Hotel licence required?

[kasszz]

I'm am planning to add bungalow accommodation to a business I operate.

 

There will be 10 bungalows with one room in each all on the same plot of land.

 

I have read that if a building has more than 4 rooms or hold 20 or more people it will require a hotel licence. 

 

The question I have is.... because each building only has 1 room, holding 2 people max, would It count as 10 separate buildings meaning no licence needed or would they be counted as 1 unit, meaning I will require a license.

 

Any advice appreciated.

[Kwasaki]

8 hours ago, kasszz said:

I have read that if a building has more than 4 rooms or hold 20 or more people it will require a hotel licence. 

Yeah difficult to decipher some Thai rules, our studio apartments were presented as to rent as living accommodation or for someone to rent for business use.

 

I would say if you have Thai friend go to your local government office like my wife did showing plans and ask them.

 

[BestB]

Most likely yes you would need hotel license as they have changed all the rules. 

 

However and this is a big however as previous poster said it’s utter mess.

 

prayuts latest 3 statements all in contradiction to each other .

 

i had a meeting the other day with local authorities and not only they were not aware but indicated its “normal” for Prayut to change his mind.

 

all good but where does that leave us? And truth is no one knows .

 

i had room for rent license , they now claim I do not need hotel license because less than 50 rooms but what I need is apartment license .

 

but does apartment license allow for daily rental? 

 

Answer was it allows for what we write in it.

 

what does it all mean? I have no idea at all. 

[MikeN]

is n't a hotel license required if you rent out for less than 30 days, the length of time is the criteria, not size ?  Thats what has been said when condo management has tried to stop owners renting out on AirBnB by the day or week.

I read that the government is cracking down on unlicensed hotels and guesthouses, so OP certainly needs to get it right

[OKF]

yes if it is under 30 days rental you would need some sort of a 'hotel' license. An exempt you can only get for one building. For a hotel license you need to fulfill certain criteria when building. Starts with the proper building permit....etc. etc. etc.

[BestB]

58 minutes ago, MikeN said:

is n't a hotel license required if you rent out for less than 30 days, the length of time is the criteria, not size ?  Thats what has been said when condo management has tried to stop owners renting out on AirBnB by the day or week.

I read that the government is cracking down on unlicensed hotels and guesthouses, so OP certainly needs to get it right

Yes, hotel license is required for daily rentals . However as you see from my post , local authorities “suggested “ apartment license with daily rentals and appearantly rooms for rent license issued by the same authorities is not valid .

 

so I am as confused as you are on top of that when I mentioned prayuts orders, they laughed and said not to pay attention . 

 

So once again. Insane is all I can say

[captainhornblower]

 

As I understand it you need to apply for a hotel license and then submit all the relevant documents.

 

The first item is to do with the build permit - most build permits are for residential use only - if that is the case that needs to be changed to show use for rental accommodation - there are various categories - check pugnatorius.com it will show you a number of the requirements.

 

You will either require a hotel license or an exemption for a hotel license but you need to have had it processed.

 

The cost for the licensing process is high - varying from 150k baht up to, one case I heard about, of 500k baht - these are for villa rental licensing purpose.

[BestB]

4 minutes ago, captainhornblower said:

 

As I understand it you need to apply for a hotel license and then submit all the relevant documents.

 

The first item is to do with the build permit - most build permits are for residential use only - if that is the case that needs to be changed to show use for rental accommodation - there are various categories - check pugnatorius.com it will show you a number of the requirements.

 

You will either require a hotel license or an exemption for a hotel license but you need to have had it processed.

 

The cost for the licensing process is high - varying from 150k baht up to, one case I heard about, of 500k baht - these are for villa rental licensing purpose.

The actual fee is only about 20000 for 5 year license , all the rest of legal fees. It all sounds easy in theory , in real life process is unclear and no one really knows what or how to do. 

 

Big hotels apply from the day they start building and have 2-3 years, existing places have no chance in hell to comply with all regulations 

[The Deerhunter]

2 hours ago, MikeN said:

is n't a hotel license required if you rent out for less than 30 days, the length of time is the criteria, not size ?  Thats what has been said when condo management has tried to stop owners renting out on AirBnB by the day or week.

I read that the government is cracking down on unlicensed hotels and guesthouses, so OP certainly needs to get it right

Absolutely.  My wife wanted to build on her land here (11 rai) in Chonburi, a "resort" as Thais like to call it.   I call the whole thing a nightmare.  In this country you will only be safe when no-one wants to get you for commercial competition or any other reason. If the question is "What could go wrong?" Then the answer is "anything or everything." 

And will almost always cost more money.    

 

We also were recently thinking of building a shop on several Highway frontages she also owns.  Even the survey confirming the pegs and the roadside drain that would become our entry, exit and parking were hassles.  In my experience these things take lots of time and money.  Everything is clear and simple until someone else decides he wants to get on YOUR gravy train, too.

 

Start with the building permit application showing that the structure(s)  are intended to be used as rental accommodation and go from there.  Dot every "I" & cross every "T."  Prepare for a bumpy ride with all sorts of unexpected fees.   If possible get everything done in your wife's name and and it is on her land.  Don't show your (Falang) face.  It will almost certainly be cheaper that way.

 

One last thing.  Ensure any land any you are intending to build on is at least a metre or more above any nearby road or direction that water could come from.   In a year or two they intend to redevelop the highway outside our sites and we would have to import mega filling on the site to avoid water running off the possibly planned, raised, re-vamped highway, into our shops.

[emptypockets]

Hotel license? Maybe.

My friend has a 'resort' aka as a short time establishment. The first four rooms are OK but she had to put up a small fence with sign saying 1 month rentals for the other 6. I doubt she has a hotel license and by the way she drives very much doubt she even has a driving license. Nice Fortuner though.

This is near Surin, Isaan.

[Ulic]

To be completely legal with daily rentals you would need a hotel licence. But with creative, fully refundable for the unused portion of stay, at the agreed prorated daily rate, with a monthly lease you, would be technically fine. Not sure how officials would see this work-around. I would check with officials on the requirements that need to be met for a hotel licence. (If it is even possible) IE. Parking, fire extinguishers, etc... 

[sandyf]

17 hours ago, MikeN said:

 Thats what has been said when condo management has tried to stop owners renting out on AirBnB by the day or week.

 

The court ruling was that in respect of condos, the number of rooms was to be taken as the number of rooms in the building rather than the number of rooms owned.

[ThomasThBKK]

4 rooms less than 20 sleeps, are still fine - try to get an exemption certificate to have sth to show.

Everything over that for daily rentals def needs a hotel license, good luck.