ThaiVisaCentre

Under a recent development yesterday SHA+ hotels in Phuket will be participating in Test & Go but the process is not clear yet.

It may be possible they use the existing process with ThailandPSAS, and arranging your own SHA+ transport.

However in other regions where they will expand the Sandbox this may not be the same process, and all-inclusive packages may be required.

Unfortunately things are still unclear regarding SHA+ only stay, and seem to change every day.

We were informed by the end of next week this will be all sorted out.

 

We have an update on how SHA+ stay will work for the "Bangkok / Pattaya" sandbox, and Test & Go.

The SHA+ hotels will need to have a partner hospital, and also package the test, and hotel pickup into their rate.

Those who already made SHA+ "standard bookings" may have trouble meeting these requirements.

It is not clear if travelers can buy the test, and pickup separately (it seems to be packaged).

So the result is a similar purchase model as AQ stay.

 Update on https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/:

"The website will allow traveller whose application has been pre-approved to continue their application process to obtain COE from the Royal Thai Embassy or the Royal Thai Consulate-General until 7 November 2021."

So as long as you have pre-approval you can continue to submission past the Nov 1st cutoff date.

The Thailand Pass Website has updated its homepage. You may view it HERE.




This is a step in the right direction, and does give us a little confidence that the launch will indeed be on the morning of November 1st.

14 minutes ago, Gungpao said:

I am looking at flights that arrive to Bkk 11:35pm or 12:05 am. Does anyone know yet if 1 night aq is sufficient? Will hotels add a 2 day option?

Many hotels are allowing "2 night stay" (1 day).

Confirm with the hotel on how they may handle your situation.

12 hours ago, BigBrosMo said:

I have my flight already to Phuket Nov 18 and have been waiting for the hotels to be released so that I can book a 1 night stay for my Visa. RoyalVacationsDMC shows 1 day stay hotels in Phuket (but they are expensive). What should I do?

We called the hotels on that list, and they still do not yet know how the Test & Go process will be for Phuket.

For now we advise to wait before making any commitment in the sandbox regions if your intention was to use the Test & Go entry program.

Hopefully this will be clarified before the end of the week.

7 hours ago, Sandboxer said:

So what exactly needs to be included by the hotel in its "1 day Test & Go" package?

 

Airport pick up?

 

PCR test - on premise or done at a secondary site??

 

Anything else? 

 

Thanks.

Airport pickup, and the tests.

For the AQ hotels most will do on Premise.

For SHA+ this may be done at a secondary site, and we have been informed this could cause delays.

Since it is not yet clear how to book a test at one of these secondary sites it is still advisable to book a 1 DAY AQ package.

Once this is clear we will update our platform to support the SHA+ process for using Test & Go (this seems to be delayed).

7 hours ago, sirineou said:

 

 

I Understand the frustration, after a long trip, you want to go to your house. But unfortunately. not everyone can be trusted to follow the rules. So we have to go to a hotel where we will be made to follow the rules. 

The 100k insurance only covered covid 19 . If I understand this correctly, the new 50K requirement covers everting, so expect it to be at least the same if not more. .

   Anyone who has purchase the new 50k insurance please confirm. 

We have yet to see any 50,000 USD insurance policies. Many of the insurers are keeping the 100,000 USD policies for simplicity it seems.

7 hours ago, Tuvoc said:

I've got a flight booked to arrive in Bangkok 24th December. I'm wondering if I need to get in early and get a test-and-go hotel booked and paid for?  I'm not sure what the demand might be, and also the supply of hotels who would offer it.  I guess there are no downsides of booking well in advance.

Demand is huge, we are processing close to 1,500 requests a day for only Bangkok / Pattaya 1 day Test & Go at the moment.

Due to this it may be advisable to book early.

You can find the Bangkok AQ's offering this here:

https://ASQ.in.th/1DAY

Some have refund polices, or at least the ability to move your stay if things change (you need to confirm with the hotels). 

1 minute ago, internationalism said:

some 16 AQ hotels for Test and Go now showing on Agoda.

They do start from 4k.

https://www.agoda.com/search?guid=4256ee6f-d959-41bf-9937-7fded017a389&asq=null&city=9395&tick=637707903630&locale=en-us&ckuid=42127864-1b4b-47dc-b03b-0a581ccc581c&prid=0&currency=THB&correlationId=1ad1fc08-d50f-4b58-955e-7943a858fbaa&pageTypeId=103&realLanguageId=1&languageId=1&origin=TH&cid=1892419&userId=42127864-1b4b-47dc-b03b-0a581ccc581c&whitelabelid=1&loginLvl=0&storefrontId=3&currencyId=6&currencyCode=THB&htmlLanguage=en-us&cultureInfoName=en-us&memberId=53170623&machineName=sg-crweb-6020&trafficGroupId=1&sessionId=3ltpznrzp4c1iev5y4hb5s55&trafficSubGroupId=84&aid=130589&useFullPageLogin=true&cttp=4&isRealUser=true&mode=production&checkIn=2021-11-14&checkOut=2021-11-15&rooms=1&adults=1&children=0&priceCur=THB&los=1&textToSearch=Bangkok&travellerType=0&familyMode=off&productType=-1&sort=priceLowToHigh

Yes they have a reduced selection compared to all of the options available (sorted by lowest price here):

https://asq.in.th/?sortSelectedItem=Lowest+Price&durationSelectedItem=1+Day
 

2 minutes ago, BigBrosMo said:

I have my flight already to Phuket Nov 18 and have been waiting for the hotels to be released so that I can book a 1 night stay for my Visa. RoyalVacationsDMC shows 1 day stay hotels in Phuket (but they are expensive). What should I do?

Not sure what they are selling.

If you must enter by Phuket you can grab one of these SHA+ hotels, and go through the Phuket Sandbox program.

https://asq.in.th/phuket-sandbox-hotels?sortSelectedItem=Lowest+Price

Hopefully things will be more clear soon.

We are working on a better way to clarify this.

Each hotel may have its own policy at the moment (this should be standardized soon).

But for example the following hotel does include "2 nights / 1 day". So if your test did overrun the first night then it would be included.

https://asq.in.th/asq-thailand-hotels/lohas-residences-sukhumvit

We just got an update that said that the existing sandbox regions (Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi and Suratthani), will not be participating in the Test & Go entry option.

This means that if you wish to enter Thailand under the newly announced 1 Day Test & Go option it must be through Bangkok, or Pattaya.

So if your intention is to travel to Thailand soon we advise booking an AQ through Bangkok, and Pattaya.

The Thai Consulate in LA has published the following information on their website
 

This reconfirms our original assumption.

We had a report today of someone getting their COE approved with a 1 night AQ payment confirmation.

So it seems like it may be possible to apply for a COE using the new Test & Go program, as long as you qualify for the 1 night, and have the payment receipt from the AQ HOTEL.

Unfortunately we have had multiple SHA+ hotels report that they will not be participating in the Test & Go scheme.

A few SHA+ hotels have informed us that only a few hotels can provide this Test & Go package at the moment. This condition does not depend solely on the hotel SHA+ status but also the hospital, and Department of control disease.

Because of this we urge anyone making bookings at SHA+ hotels assuming that it meets the Test & Go 1 day requirements to double confirm with the hotel, or just make a AQ booking.

46 minutes ago, farang51 said:

@ThaiVisaCentre Will you get one day quotes for Phuket as well? So far you only have quotes from hotels in Bangkok.

We may need to wait until a few more things are clarified about SHA+, as we need to see transport, and tests booked.

But for example https://www.thailandpsas.com/ does not support the other SHA+ regions, so there may be a different platform or process for these tests for SHA+. Or the hotel needs to actually collect payment for the single test, at the moment we are unsure.

5 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

3.  ASQ
       – Confirmation of Alternative State Quarantine directly from the hotel. 
       – Reservation from Booking.com is not applicable. 

 

The above is from the Los Angeles Thai consulate website.

Just a heads up, it appears online broker site bookings are not accepted.

Booking.com is not accepted because they do not include the tests, and transport for AQ (which is a requirement).

ASQ.in.th is accepted as it connects you with the hotel directly, and payment confirmation actually comes from the hotel because the payment is directly to the hotel.

Agoda bookings are also accepted, but have a very small selection of hotels at the moment, and still require you to connect with the actual hotel in order to get a valid payment confirmation.

Just now, Salerno said:

That complicates things for sure. I can't fathom why they didn't just tweak the COE site to include a 1-night option; at least in the interim. As it stands people are having to book 7 days and then get a refund from the sounds of it. Fingers crossed they surprise everyone and get Thailand Pass live ahead of schedule.

This could also be a possibility given the TAT's wording here:

https://www.tatnews.org/2021/10/quarantine-free-thailand-reopening-for-vaccinated-tourists-from-1-november-2021/

Which actually tells you to use the COE system ????.

1 minute ago, Salerno said:

That's a definite, due diligence definitely the order of the day in these times. But, he decided to bite the bullet and is heading to Phuket for a week instead (personally I thought he had time for the details to be worked out but he didn't want to chance it as flight is on 1 November).

 

 

This is understandable, as everything hinges on the Thailand Pass system being online in time ????.

25 minutes ago, Salerno said:

There are heaps of SHA (doesn't take much to upgrade to SHA+), off the top of my head The Berkerly in Pratanum and The Swissotel in Ratchada are SHA+.

While this may be true they still need to add them, and they will need to be added to the Thailand Plus system similar to how they were added to the COE system (only approved hotels which actually have a SHA+ ID).

The hotels would also need training, and to be granted access to the SHA system.

It may not be the best idea to make bookings to hotels which have not yet completed this process.

If you must book a SHA+ hotel check the SHA+ list for Pattaya, and book one there as there are around 100 approved already, and they have been getting approved over the past 3 weeks.