Popular Thai Beaches Pricier Than European Resorts: It’s Not Just About the Higher Baht

[fruitman]

1 hour ago, SuwadeeS said:

Thailand is as holiday country far to expensive. Not only the resorts.

Think about the rip offs, dual pricing etc.

Why I should spend my hard earned money in a country where they focus to ripp off tourists????

Not only the resorts but especially outside of them...walk out of your resort on chaweng and you're in a dump...can't even walk on the sidewalk and have to smell open drains all day. Also no quality restaurants around, soidogs, mosquito's, annoying ladyboys, noisy motobikes, scamming taxi's, nothing to see or do,  and so on.....you don't have that around the mediterranean...

[fruitman]

1 hour ago, SuwadeeS said:

I was on the beach, as Chinese tourists bothered me,

I just started talking loud to them and complained about their manner.

They got the message. The point is, don't look away and let them know, when they

behaive like sh...

Most thai don't have the balls to do that..they'll accept anything from their neighbours or friends...they are very scared to get shot or so.....

 

Even when a dog in a busy street full of villa's is barking all day long nobody will complaint or even speak about it...they'll close their windows and still be friendly to the dog owner. Very scared people...

[sawadee1947]

22 hours ago, Creasy said:

You can add Croatia and Montenegro as being cheaper too.

And...... You're welcome there. No hassle with immigration rubbish ????

[madmen]

Even though The article has plucked figures out of their backsides and they 100% wrong LITERALLY. The Thai bashing is still on a roll..????

[Scouse123]

2 hours ago, dallen52 said:

What has happened is that the tourists who used to come for a laugh and playing up, have actually grown up, and it just doesn't appeal to the younger generation. 

Combined with the bang for the buck.

Then you have the military junta, the immigration officers, the corrupt system, police officers who don't know what their jobs are. 

Targeting the farang tourists. 

Plus there is a greater sense of greed and disloyalty in the thai women here.

Pattaya is an eyesore.

Constantly dirty. 

Constantly being dug up. 

Very little of what is happening benefits the tourists. 

Or retirees.

 

Best post on this subject yet in my view,.

 

Agree with everything you have said!

 

SPOT ON!

[madmen]

9 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

And...... You're welcome there. No hassle with immigration rubbish ????

Born is serbia and oz citizen. Where to spend the next chapter of my life after 13 years in Thailand and need a change ..decisions decisions

[CNXexpat]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Isn't this thread about 5* resorts? The Chinese hordes don't stay in 5* beach resorts, far as I know. Zero baht tours don't have rich clients.

The problem for me is that the 5* resorts have ruined all the beaches I once went to, so I just didn't go anymore. I'm guessing I'm not the only one.

Nonsense. Here in Chiang Mai the Chinese make 30% of the guests in 4 and 5* hotels. They spend a lot of money in good (and expensive) restaurants. But I guess you only have the experiences from Pattaya - where btw. 4 and 5* hotels are also have many Chinese guests. 

[Bastos60]

22 hours ago, Pattaya46 said:

Uh?? Didn't TAT announce recently that they would break again the record of visitor this year ?  For sure tourists are still coming !

It is not the difficult to make the numbers sound like tourist arrivals are rising. 
What they should be comparing is the average days tourists are staying not the numbers of arrivals and a good indicator is the occupancy rate of hotels which is has gone down hard.

[peter14]

Philippines is great and much cheaper too and much friendly.. as much as Malaysia.. forget Thailand...

[GalaxyMan]

1 minute ago, peter14 said:

Philippines is great and much cheaper too and much friendly.. as much as Malaysia.. forget Thailand...

Food sukks, defecatory infrastructure.

Edited November 15, 2019 by GalaxyMan

[madmen]

2 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

Nonsense. Here in Chiang Mai the Chinese make 30% of the guests in 4 and 5* hotels. They spend a lot of money in good (and expensive) restaurants. But I guess you only have the experiences from Pattaya - where btw. 4 and 5* hotels are also have many Chinese guests. 

Where do 90% chinese stay? 5 star, I don't think so

Are the 5 star stayers likely to sheet on the st? unlikely

[Scouse123]

15 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

And...... You're welcome there. No hassle with immigration rubbish ????

 

And prices are the same for everybody regardless of country of origin or skin colour.

[madmen]

3 minutes ago, peter14 said:

Philippines is great and much cheaper too and much friendly.. as much as Malaysia.. forget Thailand...

starbucks security. Gee why all the fire power? enjoy!!

[CNXexpat]

Just now, madmen said:

Where do 90% chinese stay? 5 star, I don't think so

Are the 5 star stayers likely to sheet on the st? unlikely

I didn´t wrote that 90% of the Chinese stay in 5* hotels. But in Chiang Mai they don´t stay in basic guest houses or dormitories. They stay in minimum 3* places or Airbnbs. Btw., ALL Chinese they died last year at the Phuket boat accident stayed at the 5* Le Meridien.

[CNXexpat]

1 minute ago, madmen said:

starbucks security. Gee why all the fire power? enjoy!!

Yes, I will feel super safe if there are men with weapons like this are everywhere - and uncomfortable. There must be a reason why Starbucks need guards like him. 

[FritsSikkink]

44 minutes ago, fruitman said:

Most thai don't have the balls to do that..they'll accept anything from their neighbours or friends...they are very scared to get shot or so.....

 

Even when a dog in a busy street full of villa's is barking all day long nobody will complaint or even speak about it...they'll close their windows and still be friendly to the dog owner. Very scared people...

You know nothing about Thai people, they don't care about noise, they are definitely not very scared people.

[FritsSikkink]

19 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

Nonsense. Here in Chiang Mai the Chinese make 30% of the guests in 4 and 5* hotels. They spend a lot of money in good (and expensive) restaurants. But I guess you only have the experiences from Pattaya - where btw. 4 and 5* hotels are also have many Chinese guests. 

They probably have never been in a 5 start hotel in their life.

[FritsSikkink]

21 minutes ago, Bastos60 said:

 a good indicator is the occupancy rate of hotels which is has gone down hard.

Might have something to do with the fact that they keep building more of them and that Airbnb has become very big.

[Duck J Butters]

23 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Do people who use 5* resorts worry about the price?

I would have though the weather, service and beach/sea quality would be all that mattered.

Exactly...you sir...get it. Thailand is shifting their target demographic to the ultra-rich. I live in Phuket and I've never seen so much wealth in my life. It is utter insanity how stupid rich the people that live in / come to Phuket are. I grew up in Beverly Hills and Malibu, California and have a vacation home in Wailea Beach, Maui right next Arnold Schwarzenegger, I kid you not. I was under the impression that I was from the wealthiest part of the world. Since moving to Thailand, I have discovered this not to be truth. I am poor by Phuket standards.  Very poor. I am a quite wealthy in America but I am poor in Phuket. Very poor.

 

Most of the big money coming into Thailand is coming from the top 1% in authoritarian countries like Saudi Arabia, China and Russia. Authoritarianism allows for obscene amounts of wealth to accumulate for the 1%. All these people, unlike American billionaires, are "cash in the bank" liquid. They're not just billionaires on paper like you have in the West.

 

You'll get these Saudis coming in and they'll stop off at a Phuket clinic and buy 50 or so Pfizer Genotropin HGH pens for 50,000 baht each ( the pens only cost 3000 baht originally lol ). They'll drop another 1 million baht on detox and another 3 million baht on stem cell therapy. Hence why stem cell clinics and alternative health/ cancer clinics in Thailand are raking it in. The Thai doctors alone at these luxury clinics are raking in 20 million baht / month.

 

Some of these folks are so rich, they'll just stop off at the Phuket Mercedes dealership and buy the most expensive Mercedes for their 5 day stay. Upon leaving, they'll just leave their luxury cars abandoned for Thais to take. Sometimes they flat out give Thais the keys to their rides. It's pocket change for them.

 

When you have heavy weights like this rolling in, why would you care about cheap tourists? 1 Saudi tourist spends 10,000x more than your traditional European tourist. You only need 1 of these tourists / month and you're doing a lot better than if you're targeting high-volume cheap tourists.

 

Thailand has figured out that quality tourists are better than quantity of tourists. The businesses that target the cheap tourists will suffer greatly moving forward. You'll need to get in the luxury tourist game to make money in Thailand. But my God is there a lot of money to be made in luxury tourism. It's insane.

 

Why, you may wonder, would super rich people come to Thailand? I have thought about this a lot actually. Combined with my own personal motivations for why I prefer to live in Phuket over Maui, I think it boils down to "No rules in Thailand. There are no rules for the rich in Thailand. You can do whatever the hell you want in Thailand if you have money. There is no scrutiny, no political correctness, no safe "space culture", no hiding behind rags, just 100% freedom". I really think it's that simple. There is no other place in the world where you can live lawlessly without consequence or judgment. In order to do that, you would need to buy your own private island like Jeffrey Epstein. But we all know how that turned out ???? And why bother buying your own island when you can just come to Thailand?

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Duck J Butters

[madmen]

22 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Do people who use 5* resorts worry about the price?

I would have though the weather, service and beach/sea quality would be all that mattered.

Good point. That's like a ferrari buyer asking about fuel consumption

[Expat Tom]

I have lived in Thailand for many years and now only recommend Thailand for sex tourism and that is getting to be non-competitive too. I am moving to Vietnam in December and will certainly visit Thailand for medical related reasons until the Thais have priced that out of reach too. The "Land of Smiles" has become the land of "Plastic Smiles" for me. On top of the cost, Thailand is getting more rude and dangerous by the day. 

 

No place stays number one for long. California was the "Golden State" in the 50's and 60's and now it is a <deleted> hole. Thailand's 'Day in the Sun" has passed. I am not the only long stay farang who is bailing out.   "Don't cry for me Thailand".

 

 

[atyclb]

23 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Do people who use 5* resorts worry about the price?

I would have though the weather, service and beach/sea quality would be all that mattered.

 

 

those who stay at 5* resorts will weigh travel time, travel cost, air quality, water quality and other factors. they are usually not stupid. many great beaches in europe and dont forget spains canary islands. some might also think euro beaches have more prestige than thai beaches

Edited November 15, 2019 by atyclb

[ThomasThBKK]

17 minutes ago, madmen said:

Good point. That's like a ferrari buyer asking about fuel consumption

Absolute rubbish.

Most 5* bookings are families and couples that work and save hard for their yearly holidays. And 5 star hotels aren't like a goddamn ferrari.

There are 150 5 STAR HOTELS on agoda.com listed right now for Phuket alone.

You get a proper 5 star hotel newly build this year for 1500 THB in high season there: https://www.agoda.com/kata-sea-view-resort/hotel/phuket-th.html?checkin=2019-11-30&los=7&adults=2&rooms=1&searchrequestid=ed31c423-b5ab-4901-871d-0c366496ab44&travellerType=1&tabbed=true

 

This is one of the best in Phuket and goes for 14k a night, you don't need to be utter rich to make a 1 week holiday there... and even wealthy people don't like pissing away money, you find equal good deals in the maldives and co all year round: https://www.agoda.com/sri-panwa-phuket-luxury-pool-villa-hotel/hotel/phuket-th.html?checkin=2019-11-30&los=7&adults=2&rooms=1&searchrequestid=9692f8cd-ba01-4a6f-9f48-27c950a24983&travellerType=1&tspTypes=7

 

150 * whatever the average room size is. It's nothing more than a comodity like an iphone these days...

5 star is just a classification where you have to meet certain criteria like having a pool and wifi to meet it. It doesn't say much about anything else at all.

 

24 minutes ago, Duck J Butters said:

Exactly...you sir...get it. Thailand is shifting their target demographic to the ultra-rich. I live in Phuket and I've never seen so much wealth in my life. It is utter insanity how stupid rich the people that live in / come to Phuket are. I grew up in Beverly Hills and Malibu, California and have a vacation home in Wailea Beach, Maui right next Arnold Schwarzenegger, I kid you not. I was under the impression that I was from the wealthiest part of the world. Since moving to Thailand, I have discovered this not to be truth. I am poor by Phuket standards.  Very poor. I am a quite wealthy in America but I am poor in Phuket. Very poor.

 

Most of the big money coming into Thailand is coming from the top 1% in authoritarian countries like Saudi Arabia, China and Russia. Authoritarianism allows for obscene amounts of wealth to accumulate for the 1%. All these people, unlike American billionaires, are "cash in the bank" liquid. They're not just billionaires on paper like you have in the West.

 

You'll get these Saudis coming in and they'll stop off at a Phuket clinic and buy 50 or so Pfizer Genotropin HGH pens for 50,000 baht each ( the pens only cost 3000 baht originally lol ). They'll drop another 1 million baht on detox and another 3 million baht on stem cell therapy. Hence why stem cell clinics and alternative health/ cancer clinics in Thailand are raking it in. The Thai doctors alone at these luxury clinics are raking in 20 million baht / month.

 

Some of these folks are so rich, they'll just stop off at the Phuket Mercedes dealership and buy the most expensive Mercedes for their 5 day stay. Upon leaving, they'll just leave their luxury cars abandoned for Thais to take. Sometimes they flat out give Thais the keys to their rides. It's pocket change for them.

 

When you have heavy weights like this rolling in, why would you care about cheap tourists? 1 Saudi tourist spends 10,000x more than your traditional European tourist. You only need 1 of these tourists / month and you're doing a lot better than if you're targeting high-volume cheap tourists.

 

Thailand has figured out that quality tourists are better than quantity of tourists. The businesses that target the cheap tourists will suffer greatly moving forward. You'll need to get in the luxury tourist game to make money in Thailand. But my God is there a lot of money to be made in luxury tourism. It's insane.

 

Why, you may wonder, would super rich people come to Thailand? I have thought about this a lot actually. Combined with my own personal motivations for why I prefer to live in Phuket over Maui, I think it boils down to "No rules in Thailand. There are no rules for the rich in Thailand. You can do whatever the hell you want in Thailand if you have money. There is no scrutiny, no political correctness, no safe "space culture", no hiding behind rags, just 100% freedom". I really think it's that simple. There is no other place in the world where you can live lawlessly without consequence or judgment. In order to do that, you would need to buy your own private island like Jeffrey Epstein. But we all know how that turned out ???? And why bother buying your own island when you can just come to Thailand?

 

 

LOL.

 

You can't even register a car on a tourist visa. You need a resident certificate to do so.

 

Nice totally made up story. 

[CNXexpat]

7 minutes ago, atyclb said:

 

 

those who stay at 5* resorts will weigh travel time, travel cost, air quality, water quality and other factors. they are usually not stupid. many great beaches in europe and dont forget spains canary islands

Rich or not, I never understand people they fly 10 hours and more from Europe or the US to Thailand for beach life. For culture ok, but there are so many nice beaches so much closer for them.

[atyclb]

41 minutes ago, Duck J Butters said:

1 Saudi tourist spends 10,000x more than your traditional European tourist.

 

 

has thailand reopened to saudi tourists ??

[P100]

23 hours ago, dcnx said:

I stopped recommending Thailand a few years ago. There are so many better places to go for a holiday. Between the locals and the hordes of Chinese, I’m not sure who ruined things more but it’s incredibly difficult to actually relax here now unless you go somewhere during the off season or luck out. I can’t even grab a coffee at a cafe anymore without contemplating snapping the neck of at least one Chinese tourist who is either yelling across the room, trying to cut in line, or allowing their kids to use every chair as a their own personal jungle gym.

 

I didn’t think I’d ever despise a group of people as much as I’ve come to despise Chinese tourists. They are a plague upon the earth.

I totally agree. I used to love China. I used to live in China for a few years. China is still one of my favourite places but Chinese people with their predatory behaviours? Only within Chinese borders please! Now they are taking over every nice spot on the planet. No respect for other people no respect for nature and totally selfish in everything they ever do. Grab and carry away or totally using up every thing what they can get for free as if there is nobody else on the planet. Pollute and ruin all what they like, because they only come one time and not caring what actually happens after the moved away. The great one child policy of their government has created selfish monsters who only care about themselves and dont know how to share. Dear tourist, welcome to Chinese Thailand!

[dotpoom]

I am in Benamagna, Spain right now for a 10 day holiday. I can guarantee you it is NOT more expensive than Thai resorts. I have just left Ireland on a similar 10 day holiday....it's almost twice as expensive as Spain ?

[Syduan]

23 hours ago, GeorgeCross said:

i think this is the thing thailand doesn't understand, back when it was really popular you could stay on the beach for 300 baht and if you wanted some luxury 1000 baht max per night - now those figures are 2500 - 25,000 baht. i don't care how much the baht has rose, it has not rose 10 times and the beaches and resorts are not 10 times better, if anything they are 10 times worse.

 

oh and this of course:

 

 

i could not agree more with that, and not from a jaded expat perspective, but from a well read 40-something perspective. thailand just isn't cool anymore, its barely ever mentioned anymore in the types of articles it once was and when it is, it's lambasted for its uncleanliness and unfriendliness

 

 

Koh Samui 1989 40 Baht per night.

[madmen]

24 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

Rich or not, I never understand people they fly 10 hours and more from Europe or the US to Thailand for beach life. For culture ok, but there are so many nice beaches so much closer for them.

Ozzies would never leave Oz. I don't think your quite getting the concept of tourism in SEA. Thailand gives you sun surf and sex in a way unmatched anywhere else  in the world. Nobody i know comes just for a beach. Couples generally do a few nights BKK and then Phuket and then to one of the many islands with crystal clear water

[Jonathan Swift]

I've been living here part time for 7 years, have an apt. in BKK. Got my retirement visa last year. It's sad to see the tunnel vision and economic blindness that has gone on since I first studied the country before I came here. There are viable and time tested remedies that could be effected, but for all of the good things about Thai culture, it seems economic common sense has been left out of their DNA in favor of short sighted greed. Hence the choice of Chinese tourists over those from other countries. Like many if not most developed countries (Thailand not quite being one) , it seems that politicians are out to "get theirs" and as soon as they do or are sure they will, the future of their own country matters little. If it ever did. I've seen a lot of small affordable bars and guest houses struggling and closing their doors, unable to make their rent. Since I first came here in 2013, I have been amazed and dismayed at all of the bars even in the red light districts which have seldom even been half full. What are the landlords thinking when no more rent is coming in from these properties when they close doors? I'm going to stay here, since I learned via my own poverty in the US how to live frugally, and Thailand still beats the US hands down for an affordable good quality of life for my income bracket. I happen to like Koh Larn off Pattaya coast, my favorite place to stay there has held steady the last few years at $38/night. Bus from Ekkamai is cheap, as is the ferry to Koh Larn, 30 baht. Yes, there is a trash problem, but there are areas there where it is clean enough for me. I can cook for myself and buy my beer at a local store, walk more than ride, take trains and buses, sit at a picnic table with a small group of expats or Thais, laugh, enjoy life. These stories just make me sad. But at least they don't have Trump. I'd go anywhere to escape that sick megalomaniac racist SOB. So I still count my blessings. The world will do what it will, I will endure

Edited November 15, 2019 by Jonathan Swift
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