pomchop

VT6 elevators work just fine the vast majority of the time...yes every now and then one needs a repair just like elevators in every other building. So if it is to be avoided why would you come once a month?

Seems to me that agoda and booking bullies have established themselves so strongly with lots and lots of hotels worldwide that it will take some major force to replace them. If you look at the profits they have made they certainly are doing something right. I don't especially like the bully tactics which i suspect will only get more and more powerful but i really do not see anything on the horizon that would replace them. The horse has left the barn so to speak. Does agoda threaten to remove you if you confirm direct bookings at lower rates? I believe that was one of the bully tactics used before....that and other things like dropping your listing to the bottom of the last page etc? I have stayed at many hotels in thailand and asia...booking via bully...go to front desk to extend my stay and might think the hotel would be happy about a direct booking but tell me oh no go to agoda to extend which seems weird as i am standing at the front desk ready to book and pay direct and save the hotel a commission...but told no can do. Makes no sense so i think likely they fear some repercussion from the bullies?

How about a good ole "i don't know" when it comes to all the long winded arguments about god what it is etc. There is really nothing wrong with just using those three words ...as far as i can tell NOBODY KNOWS for sure . Believe whatever you want and try and justify it with lots of arguments but in the end i do not know for sure and neither does anyone else.

The big fees that agoda and the like charge could more accurately be described as "marketing fees"...the massive advantage they have is a lot of eyeballs on their platforms. (in addition to a good res system that provides small hotels with accurate reports/accounting/ etc) A small Thai hotel likely has close to zero in marketing expertise and very little if any marketing dollars. So they list with the big boys and the number of eyeballs and possible bookings goes up exponentially. Many of the smaller hotels barely have a website much less an online booking engine. As for what hotels should do, Hilton Hotels no less has been trying for years to get customers to book direct with them rather than go through the big OTCs as Hilton was tired of being subject to the OTC demands...even with Hiltons very well known brand and marketing bucks and expertise it is still a struggle as consumers like to go to a site that offers multiple brands and quick easy comparison as well as booking. Of course any hotel is free to not participate with the big OTCs and set their own rates and go it alone. But for most that is really not a very good option so they pay the exorbitant fees as they have calculated it will ultimately bring them more business and profit than trying to do it themselves. Sadly the big OTCs have become "bullies" and can literally drop a hotel down so far in the listings that nobody is likely to even see them or drop them completely if they dare not play by the OTC rules. Remember the big OTC own not a single hotel room, airline seat, rental car as they have figured out how to let other people deal with the massive $$ required to actually operate the hotel, airlines, etc. They instead became marketing companies and love em or hate em it has been hugely profitable for the expedias, agodas, booking.com bunch.

How about condescending? That is how it comes across to me when u seem to be pretending to "understand" something that others can't grasp...and as for your thoughts running quite a bit deeper? In your opinion? that and 10 baht will get you a ride on a baht bus. This subject matter is for people whose thoughts run quite a bit deeper. If they don't then that's fine. There's no right or wrong about it. Just don't expect to understand something when you're not interested in understanding it. You obviously won't.

I like the VT6 security guards and really don't find them lazy but simply do the job at hand...basically sit/stand by the elevators , help people on/off, ask the odd gal for an ID card, help people with their luggage , keep eye on pool area etc. I doubt that there are many buildings that you can not get into if you try. Key access is generally gotten around by just going in at same time as a resident and almost all will let you go in with them if asked. I would bet that most any farang could get into Unixx in five minutes with no card. VT6 is a big building with lot of people coming and going at all hours especially during peak airbnb short term months. If security really tried to stop or thoroughly check more people coming/going it would be a giant mess and people would complain about that.

thanks for the lecture on what i may or may not understand sounds about like a lot of "religious" people who rely on the old standby you just to have "faith" in whatever warped version of god they have been brainwashed with.. ..why humans can't just admit the obvious....there is a power that is beyond human comprehension and let it go at that...some may call it "god" if that fits into their narrative...others may recognize the truth that it is beyond human comprehension

Define god.

So maybe SCOTUS will also give the brain dead what they want: Absolute immunity for all POTUS crimes committed while in office... uh duh they sorta forgot that Biden is president and would have absolute immunity so he could then order trump seized and imprisoned and commit any other crime that old joe could think of...hell maybe he will just call off the election and like trump wants become a dictator?

I can not imagine finding a vt6 studio for 10 k a month....if it is truly available then it would likely be the worst unit in the building... VT 6 is basically ruled by airbnb types particularly in peak season with six or seven rental agents with offices in the lobby. I assume VT6 has a hotel license to make all the short term rentals legal though i am not sure. Also the big empty lot next door is going to be home to two pretty big new hotel towers ....There is a sign in thai hanging on the fence on beach road with pics of what is to come. VT6 overall is a good building with a good staff and good maintenance and likely the best overall central location in pattaya. I notice when all the airbnb types show up the elevator service gets slow and sometimes breaks down as there are a lot more people riding up and down 24/7 then during off season when it is long term residents and overall much more pleasant place to live....IMO owners who rent out daily should have to pay more in HOA fees as their clients turn it into a hotel and a hotel requires more maintenance, more security, more everything than long term residents. Sooner or later they will have to raise the HOA fee to cover the extra wear and tear.

I walked through soi buakhaow last night and saw barstool after stool fitted with a lot of PRIZES...maybe some of the girls are smart enough to wring all the juice out of the prize then send them to the next bar stool and go back to their villages where they don't need to suck up or suck off some old man who thinks he is a prize? Never ceases to entertain me how so many supposedly educated well traveled super successful men come to thailand and get taken to the cleaners by a thai gal with a 5th grade education. Ah the male ego which tells him he is indeed a prize to all women.

How sad that poor little starbucks only makes 20++ billion profit a year...better raise the prices. Starbucks annual gross profit for 2023 was $24.567B, a 12.01% increase from 2022. Starbucks annual gross profit for 2022 was $21.933B, a 7.93% increase from 2021. Starbucks annual gross profit for 2021 was $20.322B, a 28.43% increase from 2020.

Obviously a lot of people who do illegal airbnb rentals in condos are very special people and it is their absolute right to do anything they want regardless of the laws or the total disruption of long term occupants. I hope that wherever these people live that some thai opens a nice karaoke bar or a pig farm next door to them or their neighbor decides to airbnb next door to their condo and let them experience first hand what they seem to think is just fine to do to other people.

One friend has a condo in bangkok that put those signs up couple of years ago....it says something like anyone renting an illegal unit will be turned over to police. In his building at least most all of the owners who live there have united against the few axxholes who try to skirt all the rules and there are no more airbnb rentals being done. Hard to imagine anyone wanting to stay in a unit illegally with those signs prominently posted in elevators and lobby in a variety of languages......but of course no doubt some jerks will say well if it is on airbnb it is their problem and not mine. I would love to see a major class action lawsuit against airbnb for their participation in profiting off encouraging people to break the law. I have no doubt that there are several big law firms that are working on it right now at least in the usa...Of course in Thailand there is little doubt that the HOA boards, juristic, etc is all getting a cut to look the other way.

Illegal airbnb is being cracked down on all over the world....and rightly so. You buy a condo in a building and the HOA rules are no rentals less than 30/60/90/180/365 days....you do not want to live in a hotel. So you bought in a building where the rules are clearly outlined by the HOA. You do not want to go to the pool to find it crammed full of tourists. You do not want to have to wait for elevators that are being overused by the constant coming and going of airbnb tourists. You do not want to hear loud obnoxious tourists coming home drunk with hookers at 3 am. And of course you are angry at the people who openly violate the law and the HOA rules who don't give a crap about how they destroy the condo that you bought to be a home and not full of traveling jerks. Sadly there are way too many buildings in thailand where the HOA refuses to enforce the rules. Fortunately that number does seem to be declining as more and more owners are fed up with all the BS. There are a lot of condos that now have signs in the lobby and in elevators reminding airbnb renters that what they are doing is illegal and encouraging the residents to report any units that appear to be violating the rules. So how many airbnb renters are going to be real thrilled to see those signs and learn that they are violating the law in a foreign country? So if you are thinking of going into the airbnb biz please either buy in a legal airbnb building or just go away and stop being a total dxxkwad.

Blame it on pot? Maybe but my guess is that alcohol was the more likely substance at 5 am.

I did it a month ago....good idea to make copies of everything especially the bank account copy showing u have $$ stashed away...it says 3 months but mine only showed 2 months but no problem I had a train ticket which nobody cared about and as usual make an agoda booking then cancel it so i can show a hotel confirmation if asked......nobody in laos seemed to care but when i reentered thailand at the border the agent there was interested to see which hotel i would stay...i actually live in a condo but didn't want to get into all the tm30 stuff so just wrote name of my agoda hotel and the form which he could not read and asked the name but that was it... get the copies made before you go otherwise there are a bunch of copy shops/tables nearby but that is sorta a pain in the butt with lines... Money in laos is a pain and u don't want to end up with much leftover as nobody wants it outside of Laos. Hard to project exactly how much u will need as u will need to stay a few days to wait for visa and likely take tuk tuks go to restaurants/bars etc . If i had it to do over I would have taken US one dollars or Thai baht smaller bills which u can use at of course a lousy exchange rate but maybe better than getting stuck with laos $$....exchange places seem to all close about 4 pm and not so easy to find. Overall a few nights in Vientiane was not all that thrilling more like boring IMO. My hotel front deak gal was able to get me some kind of bolt type car to take me back to thai embassy pick up completed visa then same car back to border at a fixed price...it is a pretty long ride back to the border....can't remember the cost but driver was good and decent car. Tuk tuk drivers tend to quote ridiculous rates and some real rat trap vehicles. Especially from train station and to/from embasssy area.

Surely as OP says they reached an agreement which I assume was in a written email that outlined some form of words as to deposit required, monthly rental fees, length of rental etc? If he did then go by what was agreed to in writing. If did not even do a basic few sentences outlining terms then it seems a little late to say oh the deposit is non refundable. But even with lack of this which is exceedingly naive I would say retain one months rent unless able to rent condo anyway and not end up with empty unit. If able to rent then retain a small part of deposit for aggravation. It is not OP fault if renter was so naive as to send off $$ for a rental before being sure he would get a visa. If I had a dollar for every time potential or actual tenants lied to me over the years I would have a big pile of dollars to go with a lot of empty days of condos held because i was foolish enough to believe their lies.

TAT no clue. A few tips if want more USA and Canuks. 1. Allow 90 days visa exempt on arrival. Contrary to what TAT seems to think there are large numbers of retired semi affluent western travelers who do not want to spend 24 hours traveling to Thailand to stay a few weeks. Court those people. 2. Allow one extension of another 90 days online 3. Meet with airlines and encourage more flights 4. Promote Thailand as perfect snow bird location in US and Canadian markets. Thailand is a very attractive seasonal retirement place with cheap condos, food, massages, health/dental care, transport and weather with hundreds of choices from massive cities like Bangkok to beaches galore as well as spectacular mountain retreats. 5. Promoting extended song kran is stupid beyond stupid. Not many will fly halfway around the world and jump through visa hoops to come to Thailand in the some of the absolute hottest most smoke filled weather and stupidity that surround song kran which at best is for the younger market but for most gets old very quickly. 6. Stop the anti backpacker crap: long stay backpackers pour serious $$ into the budget market segment of hotels, restaurants etc which puts more $$ into some of Thailand's poorer folks who run/own the places that many backpackers hang out. 7. Hire some professionals to advise TAT as to how to have a coherent plan instead of typical knee jerk reactions that change with the wind. Listen to the pros and follow the advice they give as they likely know more about what long haul usa and canuks want than a Thai bureaucrat.

Have used agoda dozens of times...always check direct with hotel and not one time have i been quoted a lower rate direct than via agoda...in fact a lot of times if you want to extend the room a few more days the hotel will quote you a higher rate or you can stand in the lobby go to agoda app and get a lower rate that the hotel front desk is quoting. Bottom line is agoda is a HUGE source of bookings especially for smaller asian hotels and the hotels obviously have looked at the business they bring at the rates they bring it and have decided that it is better than some small hotel trying to market themselves online (almost impossible without spending huge $$)so they work with agoda and let agoda do the marketing and usually the reservation and payment and accounting reports....Agoda is owned by booking.com but concentrates more on asian hotels and overall does a good job or i suspect a lot of hotels would choose not to particpate. Not sure what OP is talking about 50-100 % commission but no hotel would agree to that.... i assume must be individuals renting out airbnb type but certainly not my experience with agoda hotels...

I was in 7 11 at 6 pm last night near hilton. Place was busy. An Indian guy in front of me asked the thai girl clerk for "cigarettes"...she of course says what brand. Guy mumbles cigarettes again so she hands him a pack of marlboro. He says no and sorta throws them back to/at her on the counter. Could tell she was not pleased and proceeded to show him how to politely lay the cigs down or hand them back. Then she rings him up when along comes indian #2 to front of line and places his stuff on counter...then of course here comes Indian #3 to front of line with more crap and finally Indian #4 shows up with a plastic sandwich bags with the Thai baht to pay for it...meantime the line behind them waits their turn. Rude, ignorant, stupid? Take your choice.

Every night when they close all the immigration officers have a bonfire party out back where they burn all the paper forms , drink lao khao and count the $$ given in brown envelopes. How many copies of your passport pages along with all the other forms do they really need to determine that you are you? Most governments around the world just love paper forms...fortunately many are turning to digital rather than paper so the trees thank them for that.

How low can bitcoin go in the next cycle?

sure much better to try and foment a coup rile up a bunch of brain dead rednecks praise dictators and con millions out of their money....that trump is sure a great role model

drinking so much cult kool aide is really not good for your health but go ahead and gulp it down...and be sure and send donnie some money ...he loves to con people and will really appreciate contributions even though he is so very very very rich....