Thai hotel wedding disrupts British woman's three-day stay

As a person who has been on both sides of the argument, the hotel should have been warned by the wedding group, but also this is the problem with using the online system to book hotels

I took a bunch of navres to Montreal for a weekend competition. During the day, it was quiet, as we were not there to take a group of 18-25-year-olds to a city known for great bars and nightlife. When I booked the hotel, I advised that noise would be an issue, and we were booked on the 2nd floor. Anyone booking was told that it would be better to be on a higher floor. Unfortunately, there was an older Orthodox Jewish couple who could not use electronics. I was at the counter the next morning when they complained to the owner. As I had a government budget, I was rewarned and advised that we would pay for their room if they came down and complained. The hotel got the props from the customer, and all was well

5 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Epstein said she complained immediately and requested a remedy.

4 minutes ago, riverhigh said:

Huge problem! The hotel did not offer a full refund. instead they sent an letter wedding was taking place and that some areas could be unavailable. They arrogantly ended the letter with "thank you for your understanding" as to say if you son't like it "tough sh&*t.

She didn't ask for it! But she received a lot of free services. Apparently, she accepted the free services and didn't want to change hotels.

"Epstein said she complained immediately and requested a remedy."

Whenever I stopped in Pattaya I would try and stay maybe a km away from 'the action'.

I remember walking into the open-aired reception of a hotel just off Soi Lengkee at lunchtime looking for a room. Just up the road (100 metres) there was a sound system pumping out what seemed like 3 million watts of music power. The lady at reception said "Testing for tonight."

I hastily left and looked elsewhere.

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by Andrew65

Not far from where i live there is a little resort where i go to sometimes to

relax. Just sleep a lot and clear my head.

I was there last week, booked for two nights and hoped for some peace and quiet.

Around 7 pm a party started outside,heavy drinking .loud music and yelling and screaming.

Got louder as it got later so i just packed up my stuff,dropped of the key and went home.

Another place to not go back to,Thailand is nice but it is what it is.

55 minutes ago, FinChin67 said:

Film crew is nothing compared to Indian wedding taking over.

I have experienced both and an Indian film crew making a major Indian film went on for more than a week, they went to another location and then came back again,

5 minutes ago, FinChin67 said:

That does not work so well in Thailand. She might be complaining from a jail cell soon after paying a hefty fine + compensation to that hotel.

Agree that one must be very carefull about the Thai defamation laws that favor the local businesses. However, and this is a big however. One can talk to hotel management and tell them what you will do when you return to the UK. Compalints to Booking.com, Agoda, visa, matercard, etc. Thai defamation laws are not going to help a hotel that is reliant on foreign tourists. I had a similar problem in Turkey. As soon as the vendor got wind that I was in contact with visa and I was going for his livleyhood, i got an immediate refund in 20 minutes.

This lady is a pundit on daily UK morning TV shows (Jeremy Vine) she is a journalist so prob knows a thing or two on how to put her case out there, she does have a point though, if paying top dollar it should meet your expectations...

13 minutes ago, snowgard said:

She didn't ask for it! But she received a lot of free services. Apparently, she accepted the free services and didn't want to change hotels.

"Epstein said she complained immediately and requested a remedy."

She only got the free goodies after she compalined. Also, it was a take it or leave it offer. You either take the offer or get nothing.

3 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Most annoying especially when you are not invited, It happened to me once in Mumbai, I was staying in Holiday Inn, bedlam day and night,

The thing that can be worth sticking around for is when the groom has to ride the horse, part of the ceremony. But due to prior rituals, like getting drunk and stupid with the bros, the lad is now shirtfaced polluted, can barely stand, and has probably never been on a horse before. Gotta wonder how many guys have been crippled by this.

When it’s about $$$ nothing else comes 1st. No respect, we already got your money.

6 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

"thank you for your understanding"

Happy that the hotel responded and tried to solve a problem, but it would have been much better to rebook this guest in another hotel. Thai parties a terrible as the noise is over the top, during the day and night. The woman in the BTS stated that Thai people don;t make noise, but in my surroundings there is almost every day a party, festival, market or I don't know, but the basses and screaming is being heard, and now I heard that the neighbours started to complain too. So in a hotel it is even worse. Max decibels could solve a lot and also let the partygoers have one part of the hotel, while other guests can enjoy their stay in the more quiet part. Besides that, the hotel should have announced that there was noise because of a party, so that guests can choose to stay or not. The biggest issue however is the noise that could be turned down. When I mown my lawn my machine is making 94DB, and nobody can hear it miles away. So with 40% less DB the parties are still fun, but much better for your ears, and less nuisance for others..

If you pay for a 5 star holiday

You would expect peace and quite with quality service

Giving you concessions does not cut it

If I remember, this is something I check before booking now......any kind of function is likely to ruin your stay.

We booked a weekend at a country estate type hotel in the UK last year............there was a huge wedding function and it was absolute chaos. Pretty sure some of the guests were staying in a hotel for the first time in their lives.

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I needed her last night to talk to a table of Chinese at the restaurant I was in!

What you going to do, hotels will try and squeeze a few guests around such parties.....they seemed to have at least tried to appease the lady.

I have friends who travel UK to Chiang Mai every year, always stay at same 5/6 star hotel.

Last year was their final stay. They boooked months ahead (their normal approach) on arrival they discovered the hotel was full, 99% of the guests attending a 5 day Indian wedding.

A couple of hours after check-in they went to the main restaurant for lunch, sign at door said 'all tables reserves for the Indian wedding. They called the main office 'sorry all of our 4 restaurants are fully booked for next 4 days for the Indian wedding, but there's plenty of restaurants nearby'.

Next morning they called for room service breakfast 'sorry only available for the Indian wedding quests'. Five minutes later they got a recorded call from housekeeping advising that room make up service could be up to 9 pm for next several days.

They went to GM's office and complained, refund of their large deposit not available, and GM suggested they try to negotiate a refund from the Indian family who were holding the wedding. They saw this as an insult.

They then called theNational office of the 5/6 star hotel chain and complained. national GM horrified. Nat. GM offered to give them 10 nights stay free, all meals etc., free, htel car at their disposal for the 10 days free and free flights to Bkk. They accepted.

They went back to their not yet made up room in CM, opened the door, 3 old fat Indian women searching through their suitcases / belongings. Police called, hotel staff held the 3 Indian women on the spot. Searching revealed one Indian woman had a Samsung smartphone in her pocket, Further checking revealed the phone was registered 2 years earlier to a maid working at the hotel. Indian woman proclaimed loudly 'she's low class and not entitled to have such items so it's now mine'.

Police told hotel GM to remove the 3 from the hotel, wedding family rep took them to CM airport to be flown to BKK, met by police at BKK airport and deported.

3 hours ago, mfd101 said:

Poor Possum. They could have spent their days away from the hotel? perhaps at the beach?

What’s the point of booking a 5 star hotel if you then have to spend all your time away from it. And on what was meant to be a break from a long journey who wants to bake in the sun or travel around.

She was right to complain and the hotel was right to compensate her.

I have to disagree with the article on one point, the lesson learned isn’t that guests should ask in advance if there are going to be any organised events during their stay, it’s that hotels should warn individual guests of the presence of an organised party. The hotel is providing a service and potential guests need to know if that is likely to be impaired. That’s if it’s truly a 5 star hotel. A warning is worth more than a chocolate on a pillow.

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I guess that's one of the reasons why I find it amusing when Thai people complain about noise, as they never seem to think much of it when they're generating copious amounts of it.

Thai people were generating the copious amounts of noise at this event?

3 hours ago, mfd101 said:

Poor Possum. They could have spent their days away from the hotel? perhaps at the beach?

Using your same logic, the destination wedding guests could also have spent the days away from the hotel, perhaps at the beach.

1 hour ago, jvs said:

Not far from where i live there is a little resort where i go to sometimes to

relax. Just sleep a lot and clear my head.

I was there last week, booked for two nights and hoped for some peace and quiet.

Around 7 pm a party started outside,heavy drinking .loud music and yelling and screaming.

Got louder as it got later so i just packed up my stuff,dropped of the key and went home.

Another place to not go back to,Thailand is nice but it is what it is.

Thailand can be a very noisy place, and Thais seem in some way 'immune' to excessive noise, it doesn't seem to bother them in the way that it does us farang.

3 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

Thailand can be a very noisy place, and Thais seem in some way 'immune' to excessive noise, it doesn't seem to bother them in the way that it does us farang.

Some might be though many are not, none of the locals around here don’t like noise and it’s quite quiet.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by novacova

1 hour ago, FinChin67 said:

That does not work so well in Thailand. She might be complaining from a jail cell soon after paying a hefty fine + compensation to that hotel.

How could that happen to a Mancunian journalist in the UK?

1 hour ago, snowgard said:

Apparently ... didn't want to change hotels

Where was that, or that she had that option, reported?

52 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

Happy that the hotel responded and tried to solve a problem, but it would have been much better to rebook this guest in another hotel

Since when do any hotels book alternative accommodation for affected guests in a competitor's hotel?

54 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

Thai parties a terrible as the noise is over the top, during the day and night

What makes you think this was a Thai wedding party?

British woman complains 🙄 Hard to believe 🫪

3 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

I sympathise. And some seem to think we should adapt to and accept "Thai culture"!

Don't you just love it when they candy coat it and camouflage selfishness, rudeness and disrespect for neighbors as "Thai Culture". Call it what it really is....it's sin against your neighbor. Everybody hates it, but nobody will complain because they know what will happen. The offender will "lose his face" and never talk to you again, or worse yet, take out vengeance on the complainers, and the vindictiveness will never end. The entire situation is very complex and "SICK"! When I moved into my village 15 years ago, I very diplomatically called out 3 neighbors on my soi for their loud music, and none of them have spoken to me nor even acknowledged me in the past 14 years.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by fittobethaied

I guess the hotel could have offered her a refund (maaybe it did) after the first day.

What a Karen…wait, Epstein? Not UK/Israeli, by chance?

Years ago booked a 5 star hotel on Penang as a visa run treat.

Lovely place, great food. But the night of my arrival around Never forget.

8 hours ago, Nemises said:

Nothing says relaxing holiday like a bloke with a microphone asking if you’re having FUN every 30 seconds. 😂

Indeed- especially when you have paid 5 star prices for the privilege