100 hotels on Koh Samui forced to sell up due to COVID-19 crisis

[sawadee1947]

3 hours ago, kingdong said:

Like stopping all the Chinese tourists flooding in when corona became known?

Fact is that there have been died only a few people in Thailand whereas almost 50.000 on this lost island. Some call it still Great Britain? Well, is it the empire of corona deaths?

[bert bloggs]

11 hours ago, Gulfsailor said:

Thai banks refuse to sell assets below book value and also refuse to devalue assets from repossessions on their balance sheet. When a mortgaged property gets repossessed the bank loses the asset of the mortgage but gains the property, which will be valued at the mortgage amount. The result is that on paper the balance sheet doesn’t change and the bank does not have to write a loss. If the bank were the devalue a property due to market conditions, it would have to write a loss on it. So banks prefer letting property sit on their books indefinitely. The structure may get written off in 50 years, but the land it stands on never. 

Yes the land our houses stand on has gone up quite a bit in the 13 years we have lived here, but what the banks must have loaned to the guy owning this property was crazy if he owes 29 mill on the place ,it is very big and the land is large ,about two and a half times the size our house stands on ,but 29 million? jeepers.

[overherebc]

On 6/6/2020 at 2:47 PM, mickymouse1 said:

Give me an example of 1 resort/ hotel that is going cheap!!! I know few but not cheap as you might think.

Conversation in UK.

Paid £150,000 for the house, now the markets down and I had to sell quick I got £130,000

Conversation Thailand.

Paid 2,000,000 for the house, now the market is down and I need to sell it has been for sale at 2,500,000 for over 3 years and I haven't had one offer.

[XGM]

2 hours ago, overherebc said:

Conversation in UK.

Paid £150,000 for the house, now the markets down and I had to sell quick I got £130,000

Conversation Thailand.

Paid 2,000,000 for the house, now the market is down and I need to sell it has been for sale at 2,500,000 for over 3 years and I haven't had one offer.

If you always sell at a higher price than you bought, you never lose ????

[overherebc]

8 minutes ago, XGM said:

If you always sell at a higher price than you bought, you never lose ????

I've seen houses in BKK that have fallen apart over time, in the humidity and heat it doesn't take long, with the same price on the sign. Call and make an offer and the answer is the same, no discount.

Selling for a bit less doesn't mean losing money, it means losing face.

[khunPer]

13 hours ago, overherebc said:

Conversation in UK.

Paid £150,000 for the house, now the markets down and I had to sell quick I got £130,000

Conversation Thailand.

Paid 2,000,000 for the house, now the market is down and I need to sell it has been for sale at 2,500,000 for over 3 years and I haven't had one offer.

Location?

[overherebc]

7 hours ago, khunPer said:

Location?

Anywhere in UK and anywhere in Thailand.  Why ask ????

[kingdong]

On 6/7/2020 at 10:05 PM, sawadee1947 said:

Fact is that there have been died only a few people in Thailand whereas almost 50.000 on this lost island. Some call it still Great Britain? Well, is it the empire of corona deaths?

Good posts,pity I can,t understand what you,'re on about.

[Don Mega]

On 6/7/2020 at 12:00 PM, billd766 said:

It could well be if you take into account

 

Management, (day shift only) GM plus 1 or 2 duty managers plus main cashier

Front of house staff, reception, cashier. porter/security at least 2 shifts

Kitchen staff, cleaners, maids, laundry etc probably 2 shifts.

Outside staff, security (2 shifts) outside staff and cleaners.

Thai labour laws states a "work" week is a max of 48hrs over 6 days.

 

So most likely 3 <deleted>s a day not 2.

[ICELANDMAN]

18 hours ago, overherebc said:

I've seen houses in BKK that have fallen apart over time, in the humidity and heat it doesn't take long, with the same price on the sign. Call and make an offer and the answer is the same, no discount.

Selling for a bit less doesn't mean losing money, it means losing face.

BTW If you go to buy a house in Japan you get high discounts and no one loses face, the problem is not face loss as another commentator rightly wrote, the problem is the banks that do not want put to lose on their books, idem for the hotel now.

[Henryford]

I can't think why anyone would buy a clearly unprofitable hotel for 10s of millions, unless it is money launderuing.

[overherebc]

2 hours ago, Henryford said:

I can't think why anyone would buy a clearly unprofitable hotel for 10s of millions, unless it is money launderuing.

Or a very rich individual or business group that can wait for a projected return.

[billd766]

4 hours ago, Don Mega said:

Thai labour laws states a "work" week is a max of 48hrs over 6 days.

 

So most likely 3 <deleted>s a day not 2.

But overtime IS permitted though not necessarily paid.

 

The Thai guys I used to work with back in the 1990s regularly did a 50 hour week and sometimes more, but they did get paid for it, as I did.

 

The factory in the big village (closed at this time) used to work about 10 hours a day, 7 days a week.

[AlfHuy]

On 6/6/2020 at 2:19 PM, phantomfiddler said:

In Pattaya it,s the Indians, buying up everything and just letting them sit there unused. All I can think of is money laundering. I went into one restaurant 4 times over 6 months and was told that the cook was not in !

he had an upset stomach.

[brain150]

On 6/8/2020 at 4:05 AM, sawadee1947 said:

Fact is that there have been died only a few people in Thailand whereas almost 50.000 on this lost island. Some call it still Great Britain? Well, is it the empire of corona deaths?

Fact is that over the last 90 days about 90,000 people died in Thailand ! ... about 1,100 per day 365 days of the year, every year !

 

... if they die from Covid-19 or with Covid-19 or from whatever is just a matter of what you write into a statistic !

 

[khunPer]

6 hours ago, overherebc said:

Anywhere in UK and anywhere in Thailand.  Why ask ????

Not really, location is the key if a property is able to sell at all – i.e. it might be hard, or even impossible, to sell a foreign owned house in a rural Isaan village, even it costed a minor furtune to build it – and the price level.

 

The saying is that there are three important factors in dealing with real estate:

1) Location

2) Location

3) Location

????

[sawadee1947]

1 hour ago, brain150 said:

Fact is that over the last 90 days about 90,000 people died in Thailand ! ... about 1,100 per day 365 days of the year, every year !

 

... if they die from Covid-19 or with Covid-19 or from whatever is just a matter of what you write into a statistic !

 

Your nick-name is brain150? Then pray please: Lord, let it rain brain for me......????

[Don Mega]

3 hours ago, brain150 said:

Fact is that over the last 90 days about 90,000 people died in Thailand ! ... about 1,100 per day 365 days of the year, every year !

 

... if they die from Covid-19 or with Covid-19 or from whatever is just a matter of what you write into a statistic !

 

Where do those numbers come from ?

[3NUMBAS]

On 6/6/2020 at 8:11 AM, mr_lob said:

Sadly yes, and in many struggling parts of the World. China to the rescue!

China is asshoe!

not in the UK bojo is banning chinese company takeovers very quickly to stop them

[elgenon]

On 6/6/2020 at 12:19 AM, Trentham said:

I first went to Koh Samui in 1984. Stayed at Lamai Beach in a bungalow with a palm frond roof. 50 baht per night for 2 people and another 50 baht each for 3 meals a day. It was magic. All the food was fresh caught in the sea or grown in their own garden. If I ordered a pina colada they would scramble up a palm tree to get a fresh coconut. Beautiful beyond words.

I too have many fond memories of Lamai. There was kind of a outdoor food court and one place sold the best garlic pepper fish. There was a circle of bars around a boxing ring . Girls boxed too. Whole families would turn out for their fighter. It was chill and happening.

Anyone know what Lamai is like now? I hate what Chawaeng has become.

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, elgenon said:

I too have many fond memories of Lamai. There was kind of a outdoor food court and one place sold the best garlic pepper fish. There was a circle of bars around a boxing ring . Girls boxed too. Whole families would turn out for their fighter. It was chill and happening.

Anyone know what Lamai is like now? I hate what Chawaeng has become.

Apart from the right now Covid-19 close down, the square with the boxing arena is still the same, and with the food stalls at the side – including garlic-pepper fish –it's same experience as during the last 15+ years or so; perhaps more, from before i came there. Same-same and not too different.

 

However, the late night clubs across the stadium square – like Fuzion Club and Super Sub – has gone, so that's "different", might even be very different for some...????

[elgenon]

On 6/10/2020 at 1:42 AM, khunPer said:

Apart from the right now Covid-19 close down, the square with the boxing arena is still the same, and with the food stalls at the side – including garlic-pepper fish –it's same experience as during the last 15+ years or so; perhaps more, from before i came there. Same-same and not too different.

 

However, the late night clubs across the stadium square – like Fuzion Club and Super Sub – has gone, so that's "different", might even be very different for some...????

Are there still inexpensive bungalows on the beach? Names? Thanks.

[elgenon]

Nice bungalows though. 5555

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, elgenon said:

Are there still inexpensive bungalows on the beach? Names? Thanks.

That depends on the relative figure "inexpensive", they costs way more than in old Lonely Planet directories. However, you might right now be able to find some good bargains, as most of the still operating beachfront bungalows are empty.

 

As there is no up-to-date list of still operating inexpensive beachfront bungalows, and some of those even don't have online bookings at all, it's fairly impossible to answer your question for the present situation.

 

Under normal condition "inexpensive" bungalows by the beach would be in the range from 400 baht to 800 baht a night; expect fan only, which is often Okay by Samui beaches with night temperature around 27°. Aircon bungalows might be available from around 1,000 baht a night – I've seen normally 1,500 baht to 1,8000 baht a night bungalows offered for 900-something – but It's difficult to advice about which are available. I know there are possibilities at Maenam Beach, whilst Chaweng Beach is in general closed, but I cannot say if any are open in an edge of the bay. Lamai might be an option – as well as other beaches that for examples could be Bang Rak, or Bang Por, or Choeng Mon – but I have no first hand knowledge about the present situation. 

Perhaps other posters would update with local knowledge.

[OneeyedJohn]

Why is one beach closed and another open, same island , same rules surely?

[Tropicalevo]

Which beach or beaches are closed? I walk the beaches near me pretty much every day. Certainly most hotels have blocked their own access to the beaches but that is not a statutory closure.

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, OneeyedJohn said:

Why is one beach closed and another open, same island , same rules surely?

No beaches are closed, but many of the hotels and resorts by the beaches closed down due to Covid-19 regulations and no guests. I think you might have misunderstood my comment about inexpensive bungalow availability "whilst Chaweng Beach is in general closed", which referred to rooms available.

 

This is how Chaweng Beach looked during the lock down-period – the southern part with a public beach entrance – but almost all hotels along the bay had closed; I noticed only one, "The Library", which still had guests, I haven't however checked the last couple of weeks...

 

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, khunPer said:

I've seen normally 1,500 baht to 1,8000 baht a night bungalows offered for 900-something

Should – of course – say 1,800 baht; sincerely apologize the the extra zero, which with no value itself, still can change a lot in other's value...

[OneeyedJohn]

I said to my missus the other day, fancy a beach holiday, they're really cheap now, she nearly wet herself.

[PoorSucker]

2 hours ago, OneeyedJohn said:

I said to my missus the other day, fancy a beach holiday, they're really cheap now, she nearly wet herself.

Here's a good deal, Hacienda Fisherman's Village, 900 baht down from 5000 baht.