kmj

I remember about 6 years ago the beach of thung wua laen ( not sure of the spelling ) 30 km before chumpon, a mountain of plastic, glass bottles etc washed up on the beach after a storm, and the soulution...

wait for the next tides over the next week to wash it all out again instead of cleaning it up...

He also posted a goodbye mesage on his FB page and text to friend. R.I.P.

15 hours ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

Thanks.  Many years ago, I almost went completely mad trying to manually update my hotel availability on 10 different OTAs :)

 

 

 

 

I wish that were true, but it is not.  Many of the major Channel Managers still do not publish their API interface spec.  I'm a coder and the only way to integrate a non-supported website is to 'screen-scrape' and datamine the Channel Manager webpages, (which is a horribly-unreliable way create an interface.....).

 

I did think a few years ago to create an open-source (GNU) Channel Manager - perhaps one exists now?

I've just finished intergrating hoteliercloud with SiteMinder, MyAllocator, YeildPlanet and ezeecentrix channel managers and all it took to access their API's was a request email and signed NDA

Now if you go direct to the OTA's yes true you have to go to the back of a long line of applicants and the approval procedure is complex.

2 hours ago, simon43 said:

There is one problem with operating a 'standalone' online hotel booking service.  Many (most?) of the hotels use a 'Channel Manager' software application to automatically manage their allocation of available rooms.  If a new guest books a room via Agoda, then the Channel Manager will automatically log into the extranet for booking.com, Expedia etc and adjust the number of available rooms.  So the hotel can maximise their exposure across many online booking websites and not worry about getting overbooked - the Channel Manager takes care of everything.

 

But with a bespoke online booking service, unless the admin interface is supported by the third party Channel Manager, (and it will not be if it is a new service), all updates of room bookings and allocations have to be manually processed by the hotel admin staff ==> a lot (A LOT!) of work.

 

That's why the preferred route is to 'white-label' an existing booking service, such as Agoda or booking.com.  (The end-user also gets the benefit of the complete range of hotels).

 

A bespoke service really only works when it targets a niche market, such as 'Great Hotels of the World', where the revenue generated from upmarket guest rooms can justify the software coding and integration with the Channel Manager.

 

I hope ThaiVisa have thought through this business model for their new booking site :)

All channel managers allow new OTA's to add themselves to thier systems just need a good API coder, I have done this work 3 times as well as integate CM's to PMS's

1 hour ago, spambot said:

Excellent post. Pivotal point.

Edited because to Wrong post

The news articles on the home page have had the dates removed,. Why?

what's the difference between a lentil and a chick pea. A. Trump wouldn't pay $200 to have a lentil on him

Do you ever edit content? some details are just not needed...

" Other teachers and maids had tried to intervene but no one could stop the new teacher from dishing out the beating. "

well they didn't try very hard then did they...

difficult when you can buy 30,000+ USD worth of latest software for couple thousand bhat ( maya, 3DS max, PS Suite etc ), I know quite a few indie software houses in Europe that are using them bought from Thailand. 

1 hour ago, baansgr said:

Condos are used predominately by holiday makers, holiday makers tend to go out in the evenings hence why no lighting is on.

absolute rubbish...

I have a 30 year old degree in computer science, just waiting for a time machine to be invented... then I can go back and use it.

If you have a good trackable resume, it's very often of more use than your degree... especially in the software industry.

15 hours ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

The ENERGY project near Cha-am looks beautiful and well landscaped, but I would be really interested to know exactly how many of the 6000 condos there have been sold so far.  There also seem to be numerous other new condos built near Cha-am with "Sale or Rent" signs still on show after many months, plus many new "gated village" developments in progress a bit closer to Hua Hin on the canal road, each with 50 or 60 dwellings.  Where are all the buyers?

a money laundering project with no residents...

3 hours ago, jerojero said:

Try killing yourself first, next time. You'll feel the same after the fact and won't can't care about anything anyways.

555 'next time'

1 hour ago, Krataiboy said:

Why can't the name of the source be mentioned? Are words like Daily Mail and BBC now banned, not just their publications or websites? 

BBC banned? better tell them I've just been reading it...

must be an investor... it will never happen imop.

you have 5 years boys... get that money in.

Well I'm amazed the people who hold the purse strings have the all the power... who would have thought it.

Is that because our goverments are too weak or Thailands ( and some other Asian countries ) goverments are more strict...

^^ No it started the brand name companies using agents to contract the same garment manufacturers so they can remove any culpability on their part...

What happens when stupid hiso meets stupid hiso here in LOS

well from the full article at least the items seem to genuine just not paid tax on them...

4 hours ago, harada said:

at last a new hub.

Yes I was thinking exactly the same when I read the headline, there has been a real shortage of hubs this year...

25 minutes ago, natway09 said:

To the people who are unprepared to invest 3 million baht in a reputable bank this country  to retire here & make this their home I say, "You want the chicken & the egg".

Maybe you should just go home

Or invest 800k and spend 30mins a year in immigration getting an extension... I'd rather keep the bulk of my money in my home country

We had a visit last week ( Cha Am ), lady with Gov ID came with paperwork already made out in my name, asked a couple questions while filling out the fom herself then left, 10mins didn't ask to see passport or ask me to sign anything.