Authorities crack down on unlicensed Koh Samui hostels

[webfact]

Authorities crack down on unlicensed Koh Samui hostels

By The Nation

 

 

The authorities on Tuesday shut down 16 hostels on Koh Samui in Surat Thani province for operating without licences.

 

Troops from the Fourth Army Area were dispatched to join forces with tourist police and district officials in checking 23 hostels on the tourist-destination island during the morning.

 

The joint operation found that only two of the inspected hostels had licences, while three others had ceased service provision and a further two had changed their business to restaurants.

 

The remaining 16 hostels, all found to have been operating without licences, were ordered not to receive more guests.

 

They were given until 6pm to transfer their existing guests to licensed hotels, and to stop providing services pending licence approval.

 

Immigration police on Tuesday also arrested six Samui residents for allowing foreigners to stay in their houses without informing the authorities. 

 

Each of them was fined Bt1,600.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30364794

 

 -- © Copyright The Nation 2019-02-26

[bluesofa]

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Authorities crack down on unlicensed Koh Samui hostels

Is that similar to doss down? Or does it mean to stay in the basement?

 

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

Immigration police on Tuesday also arrested six Samui residents for allowing foreigners to stay in their houses without informing the authorities. 

Each of them was fined Bt1,600.

Yes, I know they should have filled in a TM30, but the way it's written makes Thailand sound like a bigger police state that some think it is.

The fine is now 1,600 Baht? It was 800 Baht. There again like most things, it depends which office you deal with and seems to be "at the discretion of the officer."

[Phuketshrew]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

They were given until 6pm to transfer their existing guests to licensed hotels, and to stop providing services pending licence approval.

Surely that's going tom pi$$ off all the tourists that have the inconvenience of having to move? I wonder who foots the bill for the new accommodation? foot and shoot come to mind.

[PoorSucker]

4 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

Surely that's going tom pi$$ off all the tourists that have the inconvenience of having to move? I wonder who foots the bill for the new accommodation? foot and shoot come to mind.

Theese hostels operate in three storage shop houses, only one door in, no fire escapes, twenty beds on each floor. 

Fire traps all off them. Yeah taking the pi$$

[watcharacters]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Fourth Army Area were dispatched to join forces with tourist police and district officials

Impressive!        A three pronged attack.

[SamuiGeezer]

1 hour ago, PoorSucker said:

Theese hostels operate in three storage shop houses, only one door in, no fire escapes, twenty beds on each floor. 

Fire traps all off them. Yeah taking the pi$$

Don't pi$$ around, name and shame them. PM me the details if you don't want to post them, I will.

[champers]

18 minutes ago, SamuiGeezer said:

Don't pi$$ around, name and shame them. PM me the details if you don't want to post them, I will.

You, or more likely TV, could be sued for defamation.

[wilcopops]

A heavy-handed response to a situation that has only arisen due to the lackadaisical attitude of Samui's local authorities

[huberthammer]

1 hour ago, wilcopops said:

A heavy-handed response to a situation that has only arisen due to the lackadaisical attitude of Samui's local authorities

How? you saying the people running their accommodation business with proper licence are fools and it is okay that people can just put a few beds in rooms and run a hotel ?  I don't feel an inch sorry for the people who come here and think they can ignore laws and just operate a business as they please.  Shutting these places down does not seem like a heavy handed response nor does it have anything to do with it being a Samui specific issue.

[ChipButty]

I would imagine most of these places are death traps, no fire exits or smoke alarms just to start with

One of the first things I have always done it check where the fire exits are Long time ago I was in a hotel in England that had a fire in the night, not funny at 2 am alarms going off people running around.

Edited February 27, 2019 by ChipButty

[ChipButty]

13 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

Surely that's going tom pi$$ off all the tourists that have the inconvenience of having to move? I wonder who foots the bill for the new accommodation? foot and shoot come to mind.

The hostel if they have already taken the money

[sammieuk1]

Just wondering where on earth could you find a greater concentration of crackdowns often offered with some immediate buy out clause ????  

[ReMarKable]

Did they shut down the unlicensed short-time hotels also?  Didn't think so.

[wilcopops]

5 hours ago, huberthammer said:

How? you saying the people running their accommodation business with proper licence are fools and it is okay that people can just put a few beds in rooms and run a hotel ?  I don't feel an inch sorry for the people who come here and think they can ignore laws and just operate a business as they please.  Shutting these places down does not seem like a heavy handed response nor does it have anything to do with it being a Samui specific issue.

it's draconian and screws everything up for those who are stying there - they've had plenty go time to stop this situation arising - FHS! there are dozens of these places that have grown up operating blatantly - they should have acted weeks or months ago.

[ChipButty]

My guess is that most of these kind of places dont even comply with the rules and regulations to start with that would mean they cannot apply for a Hotel license without spending a loads of money

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, wilcopops said:

it's draconian and screws everything up for those who are stying there - they've had plenty go time to stop this situation arising - FHS! there are dozens of these places that have grown up operating blatantly - they should have acted weeks or months ago.

So your complaint is not that they have acted, but that they should have acted sooner.

 

Difficult - they can only act once people have checked in! All the authorities seem to have done is to save money by hitting the criminals in a large bust rather than one at a time. Makes sense to me.

[wilcopops]

16 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

So your complaint is not that they have acted, but that they should have acted sooner.

 

Difficult - they can only act once people have checked in! All the authorities seem to have done is to save money by hitting the criminals in a large bust rather than one at a time. Makes sense to me.

Finally a penny has dropped...these places have been allowed to operate for months years in full sight of officials.

There is clearly no proper monitoring of ANY  of the hotels resorts on Samui.

[huberthammer]

6 hours ago, wilcopops said:

Finally a penny has dropped...these places have been allowed to operate for months years in full sight of officials.

There is clearly no proper monitoring of ANY  of the hotels resorts on Samui.

so because they managed to break the law in the past they should just let them continue? Progress is being made and fortunately before there were any victims of these death traps.