Leaver

Can you show me a country that worships money more than Thailand?

When all restrictions on entry and nightlife end, for sure many return tourists will be trying to cash in on the demand for this content. Closed borders, due to covid, has shown there clearly is a big demand for this content. This guy makes no secret of the fact he is filming, but many will take it a step further and be filming covertly, possibly on the request of a subscriber, who may just like a bar, or who may fancy a girl in a particular bar or gogo, and is willing to pay for the footage from a particular establishment with that girl. Private investigator here have been doing it for years, but youtubers will take a quid off the requesting subscriber, and the thousands of other viewers, and the footage is so easy to make and publish. It was happening pre covid, here's just one example. This guy does the soapies. 38,000 subscribers, and this video gets 456,000 views. Cha-ching. Bar owners and customers will not be able to fight every youtuber walking down a soi looking to push the boundaries and make themselves a quid. Many bar owners started youtubing as a means to financially surviving covid. Maybe they have started a trend that will see some confrontation in the bars and soi in near future.

The ship might visit, but the personal may not be allowed onshore. I don't think you will have anything to worry about.

Soi Pothole tenants did not receive any covid rent relief, but other tenants have. The covid rent relief benefited both Thai landlord, and tenant. It allowed those tenants that wanted to stay in the game, be able to do so, and allowed Thai landlords to have a "care taker" for their property, to make sure it did not become derelict, and fall into disrepair. Understandably, both tenant and Thai landlord wanted to hold onto something they could both sell / rent, post covid. Thai landlords certainly didn't offer covid rent relief out of the kindness of their heart. With restrictions easing, and tourists returning, market rents will return, but Pattaya will not be back in full swing, not for quite a while after borders open. Businesses will have full expenses to pay, including rent, yet tourists numbers may not be up enough to sustain business expenses, let alone show some profit. For many businesses, they are entering their most difficult time in covid. Unfortunately, there will be more closures.

"Money Number One" in Thailand, and never forget it.

So they are shy for a youtuber, but have no problem having their photo all over their bar's website. ???? Example: https://thedenpattaya.com

It's his most popular video by double. It probably got him a lot of new subscribers, and maybe earnt him a few quid, or took him a lot closer to monetizing his channel. I suppose he offers something the other youtube channels don't, and that's footage pointing into the bars, and even going into the bars. This can be viewed in two different ways, one is, my bar is busy and his footage is a good advertisement for my bar, or two, my bar is quiet, and his footage is a bad advertisement for my bar. I would say the bar owner involved viewed it like the latter.

I agree. Walking Street was struggling pre covid. I have said before, without a market correction in rents, it will continue to struggle. The Thai landlords on Walking Street have outpriced that area for tourists, and now with bigger competition from LK Metro / Soi Baukhao / Tree Town, who is going to pay Walking Street prices? Certainly not expats, repeat foreign visitors, and as you say, not the Russians, Indians and Chinese, who just spectate. Who's left to pay? It was different many years ago when Walking Street was the "go to" place, but now other parts of Pattaya offer the same products and services, at cheaper prices. Indeed some members on this forum have said they haven't been to Walking Street for years, so why would repeat foreign visitors go to Walking Street? It might catch out a newbie tourist for a night or two, until they learn, but that's about it. Now, I am not suggesting for one minute Walking Street will fall into a hole, never to be seen again. What I am suggesting are vacant premises, and continued for sale and for rent signs for Walking Street. It will not have the appearance of a thriving soi, unless there is some common sense by Thai landlords. Thai landlords may put a manager in to keep the lights on and keep the property from falling into disrepair, so it's possible all of the bars are open on Walking Street, but they will struggle to find a tenant unless there is a correction in rents, and even then, other landlords on the soi will need to adjust their rents as well, to get customers in the bars / gogo's etc spending money on the soi, and not just attracting pedestrian traffic taking photos. Maybe it's part of the plan for Thai landlords to push the market as far as they will be willing to afford, grabbing as much money as possible along the way, wreck Walking Street beyond recovery, then redevelop the land into nice water view restaurants / cafes etc, possibly with accommodation above. I don't know what their plan is, but riding the wave of former glory is not going to get people paying 160 / 170 baht for a beer on that soi, as it wasn't pre covid. There are some great places on Walking Street. I just hope the Thai landlords are realistic and let the soi compete with other areas.

Has a look on Walking Street a few weeks ago, I wouldn't call it busy, let alone, "rammed." Would you? Maybe the definition of "rammed" for some members is when the amount of customers get close to, or equal to, the amount of staff in the bar. ????

Yes. Last time I rode down Soi 6, about a week and a half ago, most of the bars were still shut. This is why I asked how many bars were open. I haven't had a look down Walking Street for a few weeks, but I doubt it's busy for the same reason. Whilst it's good to see "the lights on" in Tree Town, LK Metro, Soi Baukhao, and some surrounding soi, I wouldn't call the bars "rammed."

You keep banging on with that, but you are incorrect.

I'm sure people will be rushing to his bar to have a beer with him now. ????

If this is the company I think it is, I never went much on their pies, but I didn't mind their pasties. I hope they can find a new owner, and production continues. https://www.bahtsold.com/view/wholesale-and-retail-meat-and-bakery-business-sale-440823

Some large retail / fast food chains purposely accept a loss in some areas, just to be next to their competition. The idea is not to let your competition have a monopoly in one geographic location. It can be a costly business model, but as an anchor tenant, they have a lot of bargaining power on rents, and are prepared to sign lengthy leases, so despite the actual size of the premises, it just acts as a shop front, to keep losses to a minimum, and hope the competition bleeds out.

I never suggested Pattaya, or T21, would fall in a hole. There will be many vacant premises for quite some time, unless there is a correction in market rents here. There will also be more closures, as key money and leases fall due after 2 years of no profits and covid discounts expiring. My comments about T21 suffering were mainly in another thread, the thread about the big new development that is planned for the centre of Pattaya, which may, or may not, have a retail space.

How many bars were open on Soi 6? Because Walking Street is in Pattaya, and you said, "I am in Pattaya and bars are absolutely rammed" Once again, could it be some bars in Pattaya are rammed, whilst others are quiet. But aren't all the bars in Pattaya rammed? This is what you said. ????

Walking Street is Pattaya's biggest tourist attraction and you didn't check out the bar scene there. What about Soi 6? Did you check out the bar scene there? You said, "I am in Pattaya and bars are absolutely rammed with customers spending plenty of cash and enjoying the ladies." Could it be, the bars in some areas of Pattaya are busy, while bars in other areas are not?

Which bars on Walking Street did you go to?

How many millions of cups of coffee, and croissants, would you have to sell before you saw a return on investment?

No, but quite a few shops inside T21 are.

I agree, but that will leave many vacant premises around town, and that's not a good look. They were dying pre covid. Covid just accelerated the process.

Retox had something like 40 TV's around the walls. No matter what country a patron was from, what sport they followed, and what team was playing, they could get it on a TV for them. They could do this because of the investment they made in hardware. I doubt any other bar has made a similar investment.

Yes, they do.

It was already happening in 2020, or do you forget? Do you think the protestors are now happy because this Thai government has finally "brought peace and harmony to the Thai people?" ????

Same way they repair roads here. ????