uniq

Thailand seems to love these fairs and I love them now, too.

I just walked through Paragon at my lunch break and had to look at the booths where some very nice Thai hotels are providing vouchers as they are so commonly found. I bought myself a voucher at 10.000 THB including 6 meals and ferry transfer at away koh kood:

the fair is open until the end of the week, i'll hopefully not wander around paragon again...

thanks for the info - how do you guys come up with 150k coffee money?

If you collect status points surely you have an email from them with your account details and accrued points?

I get them all the time from Agoda.

i collect status points with the frequent guest program of the hotel, not the booking site... unfortunately, the hotel won't tell me who i made the booking through and i do not have the confirmation mail anymore...

btw, agoda is a great site to book with

thanks for your suggestions - i actually work for one of the larger hotel booking sites...

bangkoktourist.com is a legit site as it is run by the bangkok tourism division and linked to from bangkok.go.th, the official site of the city of bangkok.

that particular site i can't remember anymore offered the hotel at rates close to travel industry rates but i collected status points, hence the reason i wanted to book there again...

a few months ago, i have made a booking with a site that i thought was related to the bangkok tourism division and when opening up bangkoktourist.com, it does look fairly familiar. that site was listing exclusive deals that were only bookable through them (in my case a pratunam 5* hotel at more than 50% off the daily rate). does anyone know the site i might have in mind?

stayed there maybe ten times last year, once so far this year - always at the club level, quite nice, though internet is slow...

I have just re-read the article and I'm afraid I have misinformed members, so much for my memory.

The condos are actually 22.5 sq m and cost 699,000 Baht.

The article says that as you open the door of the condo you enter a small living room where a two-seat compact (cosy?) sofa is on one side and flat screen tv on the other. Next to it is a bedroom with a transparent door (is that Troggers natural light?0 and a bed with storage space underneath and a built in closet.

I suppose they would be ideal for someone working in the area who needs somewhere to crash during the week before returning home at weekends. Whilst I don't think they would be for me, they have sold 63% of the 598 units at a soft launch since end of January, so they must have got it right.

I think they are a little under double the usual British prison cell size of 12 sq m.

can u enlighten us where these are located or what the name of the project is?

i've flown air china both domestic and international (sha - bkk and sha - fra) and can't hold anything against them. planes were new (even domestic, staff polite although they speak limited english only) - if i were you i'd try them once, you can't really lose anything (except maybe some evergreen mileage).

yup, that's correct, it's the third builing after the fortune tower (there's a soi off of ratchada, left you have the visa offices, right the embassy). walk up to the first floor and you get your visa processed in no time

1,500 THB "A BIT OVERPRICED!?!?!" 300 THB to Bangkok Center is good, 450 THB is a bit overpriced.

1,500 THB is rape without a condom!!!

PLEASE PEOPLE SPREAD THE WORD...THESE GUYS ARE HERE BECAUSE YOU LET THEM GET AWAY WITH CHARGING THESE PRICES!!!

AoT is just the 'organized' version of what has been going on for years.... now the goodfellas have taken over.

The layout of the new airport is almost 3.5 kilometers to the nearest main road. Pack light and you might be able to take a bus to where you need to go... or at least to the nearest main road.

I WONDER HOW LONG BEFORE THEY BUILD THE MRT or BTS THROUGH TO HERE?

I've attached the Airport's Transport Options for you to look at.

Maybe the buses work better for you.

just read correctly before you start yelling - 1500 THB for a 90 km trip in the AOT limousine is actually even a fair price, a cab will be around 1000...

I don't understand what all the noise is about being scammed - a person with a bit of sense for reality won't get duped and the others don't really realize anyhow. if you compare prices with western countries, it's still dirt cheap, for 1500 thb i don't even get a 15 km ride in my home country...

The karaoke thing is a huge double standard, why crack down on that and turn a blind eye to massage parlours and go go bars?

You are probably misinformed: there are NO massage parlors with sexy girls, NO gogo bars in Thailand. Anyway, prostitution and pornography are illegal in this country.

What next ? They will give candy at the immigration

for my free fix of candy i stop by the hkg and mct immigration - they both distribute free mints

... although that's not really the incentive to visit

I'd like to suggest Sacha's Hotel Uno - just opened, excellent place!

I would actually say it's quite the opposite - online hotel booking is becoming ever more interesting.

Coming from a both hotel and agency background, I'd like to shed some light into the assumptions:

- any chain (not only 5*) that is able to manage it's inventory will insist on rate parity as they don't want to dillute their product by having agents sell rates that are actually intended for group or package travel (as done by several online agents - don't wanna blame anyone here)

- online agents provide other benefits, hotels are not able or willing to provide such as consolidated invoices, rewards no matter which property you book (e.g., agoda.com), 24h customer service that is actually reachable and speaks your language (hmm, also agoda.com, that's scary )

- regarding prices depending on the market (as in Thailand and Austria to stay with h90 example) is a common practice that started with wholesale rates given to agents but the same game is played when booking eg with accorhotels.com (only for asian properties) or on expedia.

- in regards to getting a better rate at a travel agent than booking direct (at the desk), that's just the laziness and unwillingness to win over the customer / guest. i never understood it but some employees are just too lazy or scared to actually negotiate, others again are not allowed. simply ask for the duty manager if the front desk agent is not willing to offer you a rate.

- as airlines have a far more tangible inventory than hotels they offer not only public fares that everyone is able to book (online or at the agency) but also they are also offering consolidator fares with their preferred suppliers. that way, they can yield their inventory quite predictable as these tend to work often as corporate travel agents that have a constant demand.

it's an intersting game that's being played and it's far from over, with the current economic situation it even seems that the trend is going towards online travel agents again as everyone is trying to grab a piece of the cake...

Whilst I didn't have an apartment in BKK I enjoyed staying at All Seasons Sathorn. Also, you could compare hotel prices at hxxp://www.businesshotel.in/bangkok

You shan't find any 'real' 3G inside Bangkok. Currently there is only EDGE and CDMA 2000 1xRTT offered. Both those will net you speeds in the 14-18 KByte/s area download.

wow, that's a shame... which provider would you suggest for EDGE or CDMA?

i'll be moving to thailand for a year from october - is there any provider you would suggest for 3g living in Silom?

m looking for a central (Central World or BTS in walking distance) studio, up to 20k furnished - how do u see my chances? where would u look?

Mike,

have a look here if you didn't book yet, compares prices:

http://businesshotel.in/SearchResults.aspx...-3_HCM-2_LRM-1_

Otherwise, the suggestions by dekka for the Crowne Plaza would be my suggestions, recently re-opened with free wifi in the lobby and moderately priced broadband (very quick) in the rooms.

Regards,

Martin Rusteberg