Hotel prices slashed and quiet beaches, Phuket faces challenging high season

[zenobit]

"…Hotel prices slashed…".
In other words: the hotel prices in Phuket now are only three times and not six times higher than in other parts of Thailand. ????

[chilli42]

You can blame the Baht - certainly will have an impact on Chinese tour group visitors. Many of my friends overseas see Thailand as volatile (coups, trouble in the streets etc) and overcrowded.  These are people with money and travel a great deal, prices are no barrier to having a great holiday.  They have simply removed Thailand from their list of places to be visited ... just not worth the agro - all have travelled to Vietnam instead of Thailand.  I guess my point is that Thailand’s current predicament has its roots in many things but the problem is deeper than a higher Baht.  After years of building a reputation as a “troubled place”, the fruit of a bad reputation is finally here.  

[Destiny1990]

Where are the Eastern Europeans who have been chosen as the desirable aliens?

[sanemax]

2 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

Where are the Eastern Europeans who have been chosen as the desirable aliens?

Decided to stay in London because of the weak Pound 

[madmen]

If your not a beach bum then Pattaya destroys Phuket in every way and with the best transport system in Thailand at 10 baht a pop

 

For a few baht Koh larn ferry takes you to nice clean water and yes its easy to avoid the chinese that all go to the one beach.

[scunner]

3 hours ago, Dice Man said:

One beer and 4 straws please

Only 4? Big spenders that group ????

[Dr Rodrigues Pereira]

I Travel for holidays to SEA for 2 months or more every year and tend to rent a car at Swampy to travel around the country.  This year, though, due to the price of the Bath, I'll stick to only 5 days in BKK and than proceed to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.  I normally stay at luxury hotels and they will cost me 40% less in those countries as they will in the Kingdom.  And I am certainly not the only European to do so !

[CNXexpat]

5 minutes ago, scunner said:

Only 4? Big spenders that group ????

Yesterday I saw a group of Insians at the lawn of the Le Meridien in Chiang Mai. Everybody with an own Chang beer - for 100 Baht per small bottle. It seems not all Indians are stingy. 

[Autonuaq]

Thailand did got more expensive than most otherdestinations as well for most the same as back home.

 

The additiue also got the same as back home and people do like to have plesure to be able to forgt all. That not happen when you encounter the same as you try to escape from during your vacation.

 

Many I know went to otherp lace especially due to the western thai addidute and that Thailand does cost nearly the same or even more.

 

[Sydebolle]

Which high season? 

[sanemax]

1 hour ago, CNXexpat said:

Yesterday I saw a group of Insians at the lawn of the Le Meridien in Chiang Mai. Everybody with an own Chang beer - for 100 Baht per small bottle. It seems not all Indians are stingy. 

Probably bought them from 7/11 across the road 

[Rocket Hawks]

Meh...more UK propaganda and fake news in a desperate attempt to undermine the wealthy that have taken over Phuket. Beamer, Benz, or Bentley...I'm fresh, I'm fly, I'm always high....my wife just picked up a Ferrari Enzo ... This ain't no lie, that's how much medical tourism is booming in Phuket. Folks so out of touch it's hillarious. Thailand, the easiest country in the world to get stupid rich in due to having zero competition. Beamer, Benz, or Bentley.

 

Beach in Naithon looks crowded to me for 5:30 on a Sunday in October.

Edited October 27, 2019 by Rocket Hawks

[CNXexpat]

40 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Probably bought them from 7/11 across the road 

Do you really think that the Le Meridien allows that customers bring their own beer and bring glasses?

[Lacessit]

22 hours ago, SteveK said:

I've kept in touch with many of the people whom I have met here over the years, enjoying the occasional meet-up. It seems none are planning to come anytime soon. Strange that Thailand's tourism industry is pinning it's hopes of recovery on one of the most penny-pinching peoples on the planet. Sounds like a load of hot air to me. Anything to keep hopes up and to continue deflecting the blame away from the very obvious currency problem.

It's difficult for me to work out which nationality is more obsessed by money - Thais, Chinese, Indians or Americans. Help me out, please.

[Thomas Hannah]

23 hours ago, Mavideol said:

 

the guy is with TAT, what else to expect from him....

pity, you cannot play music with quotes.remember 10cc song dreamer.

[Mavideol]

7 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

It's difficult for me to work out which nationality is more obsessed by money - Thais, Chinese, Indians or Americans. Help me out, please.

#1 place shared by Chinese and Thais, difficult to separate them

[Thomas Hannah]

On 10/26/2019 at 12:25 PM, jollyhangmon said:

 

...  ... really?! Well, good luck with them ... 

So it looks like the streets are going to be full of indians looking into bars.

[SteveK]

2 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

Yesterday I saw a group of Insians at the lawn of the Le Meridien in Chiang Mai. Everybody with an own Chang beer - for 100 Baht per small bottle. It seems not all Indians are stingy. 

They were probably using coupons.

[SteveK]

28 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

It's difficult for me to work out which nationality is more obsessed by money - Thais, Chinese, Indians or Americans. Help me out, please.

Singapore has some of the biggest kee-niaos I have ever come across.

[CNXexpat]

1 minute ago, SteveK said:

They were probably using coupons.

I am sure you have never been in the 5* hotel Le Meridien. Coupons. LOL. 

 

It seems that for some people it´s impossible to imagine that Indians have money and are not stinky. Same as all western tourists are not stinky backpackers, sleeping in a 10 bed dormatory.

[0815]

Immigration is counting TM6 cards + TAT multiplies it with a dream factor = Everything is at it's best.
Hotels loose 50% on a room = Not part of their fake calculation 

[SteveK]

1 hour ago, CNXexpat said:

I am sure you have never been in the 5* hotel Le Meridien. Coupons. LOL. 

 

It seems that for some people it´s impossible to imagine that Indians have money and are not stinky. Same as all western tourists are not stinky backpackers, sleeping in a 10 bed dormatory.

That was a joke.

[CNXexpat]

4 minutes ago, SteveK said:

That was a joke.

God or somebody else created a ???? to show that it´s not meant serious. There are so many stupid people on the internet, they write the same as you - and they mean it serious. I can´t see if you are one of them if I read your text.

[maximillian]

On 10/26/2019 at 2:04 PM, SteveK said:

Because all of the people in power in Thailand have millions and millions of baht in the bank. They can reap the rewards of the inflated currency by buying investments and properties overseas at a huge discount whilst the baht stays propped up. If the baht drops, so does their apparent wealth when they travel abroad to buy their Bentleys, Rolexes and apartments in Paris and London.

 

Hence they don't want to blame the baht, they will blame everything else for as long as possible to keep the house of cards propped up. They obviously put their personal wealth at a higher priority to the economic prosperity of the country, but that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who lives in Thailand and has seen the god-like reverence in which the super-rich elite are held.

Is that any different in other countries ?   I don't think so.

Just replace Thailand with another ...land and the Baht with €, $, Pound...

[maximillian]

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

It's difficult for me to work out which nationality is more obsessed by money - Thais, Chinese, Indians or Americans. Help me out, please.

All the same. People are people. People are greedy and the more they can get the more greedy they become.

[taxin]

9 hours ago, RBOP said:

I'm just not seeing any deals at all. 

If you do a search on Agoda for rooms in Patong from 28-31 Oct, many hotels in the 400-700 baht range, same hotels checking in on the 1st November, nearly all double or treble the price.

 

Hoteliers in Phuket have been in denial for years, they even still have the “start of high season” festival on Patong Beach on the 1st November.
 

The place is empty and will continue to be empty until January, especially if the hotels triple their rates overnight.

[Pj2738]

 

On 10/26/2019 at 2:05 PM, rooster59 said:

According to the report, hoteliers have been forced to slash hotel rooms prices by as much as 50 percent.

Has anybody worked out that 50% of a ridiculously highly inflated room rate is still a highly inflated room rate. The average room rate in most other countries is approximately (very loosely, but just an example) 1 night - 1 days salary. Example, in Australia the average wage is around $1,500 per week according to the bureau of stats. And, the average room rate for a half decent hotel 4 or 5 star is around $200 - $250 per night.

In Thailand however the average wage is (again very loose) 300 - 500 Baht per day and yet this article:

Travellers to and around Thailand paid an average price of 1,720 baht a night for their domestic accommodation last year, a 7% drop compared to 2017, and paid the same average price of 4,437 baht a night for international accommodation in both 2018 and 2017.

It doesn't take much to see that domestic accommodation for tourists was more than 3 times the daily Thai wage and international nearly 9 times the average wage. = go figure!

[stevenl]

11 hours ago, marin said:

All of the southern islands are killing themselves this year. Last years high season was down, then the off season went to hell as well. So what do they do?  Double all the room prices over last years high season rates on booking sites. It was amazing to look at. The same hotels my family and friends visited last year on Phuket, Raillay and Phi Phi wanted more than double. So I called down direct expecting to get a better rate. "Have to raise our prices we are going to be full", was the reply.  Gave up.  Let them perish, places I have been visiting for years.

 

Checked up north Chiang Rai and the surrounding mountains for a road trip. Prices are way down. So I called and asked why. " We need guests we have had a terrible year, come on up and we will give you another 20% off. So we are booked. Chiang Rai, Pu Chee Fah, Chaing Khang, Mae Sai, and Doi Tung.  Nice little trip.  Hope some of the losers in the south wake up...

Strange post since the op States hotel prices have been sliced. Also the experience of myself plus customers is that prices are low, and were much lower during low season as well.

[zaZa9]

On 10/26/2019 at 7:04 PM, SteveK said:

Because all of the people in power in Thailand have millions and millions of baht in the bank. They can reap the rewards of the inflated currency by buying investments and properties overseas at a huge discount whilst the baht stays propped up. If the baht drops, so does their apparent wealth when they travel abroad to buy their Bentleys, Rolexes and apartments in Paris and London.

 

Hence they don't want to blame the baht, they will blame everything else for as long as possible to keep the house of cards propped up. They obviously put their personal wealth at a higher priority to the economic prosperity of the country, but that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who lives in Thailand and has seen the god-like reverence in which the super-rich elite are held.

I totally agree with this post.

Even the people here that agree that the Nation is not just 'dominated' by a fabulously wealthy oligarchy , but  almost entirely owned  by the very few ,  start searching for macro and micro economic 'solutions' .

When there are none.

 

A kind of equilibrium will come when the elite have spent and spent and spent , including spending on machinery and technologies that they import  and that take away Thai jobs ( all the while espousing the "Thai Rak Thai" mantra ) as well , of course , as their products become too expensive on the world markets and they seek to reduce overheads  by slashing labour costs.

 

Same same what happened in many of our nations a very long time before the 15 years or so I mentally estimate Thai society based on 'social obligations' sits at currently.

 

They arent concerned about a downturn in tourism or rice sales , or most other sales ...( so far ).

They OWN and rent out 100s  upon 100s of business properties , and even more hotel buildings ... and will continue to squeeze their tenants  at every opportunity . 

If anyone is going to take a loss at any downturn , it will be the punters that rent from them .... not them.

 

And if the tenants default and leave , they will let those properties rot rather than meet the market .

 

We've all seen that .

 

 

[ttrd]

RE - Two million Indians are now expected to visit Thailand this year, an increase of 25 percent year on year.

 

* Are we facing a name change soon - from LOS (Land of Smiles) to LOI (Land of Indians) alternatively LND (little New Delhi) ...

Edited October 27, 2019 by ttrd