Thai PM acts on illegal and unlicensed hotels and accommodation

[moe666]

5 hours ago, fforest1 said:

The Hotel license is used as a Corrupt tool to shut down small operators....That is unless the right arrangements can be made... cough cough... 

That is not true. In Chiang Mai they shut down a hotel which had been built as a condo, the owner didn't want to abid by the hotel rules. He was open for a few weeks the city inspectors came around and said not so fast this is listed as a condo and built the same way. If you want a hotel shut down until you get it up to code. You may have heard of the guy or seen his products. They bare aJapanese name including drinks, sandwichws at 7/11 also a chain of japanese buffet places at the mall. The getting tuff on the hotels has been on going in Chiang Mai for a while now.

[Chrisswe]

And what about Condominiums run as hotel with 100% short term renting with full ABS !!??? Check in Khao Yai !!!!

Edited June 14, 2019 by Chrisswe

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, stanleycoin said:

He most likely pays the cops to look the other way for many years.

But yes i agree with you. 

Which is why the PM might have his work cut out actually getting any response from this!!

Local cops make a fair monthly bonus keeping these establishments open without a licence.

[Beggar]

"He’s gone further and asked hotel owners or citizens that know of illegally operated establishments to tell local officials so they can be closed down or given a chance to properly license the properties. Unlicensed or illegal premises will be given 90 days."

 

The local officials just have to walk around and check licenses - for hotels, bars and whatever. Wondering that unlicensed businesses can exist at all IF the laws are enforced. And if they are not enforced then the question arises why not. No big science needed here. 

[Number 6]

8 hours ago, Denim said:

I thought article 44 was a junta thing .

 

So post election it is still being used.

 

Does that mean that if the pro democracy coalition were in power they could use it too ?

Agreed. Guess we'll never be post junta. Anyone surprised?

 

While I applaud much of this it's simply not the job of a prime minister anywhere but a third world country. Simple legislative action and wait for it... enforcement.

 

Personally, it's just the condos and the hua him party houses I've issue with. Everything else can keep rolling.

[Wilsonandson]

 

[fullcave]

13 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

If your ex is Thai then all she needs to do is file a complaint (anonymous if she prefers) and they will have to follow up

File a police report anonymously?

 

There is no such thing. 

[martinhp]

20 hours ago, simon43 said:

I'd love to know where one can anonymously report an unlicenced hotel.  My ex runs a fully-licenced small hotel in Phuket, paying all correct taxes as well.

 

100 metres up the road, a Chinese guy has been running an unlicenced hotel out of 3 adjoining houses.  He will stand in the street as tourists walk down to her hotel and tell them that it's closed ????  

 

Love to see him kicked (in the <deleted>) and then kicked out of the country. He's been operating illegally for years.

why you think paying tax is a good thing non in my family gets anything out of the income or business tax we pay its just corruption there increased rapidly the last 5 year.

if we could i would not pay the illegal tax either the government is not legal and not chosen by the people 

and again why you want to pay them at least the police is more local and no matter they not help too much it still better than nothing 

[simon43]

why you think paying tax is a good thing..

 

Where did I say that paying tax is a good thing?

 

My ex pays the tax/licence fees etc because that's the law, and she is a law-abiding person, even if she doesn't agree with the law or level of taxes charged.

 

 

[GeorgeCross]

7 hours ago, Wilsonandson said:

 

 

interesting quote at the end that the (illegal) market is too big to just shut down (at 60% of all accomodation) so a law change is needed in order to regulate.

 

i guess if they shut down every illegal place they will crash the whole tourist market.

who wants to come and see a bunch of empty buildings?

 

 

[DLock]

20 hours ago, ChipButty said:

If they made them easily available then they might not have a problem Im sure most people would get one

 

You are missing the point. 

 

They should not be easy to get. I have 2 Hotel's and 2 Hotels licenses, both of them we managed to get ourselves, but it was not that easy. There are a lot of things that needed upgrading to meet the standards and it took a long time - if they just gave the licensed away then the industry hasn't really moved forward - they just handed out licenses to substandard hotels.

 

I hope they do close down some of the unlicensed hotels - they generally have few overheads, don't have the safety measures in place and can drastically undercut the hotels that have made the effort and investment to be licensed.

[Mavideol]

On 6/14/2019 at 9:06 AM, simon43 said:

I'd love to know where one can anonymously report an unlicenced hotel.  My ex runs a fully-licenced small hotel in Phuket, paying all correct taxes as well.

 

100 metres up the road, a Chinese guy has been running an unlicenced hotel out of 3 adjoining houses.  He will stand in the street as tourists walk down to her hotel and tell them that it's closed ????  

 

Love to see him kicked (in the <deleted>) and then kicked out of the country. He's been operating illegally for years.

shouldn't go to the police but you could try the tourism department or the tax office, they ""claimed"" the complain would be anonymous, can't remember where but saw a sign with a phone number about the anonymously assistance, other option try to search it on the internet

[heybruce]

On 6/13/2019 at 11:18 PM, fforest1 said:

The Hotel license is used as a Corrupt tool to shut down small operators....That is unless the right arrangements can be made... cough cough... 

 

On 6/14/2019 at 12:04 AM, cmsally said:

That is actually not true. We have a small guest house and have had a hotel license for almost 30 years. However it created massive amusement when we applied for one and a lot of persistence on our part. We got responses ranging from laughter, to wave of a hand dismissing us as "not a hotel".

They managed to trip themselves up when having to admit there was no such thing as a guesthouse license.

In Chiang Mai family run guesthouses that have operated for decades were shut down last year when the old hotel license rule that was not enforced was suddenly aggressively enforced. 

 

Much like cmsally described, many of the guesthouse owners had inquired about getting a hotel license and were told it wasn't necessary.  Now they are being financially ruined for believing what they were told by the officials.

[wisperone]

On 6/14/2019 at 4:41 AM, sandyf said:

When it comes to noise the Thais can take it to a whole new level.

Never put a microphone and speaker in the hands of a Thai.

[wisperone]

If they care about safety, how about some smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

[wisperone]

If they wanted to shut down Abnb, I'm sure they could do that by ordering abnb a cease and desist order for the country as it is against the law.  Abnb would have to comply.

[Chazar]

On 6/14/2019 at 3:41 PM, sandyf said:

Unfortunately that is part of Thai life. I have lived in a rural village for around 10 years and about 6 years ago they built a village hall not too far away. That gets used quite regularly for functions with the speakers so loud the surrounding villages can hear, not just ours. Sometimes the functions last all weekend with the speakers going from first thing in the morning until midnight.

As far as I understand the noise must stop by midnight and after that you are quite entitled to call the police. With the village functions there is normally a police presence as a matter of course.

When it comes to noise the Thais can take it to a whole new level.

I wonder what time the noise can commence in the morning as  close to me you can often here fired up at 4-5 am thud  thud  thud music somewhere?

[ChipButty]

2 hours ago, wisperone said:

If they wanted to shut down Abnb, I'm sure they could do that by ordering abnb a cease and desist order for the country as it is against the law.  Abnb would have to comply.

They dont have the power to shut down Airbnb they can ban it in Thailand but then they would have to ban a whole lot more platforms that are out there doing exactly the same as Airbnb but that wont stop STR.

To my knowledge Airbnb's lawyers have already been in negotiations with the powers that be in Thailand 

[ChipButty]

23 hours ago, DLock said:

 

You are missing the point. 

 

They should not be easy to get. I have 2 Hotel's and 2 Hotels licenses, both of them we managed to get ourselves, but it was not that easy. There are a lot of things that needed upgrading to meet the standards and it took a long time - if they just gave the licensed away then the industry hasn't really moved forward - they just handed out licenses to substandard hotels.

 

I hope they do close down some of the unlicensed hotels - they generally have few overheads, don't have the safety measures in place and can drastically undercut the hotels that have made the effort and investment to be licensed.

I didn't mean easy as in get one over the counter, I am well aware of the fire and safety standards required back in Farangland I worked on many a hotel as a project manager when the middle east was booming I think here there is no building inspectors here to enforce the rules and regulations I was in a brand new 5 star hotel the other week and the owners where asking my opinion all they wanted me to say was how nice it looks not what I really thought, should never been allowed to open, I didn't any fire extinguishers, no fire exit signs the list could go on.

[ChipButty]

2 hours ago, wisperone said:

If they care about safety, how about some smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

No need for them

[GeorgeCross]

3 hours ago, wisperone said:

If they wanted to shut down Abnb, I'm sure they could do that by ordering abnb a cease and desist order for the country as it is against the law.  Abnb would have to comply.

 

like the way facebook took down AMM and the other activists pages you mean?

 

(note: they refused)

 

thai gov is toothless against international companies, the best they can do is block access country wide. but airbnb is only a small part of the problem, much much bigger players like booking.com are now involved. block them too and it risks collapsing the whole of thailands local tourist market as well.

 

hotels would go ape over that

 

 

[ChipButty]

31 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

 

like the way facebook took down AMM and the other activists pages you mean?

 

(note: they refused)

 

thai gov is toothless against international companies, the best they can do is block access country wide. but airbnb is only a small part of the problem, much much bigger players like booking.com are now involved. block them too and it risks collapsing the whole of thailands local tourist market as well.

 

hotels would go ape over that

 

 

Only yesterday I was talking to a guy who was staying at the Hilton for just a double room 6500 Baht per day you could rent an amazing villa for that without all the +++++

[GeorgeCross]

36 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Only yesterday I was talking to a guy who was staying at the Hilton for just a double room 6500 Baht per day you could rent an amazing villa for that without all the +++++

 

if you mean hilton in hua hin then yes you could get an amazing villa for that, think 5 bed+ on a golf course

 

but you'd have to stock your own minibar & face the shame from TV condo owners 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2019 by GeorgeCross

[ChipButty]

11 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

 

if you mean hilton in hua hin then yes you could get an amazing villa for that, think 5 bed+ on a golf course

 

but you'd have to stock your own minibar 

 

 

I meant the Phuket one I dont mind stocking my own mini bar at least Im not paying 120 Baht for a bottle of water + VAT 

Edited June 16, 2019 by ChipButty

[Tropicalevo]

On 6/14/2019 at 10:04 AM, KhunKenAP said:

So if we register our house on the TM30 website so we can file TM30 when I return home from outside the country or province, will we be caught up in this?

 

AS long as you do not have paying guests - no. You will be OK

[BestB]

On 6/14/2019 at 4:13 PM, moe666 said:

That is not true. In Chiang Mai they shut down a hotel which had been built as a condo, the owner didn't want to abid by the hotel rules. He was open for a few weeks the city inspectors came around and said not so fast this is listed as a condo and built the same way. If you want a hotel shut down until you get it up to code. You may have heard of the guy or seen his products. They bare aJapanese name including drinks, sandwichws at 7/11 also a chain of japanese buffet places at the mall. The getting tuff on the hotels has been on going in Chiang Mai for a while now.

What they say and how things really work are very different things .

 

even if by dime miracle you can comply with all the silly regulations of green zone and distance from the roads, the fact that it was built as a condo will put a full stop on it , unless you willing to knock it down and build a new one.

 

what makes it even more retarded as I said many times is that all current “illegal “ hotels are perfectly legal and safe for 30 days rental but somehow unsafe for daily rentals

 

so if building was built as a condo or a shop house and was safe and still safe for long term tenants , how does it become unsafe for short term rentals ?

 

see the irony ?????

[Tropicalevo]

4 hours ago, wisperone said:

If they care about safety, how about some smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. 

'No need for them'

 

Here on Samui there is a big push on villa and pool licences for rental units.

 

Smoke detectors are compulsory in order to obtain the licence - one on each floor. Along with fire extinguishers and first aid boxes. For the pool licence, a water safety ring and pool signage are required.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Tropicalevo

[neeray]

Without a "44", Prayut will be the equivalent of a limp dick, a fish out of water.

[cmsally]

One of my favorite ones on an inspection we had at renewal was " we should separate the first aid box into 2 parts ie topical medicine and ingested medicine" 

So my immediate response was " oh for those stupid people who eat band aids "

actually to their credit they were being very strict on fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, fire exit signs and emergency lighting.

[GeorgeCross]

2 hours ago, cmsally said:

One of my favorite ones on an inspection we had at renewal was " we should separate the first aid box into 2 parts ie topical medicine and ingested medicine" 

So my immediate response was " oh for those stupid people who eat band aids "

actually to their credit they were being very strict on fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, fire exit signs and emergency lighting.

 

luckily anyone staying longer than 30 days would be alright to fumble around in the dark eating band aids! ????