kinyara

5 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Imminent closures are part of the normal business cycle.

Borrowed from another forum.....

A bit of bar news now, and Harem has reclosed, reopened and reclosed, whereas Party Girlz, not to be outdone, has reopened, reclosed, reopened again and reclosed again. Pulse has also just closed but this one looks to be more permanent. 

 

Exactly, hardly worth bothering about in a city of thousands of establishments. 

Given that the original post was written 7 months ago it's pretty clear that possible " imminent" closures never happened to any noticeable degree any more than they would have done in a normal annual business cycle in Pattaya.

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

Probably because for what you pay for a meal and a beer in a cheap charlies restaurant in Pattaya, actually gets you a meal and a beer in a nice restaurant in Vietnam. 

 

Same amount of money spent, but a nicer meal served in a nicer environment.

I imagine there is probably possibly maybe no difference at all. 

I think it's likely to have an impact on Western tourism in their summer holiday season. If you were booking now for July/August the uncertainty of the situation might make you decide to holiday closer to home. For that reason I think the effect is going to be felt throughout the year rather than just the few months the tourist authorities expect. 

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

So, hospitality establishments in Jomtien are now an economy indicator as to how the Pattaya tourism industry is faring.  ????

C'mon over the hill it's only 10 minutes in a baht bus, maybe 5 now that your non spending non contributing zero baht Chinese have disappeared from their Chinese owned/leased Pattaya air bnb's ????

As others have mentioned its very far from a ghost town in the Jomtien area, if anything it seems busier this year, from what I saw the other night the bars were doing a decent trade. Certainly doesn't seem representative of a noticeable decline in the western market as some would have us believe. Nice that traffic is now moving a bit more freely without the masses of Chinese tourist buses clogging the place up. They were all zero baht tourists apparently so didn't spend any money here anyway - allegedly ????

3 hours ago, Leaver said:

Pig and While still closed.

 

Tequila Reef still closed.

 

PJ's Bar just given away. 

 

All the above three establishments were in place for years, and survived other downturns, but not the latest one.

Agree with you on Pig and Whistle and Tequila Reef. Understand the reasons for closing but no one willing to open in their place? 

2 hours ago, Leaver said:

How do you know who really owns The Robin Hood?  ????

 No idea but just to give you a heads up I own 0.00000001% of every Wetherspoon in the UK, Tim Martin is just the frontman. 

2 hours ago, Leaver said:

So, name some NEW bar builds.  Should be easy enough.  You say they keep "opening."

Don't hold your breath lol - Soi 7/8 still waiting. 

2 hours ago, Leaver said:

Do you think they will be able to flip this one?

 

The Retox up the road was a walk away.

 

In the past, it's been jammed.  Sure, maybe only for the sport, but they catered for all nationalities, by being able to show all sports, so it had a regular and sizeable clientele. 

 

Yes, it sits on a a lot of square meters, but that also costs a lot of rent every month.  I could only imagine how much the Thai landlord would hike up the rent on the next lease.  Who's willing to play ball with a greedy Thai landlord?  

 

They run a good operation.  They have friendly and professional staff.  Location is good.  It was a successful operation, and still would be, if not for Thai Governance. 

 

I have no doubt there will be Retox Cambodia and Retox Vietnam, if they can cash out. 

 

 

Well I never thought anyone would be gullible enough to take the Robin Hood off their hands, the sale details that I saw advertised  had more holes in it than an Edam cheese in my business opinion. I think someone would be mad to invest 12.5m in a leasehold Pattaya bar in the current climate, but hey it's Pattaya so never say never. 

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

Yet, you have ridiculed my OP title, and my posts, and personally attacked me, but, I hold no malice.

 

Contrary to belief, I am not a dooms day poster.  I know what I see, and I know who I speak to. 

 

They laughed at the guys that predicted the GFC.

 

We could very well be looking at the Pattaya Financial Crisis, more now so with the virus.

 

What big domino would have to fall for people to take notice?

 

I am referring to one group in particular and always felt their business model and self promotion was questionable particularly in relation to The Robin Hood when they had it. For the size of  Game On I would expect them to have to do steady trade outside of the predictable big sports nights and whenever I've gone in the place has without exception been dead. I always wondered what all the hype was about since day one but of course it was mainly their own hype and serves a very successful purpose when you're in the game of flipping bars. 

1 hour ago, TaaSaparot said:

 

Not been the same since Simon Peatfield left.

 

What about Retox Outback? ... always seems busy when I pass.

Can't imagine there is much money to be made flipping that one, I think they are in partnership and I would have thought the overheads are manageable in that location. 

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

 

BOOM!!!!

 

That's a big domino to fall. 

For once, just once, I absolutely agree with you. ????. Why has their confidence in their winning formula that no other bars could offer and expansion plans evaporated in the last 12 months?  I always knew this would happen. 

Wasn't long ago Retox were trumpeting themselves as some sort of amazing Pattaya success story looking for investors to back expansion to Bangkok and other Asian cities. Since then they've offloaded Robin Hood, closed Retox Lengkee and are now looking to sell their "flagship" venue. I think that tells its own story. I actually thought they owned that premises but it appears all you're getting for 12.5m is a bit of stock. Could be the most profitable beers they've ever sold. 

On 1/30/2020 at 6:17 AM, fforest1 said:

Nong Nooch does a fantastic job on their own property but they have done a very poor job on Pattayas beaches......They have a major hard on for Palm trees..They NEVER plant any normal shade trees any more ONLY Palm trees....Its a real bore.... 

I've got to disagree with you there. I was sorely disappointed when I went to Nong Nooch expecting to see a really well presented tropical botanical garden a la Chelsea Flower Show awards. I'm guessing all the plastic dinasaurs, red telephone boxes and other man made monstrosities weren't part of that award winning display. Shocking commercial mass tourist money making  tat that a public park in Singapore puts to shame. 

14 hours ago, Leaver said:

i have never ordered from them. or been to their address.

 

I don't know if they cooked and delivered, or delivered for a third party.

 

in any case, another hospitality business closure here.   

 

Very surprised you're not an expert on home delivery services. 

As we approach the end of what has traditionally been the busiest month of the year for my local/favourite bar, I would have to say even though I wouldn't expect it to close it's pretty clear the post Xmas surge in customers of times gone by just hasn't happened for it this year. I'm interested in the  situation of a nearby restaurant which is mid to higher end and is more heavily reliant on its high season business, from what I see there it's a more obvious downturn in seasonal business and with its overheads that would be one establishment I wouldn't be surprised to see up for sale at some stage this year. If it does I will confirm which one I am referring to. 

Worth a watch if you are thinking about visiting Vietnam for longer than 30 days or perhaps considering a longer term move. 

11 hours ago, Leaver said:

 

Personally, I haven't heard Vietnam is stopping 3 month tourist visas, or Temporary Resident Cards, but I will look into this. 

 

I do have concerns that Vietnam MAY tighten up their visas in the short term, in order to control, or monitor, the exodus from Thailand that is landing on its shores, but I can't see them stopping back to back tourist visas any times soon. 

It's a government directive not a personal thing. Have a word with that  condo manager you're in regular contact with. Sounds like there will be some good monthly deals coming up in July. God's waiting room is emptying very fast on this latest development,

On 1/11/2020 at 7:42 AM, Leaver said:

I'm in Pattaya, but freely admit Vietnam is my Plan B.  Been there many times.  I've said before, I have even picked out the condo block, and I am in constant contact with the manger there. 

 

Now's the time to make sure you have options. 

Indeed wises words, in fact it might be worth having a Plan C if Vietnam goes ahead with its plan to cut Tourist Visas from 3 months to 1 month from July 1st, unless of course they reinstate their annual retirement visa which they also curtailed. I think you previously mentioned you thought it was only temporary. If there is an aim to stop people living long term on 3 month tourist visas I can't imagine them allowing 12 back to back renewals a year. 

Will be interesting to see how the Vietnam visa changes play out. 

14 hours ago, Leaver said:

TV has one.  Check it out. It hasn't been there that long.  I guess TV can see the market shift also.

I had a look but there only seems to be a couple of active topics in the last month and one of them was on the subject of scamming. 

13 hours ago, Leaver said:

Many graphs and charts on the interest.

 

Here's a random one.  Scroll down for the drop in western nations.

 

http://www.atta.or.th/statistics-international-tourists-arriving-in-thailand-as-of-29-february-2016/

There's a lot more tourists arriving in Thailand than that sample, that seems to represent less than 15%, I can see why you might think tourist numbers have collapsed using those figures. 3m Chinese !!! If only that were true.

3 hours ago, kingdong said:

I have and do,3 bottled of beer £1 in hotel happy hour,£1 for 2 when the happy hour ends and we adjourn to a bar round the corner where the happy hours just starting.

I've heard it's a very popular backpacker place that must be one of the main attractions