Can immigration stop non-paying hotel guests from leaving the country?

[madhav]

Running a Resort business on Samui, we had a few guests leave without clearing their final bill. They left Samui immediately after our resort to Bangkok.

 

We went to the local police station and have and made a statement and now the local Samui police have to forward the statement to Bangkok police.

 

Samui Immigration have said they have arrived in Bangkok but no movement from Bangkok as of yet. 

 

However they said that if we want to catch them we have to file a report to sue them and it will be a big media thing and go on TV etc.

 

We emailed them requesting payment but I read somewhere that immigration can hold them until they pay?

 

Would prefer not to make national media....

Edited January 20, 2018 by madhav

[darrendsd]

Yes they can, there was a report a few months ago of 2 farangs leaving a hotel in Pattaya without paying, they were detained at the Airport and then made to travel back to Pattaya to pay their bill, no doubt missing their flight by the time it was all sorted

[Lamkyong]

maybe take payment up front  or as many do imprint of credit card

[madhav]

1 minute ago, darrendsd said:

Yes they can, there was a report a few months ago of 2 farangs leaving a hotel in Pattaya without paying, they were detained at the Airport and then made to travel back to Pattaya to pay their bill, no doubt missing their flight by the time it was all sorted

That would be quite satisfying to see.

 

My question is what is the process?

 

we have tried going through the official channels and they don’t want to play ball unless we go to court to lodge a case against them.

[darrendsd]

Just now, madhav said:

That would be quite satisfying to see.

 

My question is what is the process?

 

we have tried going through the official channels and they don’t want to play ball unless we go to court to lodge a case against them.

 

Maybe contact Bangkok Immigration directly to see what they say?

 

 

 

 

[madhav]

Just now, Lamkyong said:

maybe take payment up front  or as many do imprint of credit card

Payment was made upfront, it is just the other incidentals such as food, taxi,  therapy sessions.

 

This has only happened one time in many many years so we never thought it necessary. Also the nature of our business does not usually attract people who run away like this.  

[madhav]

2 minutes ago, darrendsd said:

 

Maybe contact Bangkok Immigration directly to see what they say?

 

 

Already done and they said have to file a law suit which is obviously impossible to do in such a short time on a weekend.

[DipStick]

2 minutes ago, madhav said:

Payment was made upfront, it is just the other incidentals such as food, taxi,  therapy sessions.

 

This has only happened one time in many many years so we never thought it necessary. Also the nature of our business does not usually attract people who run away like this.  

As the saying goes, you cannot judge a book by its cover.

[madhav]

Just now, DipStick said:

As the saying goes, you cannot judge a book by its cover.

We do take a deposit but it wasn’t enough in this case. 

 

Anyhow for now going to be able to have immigration cooperate like I have read they do in the past without having to resort to filing a law suit.

[ubonjoe]

21 minutes ago, madhav said:

 

Already done and they said have to file a law suit which is obviously impossible to do in such a short time on a weekend.

I think that it is considered theft which would only require a arrest warrant being approved by a court after the police submitted the paperwork to a prosecuting attorney.

Once an arrest warrant is issued immigration would put a hold on them leaving the country.

[Lamkyong]

10 minutes ago, madhav said:

Payment was made upfront, it is just the other incidentals such as food, taxi,  therapy sessions.

 

This has only happened one time in many many years so we never thought it necessary. Also the nature of our business does not usually attract people who run away like this.  

until now         never offer credit facilities  what was the total amount  how much owing  ??  

[madhav]

13 minutes ago, Lamkyong said:

until now         never offer credit facilities  what was the total amount  how much owing  ??  

Most hotels in Thailand and around the world do it. Anytime you put a charge onto your room and sign for it, you are receiving credit, from there you’re asked to pay upon check out. 

 

Anyhow I am not asking for help in this regard, we can work that out later to prevent it from occurring again.

[madhav]

23 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think that it is considered theft which would only require a arrest warrant being approved by a court after the police submitted the paperwork to a prosecuting attorney.

Once an arrest warrant is issued immigration would put a hold on them leaving the country.

That would require the police to do their job... 

[evadgib]

PM sent

[SteveB2]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

I think that it is considered theft which would only require a arrest warrant being approved by a court after the police submitted the paperwork to a prosecuting attorney.

Once an arrest warrant is issued immigration would put a hold on them leaving the country.

 

As Ubonjoe said, an arrest warrant is usually required to be issued in order to stop someone leaving the country.

 

I helped a friend process such a claim of theft through the local police some years ago - once in place, my friends arrest warrant had an automatic validity of 10 years!

 

However, You do need to have all your ducks in a line with indisputable rock solid evidence before approaching the police to get involved with creating your time and paperwork vampire.

 

So, if you chose to go ahead with applying for the arrest warrant, then go to the main police station to lodge the complaint - take the most high ranking, well respected Samui Islander that you know with you to help with translation and face.

 

The main problem is that the process takes time - if the tourist leaves your hotel, then goes straight to the airport and flies out the country that day, then it's unlikely you'll have time to get the arrest warrant in the system before they have fled the country.

 

Consider several major high profile cases involving prominent politicians (Thaksin, Yingluck, Red-Bull's son Boss, Edward Snowden, etc.) all managed to flee the country before effective arrest warrants were in place to stop them leaving at an international airport - even the US government was ineffective in stopping Edward Snowden from leaving Hong Kong. Timing is everything.

 

Then you have Thailand's notoriously porous border, and other options open to the super rich (private yacht, private plane, etc.)  - If someone knows that a warrant has been issued, there are many ways to leave LOS - though it’s unlikely a scabby back-packer has either have the means or the where withal to do any of the above. 

 

 

[Time Traveller]

 

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

I think that it is considered theft which would only require a arrest warrant being approved by a court after the police submitted the paperwork to a prosecuting attorney.

Once an arrest warrant is issued immigration would put a hold on them leaving the country.

And beware if you get an arrest warrant out, because unless you have solid evidence against them that will win a case in court, then they could sue you for defamation. Is it really worth the trouble over a couple of nights of unpaid hotel bill ?

[Tony125]

You need to have a police report of theft filed as Ubon Joe mentioned. Have seen a report before on TV where a father and son had left  Pattaya after not paying for a nights hotel bill and charge at the restaurant. Police report was filed. 10 months later when they returned to Thailand they were arrested at the airport.

[natway09]

In the end, you may have to just forget about this one.

Being in a similar tourist business we have lost a few as well.

We could put them up as wallpaper & call it the "credit wall"

[madhav]

They already left the country. Manager just found out now. 

 

Live and learn. 

 

I’ll keep emailing them and see what they say. Tempted to go through with it all if they don’t reply or get cocky.

[madhav]

1 hour ago, Tony125 said:

You need to have a police report of theft filed as Ubon Joe mentioned. Have seen a report before on TV where a father and son had left  Pattaya after not paying for a nights hotel bill and charge at the restaurant. Police report was filed. 10 months later when they returned to Thailand they were arrested at the airport.

I like stories like this. 

[Pattaya46]

4 hours ago, Lamkyong said:

maybe // imprint of credit card

 

Imprint?  . We are in 2018, not 2008!

Most banks (at least European) do not accept any more payment using imprint/paper.

And modern cards are not embossed anymore, so no imprint possible. 

[kurtmartens]

2 hours ago, natway09 said:

In the end, you may have to just forget about this one.

Being in a similar tourist business we have lost a few as well.

We could put them up as wallpaper & call it the "credit wall"

We too had one this year.  Nice couple ... in the end they couldn't pay for the last 2 days out of their 10 days with us.  We just ate the bill and called it goodwill karma for us.

[zaZa9]

Readers may or may not know that some of the most popular beach front resorts in Patong are taking anything up to 10,000 baht in deposits on arrival at their places this High Season .

[madhav]

10 minutes ago, zaZa9 said:

Readers may or may not know that some of the most popular beach front resorts in Patong are taking anything up to 10,000 baht in deposits on arrival at their places this High Season .

We don’t take this much. But after being burnt I can understand why people would do it.

 

From now we will push the staff to collect payment of any extra charges the day before check out. 

 

27 minutes ago, kurtmartens said:

We too had one this year.  Nice couple ... in the end they couldn't pay for the last 2 days out of their 10 days with us.  We just ate the bill and called it goodwill karma for us.

 

I don’t mind so much if they communicate it in an honest and upfront way. However just doing a runner straight to the airport is not a good demonstration of honesty.

 

It looks like we will have to eat this one too, it wasn’t a lot thankfully.

[darrendsd]

1 hour ago, madhav said:

They already left the country. Manager just found out now. 

 

Live and learn. 

 

I’ll keep emailing them and see what they say. Tempted to go through with it all if they don’t reply or get cocky.

I would tell them you will be filing a police report unless they pay up, if they are regular visitors to Thailand this may worry them enough to pay up

 

If they don't reply file the police report, people like this don't deserve to be let off

[ICECOOL]

I always thought if I gave cc details then hotel could charge it if I didn't pay. 

[Stevemercer]

I agree with the above. Tell them you will file a police report if they do not pay by a certain date. The police will issue an arrest warrant, for theft, that will be valid for 10 years. This means they will be arrested at immigration if they return to Thailand, as per standard practice, and will be detained for a court appearance.

 

You don't have to follow through on filing a police report, but if they play hard bastards, then you can put a bit of a scare into them and make sure they don't try it on again.

[simoh1490]

Is there any mileage in you notifying the police in their country of origin, even though they wouldn't be able to do much I suspect, an appropriately worded letter, copied to the debtors, may give you some leverage?

[madhav]

They paid up via paypal. So all good now.

 

Was probably a misunderstanding, who knows, but lesson learned.

[geisha]

HAve you tried to call/ text them and explain that you are involving the police ? Or contact if you knew where they are staying ?