Thailand tourism: Chinese New Year down! "No positives" as Thais face tough year ahead

[khunpa]

Sitting here in Chiang Mai and breathing in crappy air, I hope their earnings on tourism goes to hell. They deserve it!

[WinnieTheKhwai]

1 hour ago, bangkokequity said:

1. Hotel Act Infringements

Airbnb hosts renting to guests on a nightly or weekly rate, are in effect operating as an unlicensed hotel. This absence of a hotel permit is therefore an infringement of the rules and regulations of the Hotel Act.

Am I the only one with the Google Machine?  Oh wait .. that would provide folks with FACTS ... can't have THAT! 555

 

You don't state a source, but assuming it's from " https://freshbangkok.com/is-airbnb-illegal-in-thailand/ " then they're wrong.  Or mostly wrong.  Like so many Bangkok-based people they seem to think that every property is a condominium unit.  Or that every AirBnB listing is for a condominium unit. It's not.

 

1 hour ago, steve2112 said:

i think only if you have more than 3 rooms to rent

 

Four rooms / 20 people is the maximum you can register for, yes.  But they're fairly flexible on this, i.e. you can 'set aside' certain rooms for long-term rentals only, and keep 4 rooms for daily rentals.  Or when it's a house with more than 4 bedrooms then use the other bedrooms for some other purpose.

 

1 hour ago, bangkokequity said:

"Airbnb Hosts are often quick to mention that the “Hotel Act” stipulates that only business operations with “more than 4 rooms” need to comply with this law."  But that is so vague, it is a toothless tiger.

 

So how did Airbnb hosting go from a confusing legal jumble to a definite “illegal status”?

In May 2018, a court ruling in Hua Hin convicted two hosts of violating the Hotel Act of 2004; they were charged for renting their condos on a daily and weekly basis in Wan Vayla Condo. The offenders were both charged with a light fine of between 10-15,000 THB for their infringements.

 

Both paragraphs are problematic.  Those AirBnb hosts who claim they can just rent fewer than 4 rooms are wrong, they still need to register.  Second paragraph:   Those were condominium units.  Which they obviously didn't register for daily rentals. (I think it's not possible to legally register condominium units at all, but someone can correct me if they managed to do that.)

And "Definite illegal status" is completely wrong, of course.  I would be suspicious on the accuracy of anything else on that property website.

 

1 hour ago, ThomasThBKK said:

 

This is bs, the hotel acct  allows 4 rooms/20 sleeps on single properties such as houses to be rented.

it's 4 rooms with 20 sleeps actually, but that's just for info.

 

Yes, correct.  And this regulation has existed for as long as I can remember, it's how the first guesthouses in the backpacker days of the 1980s and 90s were registered.

 

1 hour ago, ThomasThBKK said:

 

Because they rent out a condo room jeez, can you even read. Condos have more than 4 rooms/20 sleeps.

Airbnb itself isn't illegal, breaking the condo and hotel act is. 

It's not airbnbs problem tho.

 

❤️ ThomasThBKK understands. 

 

56 minutes ago, bangkokequity said:

Airbnb itself isn't illegal, breaking the condo and hotel act is. 

It's not airbnbs problem tho.

 

You are actually correct here ... just like building a car that goes 200 KMH is not illegal, but driving that fast is

 

 

I think we're getting somewhere. ????   I can also add that regardless of being registered for daily rentals, every AirBnB host of course must also file the TM30 information on any foreign guests.  The immigration department readily gives hosts a login to their site to make this pretty painless.

[sammieuk1]

Who was that government guy a couple of weeks ago said measures are in place to lower the Baht in January he must know when the Chinese will come back ????

[ian007]

3 hours ago, petermik said:

Simply untrue....T.A.T figures confirm tourism is on the increase with big spending Indians arriving in their droves   

ROFL!

[kevin612]

The baht is rising again, lower the baht more tourists will show up.

[natway09]

And the greedy developers still are building new hotels,,,, tough

[jimmjam]

I work with alot of chinese customers in my business and the majority have been to Thailand once and would not go back.

They are heading further a field now, alot of my customers seem to be opting for malaysia.

[sharecropper]

39 minutes ago, Janner1 said:

The £ was devalued as punishment for voting Out which did not fit into the scheme of the Banking industry who wanted remain.

In the same way that every saver and pensioner in the UK has been punished for banking mis- management with unregulated excessive loans, easily maximised credit card spending, 125% mortgages to people who had no chance to repay ANY of these debts, All of this was at the behest of the last Labour Government who allowed these banks to do as they wish just as long as inflation was kept at not more than 2%.

 

All of us including expats have suffered as a result of this fraudulent collusion by having to pay off the near bankruptcy of banks and Labour’s Governing Of our country and to which we have no recourse to debate or claim. The money we pay is stolen from us just as the un_necessary devalued £ is stealing from us by elements that are heavily protected and able to impose their will upon us with complete impunity.

 

BREXIT had nothing to do with it except to be used as the excuse for the above as you have done in your post reply.

So that you are brought completely up to speed, the American, Australian and other banks across the world were able to follow the bad practise of English banks because they had no option in order to stay in the game, and that is why all of those currencies are now down to their respective underpants.

 

So put your blame where blame belongs which is not Brexit or the wish of the people to get our once great country back from the corrupt E.U. 

Remind me to wear a tin hat for the next time I go through your one-sided conspiratorial rubbish. Welcome to the Third World, Break-Up Britain.

[Straight8]

2 hours ago, kwak250 said:

Often wonder why people like you don't move back to your home country.

Maybe it's because your going to moan about how much BETTER Thailand is when you get there.

 

What, you mean those who don't have their heads buried up the a-holes.???

[Straight8]

28 minutes ago, natway09 said:

And the greedy developers still are building new hotels,,,, tough

More like stupid buyers. Developers are just building. If people don't buy, they are in a world of poo!!!

[PlastikbinLina]

4 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

why put up with no English speaking hotels?

Do you mean No Chinese speaking hotels?

[Caine]

4 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

these types articles never mention AirBNB which the Chinese love. 

Many Chinese owned/speaking condos for rent and setup to cater to Chinese.   

why put up with no English speaking hotels?

far less misunderstanding.

Absolute rubbish 

[Mavideol]

They are desperate, first wooing Chinese, now wooing "rich" Indians......all over the news at BBC, Sky, CNN commercial after commercial about the wonderful Thailand and the nice Thai people.... was having lunch when I heard it almost throw up/vomit listening to the BS

[sambum]

3 hours ago, kwak250 said:

Often wonder why people like you don't move back to your home country.

Maybe it's because your going to moan about how much BETTER Thailand is when you get there.

 

"Often wonder why people like you don't move back to your home country"

 

Yay! First one today!

[sambum]

2 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Why would Chinese come to Thailand for Chinese New Year?

 

Isn't that like going to Canada to celebrate 4th of July? ????

Or Christians coming to Thailand for Christmas?

 

 

[d2b2]

2 hours ago, bangkokequity said:

I do not see this as "blind patriotism" .. it is simply common sense.  If you go to a restaurant, and constantly complain about the food, yet eat every meal there ... dude .. that is on YOU.

Your comparison of a Nation to a restaurant is illogical, but hey dude I get your point... Only say nice things about Thailand and pretend any shortcomings don't exist. That way the country won't have to develop or progress. Sabai sabai

[Jiggo]

5 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

Decision decision

 

Vietnam and Philippines with cheap prices and clean air

 

or Thailand with pollution rivaling China and prices on pair with Europe

Philippines, have you been reading the news......

[newnative]

She should have also cited Airbnb among the problems.  "...only 60% of the hotels booked..."  What does that even mean?  The other 40% have no bookings at all?  Useless statistic.  

[Traubert]

1 hour ago, jimmjam said:

I work with alot of chinese customers in my business and the majority have been to Thailand once and would not go back.

They are heading further a field now, alot of my customers seem to be opting for malaysia.

Maybe, but there are 10m new passport holders since last year that, as yet, haven't been outside of China. The China tourist is not a fixed number by any means, it's ever expanding and Tourist Authorities around the world recognise this.

 

They also recognise that regulations from inside China have relaxed and Chinese no longer have to go with state sanctioned tour groups to make sure they come home, which was the case fifteen years ago. This is one fact that evades most peoples conscious. Hence the growth in Free Independent Travellers which are essentially the post 90s generation who have all the money, and are now the majority of Chinese tourists.

[ParkerN]

5 hours ago, Thian said:

Europe is cheaper than Thailand now plus the quality is much higher, safer, cleaner, bigger portions of food, cheaper quality wine/beer/cheese, better to walk and do sightseeing, real friendly people (no fake smiles).....Thailand should be 50% cheaper to compete.

But it won't be, and when the chickens come home to roost (as chickens are wont to do), it'll be someone else's fault quicker that you can say "someone gave me these watches - honest".

[ukrules]

5 hours ago, PatOngo said:

I wonder if it crossed her mind that maybe people are just plain sick of Thailand and decided to look elsewhere?

No, I have it on good authority that 'Thailand number one'

[ParkerN]

7 minutes ago, d2b2 said:

Your comparison of a Nation to a restaurant is illogical, but hey dude I get your point... Only say nice things about Thailand and pretend any shortcomings don't exist. That way the country won't have to develop or progress. Sabai sabai

And they won't have any visitors to disrupt their delusional.

[digger70]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand tourism: Chinese New Year down! "No positives" as Thais face tough year ahead

 

Wasn't there something set up to stop All the Fake News ? It doesn't seem to stop the BS from dropping all over Thailand.

[newnative]

3 hours ago, steve2112 said:

i think only if you have more than 3 rooms to rent

No.

[soalbundy]

4 hours ago, Assurancetourix said:

incense, maybe ? 

No, incest.

[CygnusX1]

5 hours ago, Thian said:

Europe is cheaper than Thailand now plus the quality is much higher, safer, cleaner, bigger portions of food, cheaper quality wine/beer/cheese, better to walk and do sightseeing, real friendly people (no fake smiles).....Thailand should be 50% cheaper to compete.

Thailand’s still way cheaper for accommodation, whether in hotels or apartments, and that’s compared with Eastern Europe, not just Western Europe.

[metisdead]

An off topic post about Brexit/UK politics has been removed. 

[NCC1701A]

1 hour ago, Caine said:

Absolute rubbish 

this is a very rude thing to say.

could you be more specific and add to the conversation in a constructive way.

 

 

 

[allenberg]

54 minutes ago, sambum said:

"Often wonder why people like you don't move back to your home country"

 

Yay! First one today!

+1

[ChipButty]

She cited economic conditions, the world political climate and the strength of the baht as ongoing problems.

 

There she goes blames everybody else face up to the facts woman