Ok...so here’s the deal.  Pics to follow.
 

As the government has been mulling doing something like the “We Travel Together” promotion for foreigners, I figured I would have my girlfriend book a trip for us under the Thai promotion just to see what kind of deal I could muster up.

 

Let me tell you....I got the best travel deal of my life. 
 

I usually don’t stay in 4+ star hotels as 3 star (like Ibis) are usually nice enough.  But here’s what I got...straight to the details.

 

5 night stay (the maximum allowed under the program) at the Dusit D2 in Aonang, Krabi.  
 

The hotels promotional price was 2k per night for a “Deluxe King Room” including breakfast and a 600 baht daily voucher good for dinner (5pm-9:30pm) at their restaurant Rakhang-Thai.  Drinks are not included in the discount.  The government paid 40% so the final bill for The room, breakfast and ฿3000 worth of vouchers for the restaurant came to ฿6000 (all taxes included).

 

It gets even better.  On top of the hotel discount at the restaurant, the government....through their incredibly confusing payment app...paid 40% of the already discounted bill (up to a maximum of ฿600 on weekends and ฿900 on weekdays).  So...if you buy dinner and the total is ฿1000, the hotel knocks off ฿600 and then the government pays ฿160 of the final ฿400 leaving you with a grand total of ฿260 owed.  Nice.   So...for ฿628 (All inclusive), my gf and I had some pretty nice Australian Tenderloins.  I couldn’t have cooked them at home for that price.

 

Now...here is the downside.   This place is a ghost town.  As much as the Pollyannas on the forum try to discount the economic devastation...here, in Aonang...it’s for real.  Walking the length of the tourist area from Dusit...across the main waterfront and then up the street leading away from the water at the other end...I would estimate that 90-95% of everything is closed.  The restaurants on the water (at the north end of the waterfront) had only one remaining place.  One of the nicer seafood places was selling 30-50 baht Thai food to the locals (no customers).  It would be easier to list what’s open than what’s closed.  Even both of the McDonalds have shut down.  Strangely enough, the Haagen Dazs Ice cream place was open.  Other than pharmacies, 7-11s (even one of those was shut), Family mart and another mom-n-pop minimart...a handful of t-shirt/souvenir places and perhaps fewer than a dozen restaurants (including 1 of the 2 Burger Kings, Black Canyon, Subway, Pizza Company and Starbucks) ,3 bars a couple tour desks and 2 massage shops...it’s dead.

 

Not sure what to think of it all.  It’s almost like I have the whole town to myself.  Peaceful...but eerily so.

 

Anyhow, here’s the promised pics (including a view from the room and a gratuitous food pic)

 

 
 

 

 

Yep, that's scary ....... need some chips with that steak.

Nice!  Thank you for sharing...always love the pics!  ????

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Yep, that's scary ....... need some chips with that steak.

The mashed potatoes were pretty good.  Needed more veggies though.  Still...I can’t believe the deal I’m getting.  Might hang out here for a while.

Problem is it's for Thai's only, you will have to sleep on

the beach,while your girlfriend will be having the room

and the food.they are not going to let a Farang in when

the Government is footing half the bill.

regards worgeordie

That town is almost scary looking, no one around at all.

10 minutes ago, Maha Sarakham said:

That town is almost scary looking, no one around at all.

Yeah, like Mahasarakham with a beach. 

2 minutes ago, JeffersLos said:

Yeah, like Mahasarakham with a beach. 

Pretty much!  There is a reason I don't live there ????

1 hour ago, worgeordie said:

Problem is it's for Thai's only, you will have to sleep on

the beach,while your girlfriend will be having the room

and the food.they are not going to let a Farang in when

the Government is footing half the bill.

regards worgeordie

 

He was talking past tense... it would appear that ’they’ (as a couple) received the Thai Promotion of 40% discount based on his GF being Thai. 

 

I get your point though. Given the dual pricing we see in Thailand I wonder at what point the hotels will state its for Thai/Thai couples (families) and not Thai/Foreign. 

 

2 hours ago, Airalee said:

As the government has been mulling doing something like the “We Travel Together” promotion for foreigners, I figured I would have my girlfriend book a trip for us under the Thai promotion just to see what kind of deal I could muster up.

 

 

Look what your missing in Clacton UK

 

Tescos caff 50% off for August    Clacton

T

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

He was talking past tense... it would appear that ’they’ (as a couple) received the Thai Promotion of 40% discount based on his GF being Thai. 

 

I get your point though. Given the dual pricing we see in Thailand I wonder at what point the hotels will state its for Thai/Thai couples (families) and not Thai/Foreign. 

 

 

I’ve seen 4 Thai/farang couples already and only two groups of Thais.  The hotel already assured me that it was okay when I asked if it was legitimate for us to use the promotion.  I doubt the hotels would start turning Foreigners with Thai wives/girlfriends away and I doubt the government would have any problem with it either, but well...logic doesn’t always seem to apply here.
 

Right now, with as empty as the hotels/restaurants are, and as underutilized the tours (snorkeling/island hopping/etc), I believe that the government would get quite the backlash if they were to deny Thai/foreign couples.  What’s a guy supposed to do?  Send his wife/girlfriend on holiday alone?  That’s not gonna happen.  I also wouldn’t doubt that the push for them to include Foreigners Is so that Foreigners without a Thai significant other can start touring the country and doing what little they can do (individually) to help their host country in whatever way possible.
 

Somebody has to spend money here and with the borders closed, it might as well be the expats still here.  The Thais in Aonang say that Thais are only here on weekends and that they go days without a customer on weekdays.  
 

Dusit even has a “foreign resident” package for foreigners only (with ID cards/drivers license/work permits/etc) which is pretty close to the same price.

Edited August 9, 20205 yr by Airalee

2 hours ago, Maha Sarakham said:

That town is almost scary looking, no one around at all.

It’s quite the post apocalyptic scene here, for sure.  They need all the help they can get.

6 minutes ago, Airalee said:

It’s quite the post apocalyptic scene here, for sure.

Nowhere globally is untouched.  Some locations reveal all in stark reality, that's all.