Guest houses must now get a hotel license--any info?

[MekkOne]

2 hours ago, cmsally said:

If you have 4 rooms or less , you should still be OK. I thought that applied over the whole country ?

Open a whorehouse still illegal but nobody will never crackdown on it... So maybe next step as we have rooms...

 

[BestB]

45 minutes ago, MekkOne said:

Open a whorehouse still illegal but nobody will never crackdown on it... So maybe next step as we have rooms...

 

Thats because with a whorehouse RTP involved, things are easily "arranged" 

 

Here its the city officials along with tourist police and army.

 

Do not worry, you not alone, i share your frustration, so do thousands of others no doubt.

 

I do not believe this can go on indefinitely, as there simply will not be enough rooms to cater to all the tourists.

 

The only question is who will be standing when common sense prevails 

[skippy121]

so it is still legal to have 8 rooms and only do 30 day+ rentals

 

or do you now need any extra building licenses

[BestB]

2 minutes ago, skippy121 said:

so it is still legal to have 8 rooms and only do 30 day+ rentals

 

or do you now need any extra building licenses

can have as many rooms as you like, but no daily rentals without hotel license. 30 day or longer is fine, though unsure if room for rent license is required.

[MekkOne]

43 minutes ago, skippy121 said:

so it is still legal to have 8 rooms and only do 30 day+ rentals

 

or do you now need any extra building licenses

with the new rental regulations you'll need a rental business license for more than 5 room/apt/whatever you rent...

[cmsally]

Yes you will need the "hor pak"  license from the Tesabahn to do monthly rental

 

I also heard that there are areas of  Chiang mai where either now or in the near future they will not issue new hor pak licenses. 

[heybruce]

If this continues it will have the effect of driving out western tourists and leaving Chinese only.  Whether this is the result of a cunning, evil plan or the accidental consequence of stupid governance, I don't know.

[cmsally]

A lot of the Chinese use guesthouses too. There could be a prevailing assumption that if there are no guesthouses then those people automatically go to hotels. They may not have figured that those people just might go somewhere else.

[MekkOne]

51 minutes ago, heybruce said:

If this continues it will have the effect of driving out western tourists and leaving Chinese only.  Whether this is the result of a cunning, evil plan or the accidental consequence of stupid governance, I don't know.

we talking about a law that pair a business that has 1 bed to one that has 80+ rooms... I know what is the problem...

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎7‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 7:41 PM, BestB said:

Thats because with a whorehouse RTP involved, things are easily "arranged" 

 

Here its the city officials along with tourist police and army.

 

Do not worry, you not alone, i share your frustration, so do thousands of others no doubt.

 

I do not believe this can go on indefinitely, as there simply will not be enough rooms to cater to all the tourists.

 

The only question is who will be standing when common sense prevails 

I do not believe this can go on indefinitely, as there simply will not be enough rooms to cater to all the tourists.

Plenty of expensive rooms available, and the Chinese package tourists will be fine, wherever they stay. If the plan is to go the Singapore route and only have wealthy tourists, they would be doing exactly what they are doing.

The only question is if it is their intention to rid Thailand of cheap Charlie tourists?

Have you ever looked in a travel brochure for LOS? No cheap places are available, as travel companies don't cater for cheap charlies.

Millions of poor Thais will suffer, but did the hisos ever care about them anyway?

[thaibeachlovers]

8 hours ago, heybruce said:

If this continues it will have the effect of driving out western tourists and leaving Chinese only.  Whether this is the result of a cunning, evil plan or the accidental consequence of stupid governance, I don't know.

No, thousands of western tourists come on package tours, and stay in hotels that will not be affected.

It's only a problem in C M because so many guest houses are here.

[BestB]

42 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I do not believe this can go on indefinitely, as there simply will not be enough rooms to cater to all the tourists.

Plenty of expensive rooms available, and the Chinese package tourists will be fine, wherever they stay. If the plan is to go the Singapore route and only have wealthy tourists, they would be doing exactly what they are doing.

The only question is if it is their intention to rid Thailand of cheap Charlie tourists?

Have you ever looked in a travel brochure for LOS? No cheap places are available, as travel companies don't cater for cheap charlies.

Millions of poor Thais will suffer, but did the hisos ever care about them anyway?

But what you forgetting is that it’s nog only cheap places that are being raided. 2-3 star hotels also.

 

of course all those package tours will have place to sleep but they do not make up 37 million or even half of that.

 

not all who stay in cheap places are poor, many chose cheap but nice place to stay but spend silly money on drinking, eating and shopping .

 

take out independent tourists and tourist industry is dead. 

 

Package tours do not go into shopping malls or markets.

 

personally I am all for having some kind of standards but brushing all woth the same brush is wrong . 

[heybruce]

7 minutes ago, BestB said:

But what you forgetting is that it’s nog only cheap places that are being raided. 2-3 star hotels also.

 

of course all those package tours will have place to sleep but they do not make up 37 million or even half of that.

 

not all who stay in cheap places are poor, many chose cheap but nice place to stay but spend silly money on drinking, eating and shopping .

 

take out independent tourists and tourist industry is dead. 

 

Package tours do not go into shopping malls or markets.

 

personally I am all for having some kind of standards but brushing all woth the same brush is wrong . 

Shortly after coming to Chiang Mai many years ago, I learned that I could get a large, comfortable, clean guest house room for one third the price of a small, dingy hotel room.  Since then I advised anyone who asked to skip the hotels and look for a nice guesthouse. 

[MekkOne]

8 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

thousands of western tourists come on package tours

...Based on your market research company study I guess... I'm living in Thailand from quiet a bit (more than a decade) and I never met a westerner person (in a bar or in a restaurant where everybody will go) that was here in a package tour. This crackdown will have a terrible chain reaction because it will not affect only the small hotel business, but everything is spinning around them, small convenience shops (already badly hit by 7Eleven and Family), restaurants, souvenirs shops, tours company... A person that spends money in a hotel just stays in the hotel, won't spend a penny out of it, the result is the dead of the economy, because in this country the economy is made by small business not by the big hotels...

 

[chingmai331]

Of course, someone will benefit. But not the little guy.  Very unfortunately, this is the way of the world these days.

 

My Thai friend has a big house he rents out to 2 chinese. The tour group of 10 chinese comes and stays at the house, eats the noodles in the house, transports in the self-owned van.  Completely avoiding the issue of hotel or guesthouse inspection and payments.

[BestB]

1 minute ago, chingmai331 said:

Of course, someone will benefit. But not the little guy.  Very unfortunately, this is the way of the world these days.

 

My Thai friend has a big house he rents out to 2 chinese. The tour group of 10 chinese comes and stays at the house, eats the noodles in the house, transports in the self-owned van.  Completely avoiding the issue of hotel or guesthouse inspection and payments.

Until a neighbor dobs him in and then real problems begin

[thaibeachlovers]

18 hours ago, BestB said:

But what you forgetting is that it’s nog only cheap places that are being raided. 2-3 star hotels also.

 

of course all those package tours will have place to sleep but they do not make up 37 million or even half of that.

 

not all who stay in cheap places are poor, many chose cheap but nice place to stay but spend silly money on drinking, eating and shopping .

 

take out independent tourists and tourist industry is dead. 

 

Package tours do not go into shopping malls or markets.

 

personally I am all for having some kind of standards but brushing all woth the same brush is wrong . 

You apparently miss my point that it may be a deliberate policy to stop non "elite" tourists visiting LOS ( other than package tourists ). If that is correct, don't need guest houses or 2/3 star hotels.

The vast majority of tourists that visit LOS are, IMO, package tourists. 

[thaibeachlovers]

10 hours ago, MekkOne said:

...Based on your market research company study I guess... I'm living in Thailand from quiet a bit (more than a decade) and I never met a westerner person (in a bar or in a restaurant where everybody will go) that was here in a package tour. This crackdown will have a terrible chain reaction because it will not affect only the small hotel business, but everything is spinning around them, small convenience shops (already badly hit by 7Eleven and Family), restaurants, souvenirs shops, tours company... A person that spends money in a hotel just stays in the hotel, won't spend a penny out of it, the result is the dead of the economy, because in this country the economy is made by small business not by the big hotels...

 

Works in Singapore which went up market years ago.

[MekkOne]

7 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Works in Singapore which went up market years ago.

And you think Singapore is like Thailand? Have you any idea of the difference in dimension of the 2 countries? A tourist after 4 days in Singapore has seen it all and move on, in Thailand it's totally a different story and BTW if you think that moving upmarket for Thailand is an option you are badly wrong and this shows how little you know about tourism industry...

[BestB]

50 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You apparently miss my point that it may be a deliberate policy to stop non "elite" tourists visiting LOS ( other than package tourists ). If that is correct, don't need guest houses or 2/3 star hotels.

The vast majority of tourists that visit LOS are, IMO, package tourists. 

I got your point, but package tours are not elite and not all people staying in cheaper places are poor. Just have different priorities.

 

and yes I do agree and have mentioned before that this may be their idea of attracting rich tourists and as I posted before, rich will not be coming only because have 4-5 star hotels .

 

language level still crap, service levels still crap, beaches still crap, safety still crap, side walks still crap.

 

They just need to look at elite visa to see how well it will work

[BestB]

53 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Works in Singapore which went up market years ago.

Yes but in Singapore they speak fluent English, western standards of service and security . Not to mention limited space. Thailand is about 100 years behind?

[chingmai331]

Well, this thread is not really about comparing destination holiday venues so talking as though S'pore is better than T'land seems pointless. 

 

Frankly, i prefer Thailand for many reasons and i can fully afford all that S'pore offers.

[JAZZDOG]

54 minutes ago, BestB said:

Yes but in Singapore they speak fluent English, western standards of service and security . Not to mention limited space. Thailand is about 100 years behind?

Agreed, like talking about ICBMs' vs slingshots. Anymore news about raids. Talked to some owners on LK Metro and many concerned but no raids there.

[BestB]

13 minutes ago, JAZZDOG said:

Agreed, like talking about ICBMs' vs slingshots. Anymore news about raids. Talked to some owners on LK Metro and many concerned but no raids there.

Still on going, today i know for a fact Japanese owned place done, but unsure which one

[cmsally]

Tomorrow another meeting at Wat Lamchang for Chiang Mai guesthouses. I have been told that they will concentrate on the "getting legal" aspect as well as pressuring for a guest house type license. Will try to get details afterwards.

Haven't heard of any more raids in Chiang Mai but did hear that some owners were fighting back by taking photos of those raiding and challenging the legality of the raids. That was second hand info. But does seem to have the same timing as no raids being reported.

[BestB]

4 minutes ago, cmsally said:

Tomorrow another meeting at Wat Lamchang for Chiang Mai guesthouses. I have been told that they will concentrate on the "getting legal" aspect as well as pressuring for a guest house type license. Will try to get details afterwards.

Haven't heard of any more raids in Chiang Mai but did hear that some owners were fighting back by taking photos of those raiding and challenging the legality of the raids. That was second hand info. But does seem to have the same timing as no raids being reported.

I think its fairly safe to assume no one can get legal to fit into a current criteria, they could change the criteria to fit with the guesthouses and then all will be legal?

[heybruce]

17 hours ago, cmsally said:

Tomorrow another meeting at Wat Lamchang for Chiang Mai guesthouses. I have been told that they will concentrate on the "getting legal" aspect as well as pressuring for a guest house type license. Will try to get details afterwards.

Haven't heard of any more raids in Chiang Mai but did hear that some owners were fighting back by taking photos of those raiding and challenging the legality of the raids. That was second hand info. But does seem to have the same timing as no raids being reported.

Thanks for the updates.  If you can keep them up it will be appreciated.  I have a friend who is being seriously impacted by this.

[MekkOne]

18 hours ago, BestB said:

I think its fairly safe to assume no one can get legal to fit into a current criteria, they could change the criteria to fit with the guesthouses and then all will be legal?

The most stupid thing is the request by the local government of the building plans of the house, this is what I'm challenging now as nobody ever modified it and the Landlord don't have the plans as he didn't build the house but bought it from the company that built it, the company that built it is of course far gone... So requesting to somebody documents that are impossible to be produced is slightly unfair...

[JAZZDOG]

11 minutes ago, MekkOne said:

The most stupid thing is the request by the local government of the building plans of the house, this is what I'm challenging now as nobody ever modified it and the Landlord don't have the plans as he didn't build the house but bought it from the company that built it, the company that built it is of course far gone... So requesting to somebody documents that are impossible to be produced is slightly unfair...

Next they will want receipts for materials and labor, total insanity. Are they serious when they stand there and ask for something so ignorant.

[heybruce]

24 minutes ago, MekkOne said:

The most stupid thing is the request by the local government of the building plans of the house, this is what I'm challenging now as nobody ever modified it and the Landlord don't have the plans as he didn't build the house but bought it from the company that built it, the company that built it is of course far gone... So requesting to somebody documents that are impossible to be produced is slightly unfair...

A friend was given the option of hiring an expensive architect to produce new plans.  Of course this was just the first of many costly steps required, with no assurance that a hotel license would be available at the end.