budgets, capex and system upgrades 04:40 Chinese travellers are back, and Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu) is where they plan their trips 06:30 Picking the right channels: why a resort probably doesn't need LinkedIn, and how to work out who your guests actually are 09:30 A hotel near Pattaya whose Chinese guests had been promoting it on Little Red Book for months, without the hotel knowing 11:50 Thailand vs Vietnam: Korean travellers moving to Phu Quoc, India growing fast, and a construction boom on the island 14:30 Which should your friends visit? It depends on what kind of adventure they want 17:00 A stadium concert in Bangkok as a content engine: micro-influencers, live streams and watch-alongs of watch-alongs 23:20 Coming up: how concerts and live events are marketed in Southeast Asia compared with Europe and North America Mentioned in this episode 2026 IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings, Bangkok (12 to 18 October) (https://www.imf.org/en/meetings/2026/annual) Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote), the Chinese social and search platform where many Chinese travellers research their trips Phu Quoc's hotel building programme ahead of APEC 2027 (https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-...) Correction Jon said the building work on Phu Quoc is for an ASEAN summit. It is for APEC 2027, which Vietnam is hosting on the island. The cluster he describes is Sun Group's beachfront "hotel city" project: 15 hotels with around 6,500 five-star rooms, plus an expanded airport. About the hosts Jan Rohweder works in marketing, technology and AI. He works with clients and builds smaller businesses and products. Jon Cannon works in hospitality: assets, owners, operators and investment. He is often travelling between Thailand and Vietnam. About JJ Dispatches Every couple of weeks, Jan and Jon compare notes on what they're seeing in their work, their industries and wherever they happen to be. No scripts, no trend reports. Just what we've noticed, from wherever work has taken us. Episode page and podcast links: https://jjdispatches.com/episodes/koh-samu...