Thailand reopening: Deceitful hotels tricking tourists are "letting the country down and damaging its image"

[webfact]

Dr Apisamai Srirangsan. File photo

 

The CCSA spokeswoman Dr Apisamai Srirangsan has slammed deceitful hotels in Thailand who are utilizing sharp practices in an effort to get bookings. 

 

She has said that the actions of such hotels are letting Thailand down and damaging the image of the country in the wake of its reopening to foreign tourists that started on November 1st.

 

With 22 days gone the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration met with reps from pilot areas yesterday.

 

Some reported that hotels were only charging for rooms in the packages they advertised. Hidden charges for things like mandatory transfer from airports and ATK and RT-PCR test costs were not included. 

 

Tourists thus had a nasty shock when arriving that they had to pay more.

 

In addition if tourists tested positive for Covid or needed to change hotels they were finding they could not get refunds on their bookings. 

 

"These sharp practices, while admitting that they are only being done by a few hotels, are letting down the country and damaging our image," said Dr Apisamai. 

 

The comments were contained in a report by Naew Na that also reported that hotels in the pilot areas reported that many foreigners were not complying with mask wearing rules and gathering in groups for parties.

 

This has been reported elsewhere on ASEAN NOW today with officials reiterating that mask wearing is mandatory in most settings with fines up to 20,000 baht in place. 

 

Such comments have only added grist to the mill to people critical of the country with online comments saying that Thailand's reopening is little more than a sham. 

 

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[RandolphGB]

 

I went to Koh Larn a few weeks ago. The blue pickup truck wanted 600 baht to take two people to the next beach. 

Motorcycle taxi was asking the same amount. 
 

They have learned nothing from the pandemic. And those who were ripping people off before, will do the same again.  

[ThailandRyan]

Gotta make money somehow. Underhand sneakiness at its best to drain the walking Foreigner seen as nothing but an ATM.

[Orinoco]

Quote

letting Thailand down and damaging the image of the country

Situation normal then.

TIT.

[smedly]

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

The comments were contained in a report by Naew Na that also reported that hotels in the pilot areas reported that many foreigners were not complying with mask wearing rules and gathering in groups for parties.

Gathering in groups for parties ????

 

you told them Thailand was open when in fact in places like Pattaya very little is open, all it took was a few hundred extra tourists in town and certain places like TreeTown are crammed with people every night - there simply is no other place to go at night 

 

You cannot invite tourists to Thailand claiming it is open when it clearly isn't - it's a blatant lie and is now causing severe overcrowding in the limited palces that are open and clearly breaking existing rules 

 

something needs to change

[Daithi85]

6 hours ago, RandolphGB said:

 

I went to Koh Larn a few weeks ago. The blue pickup truck wanted 600 baht to take two people to the next beach. 

Motorcycle taxi was asking the same amount. 
 

They have learned nothing from the pandemic. And those who were ripping people off before, will do the same again.  

Really  are you sure??? That's strange because Im there 3 times a week and it's a set price , prices are on the board. Usually between 20 to 40 baht. Motorcycle rent start 150.baht for the day, so saying they are charging 600 just for a 5 minutes motorbike taxi is very hard to belive.

[Guderian]

What a weird article. It starts off as clickbait with a headline purportedly showing the authorities are on the side of foreigners being exploited by unscrupulous Thai businesses, yet no solution to the problem is mentioned so presumably nothing will be done about it other than a bit of moaning for show, no fines or enforcement measures are discussed. Then in no time at all, of course, we're back to complaints about foreigners in hotels not wearing face masks (sorry, I meant dirty foreigners) and how much they should be fined for such perfidy. If Thailand and/or Asean Now think that this kind of approach is going to win the hearts and minds of all those dirty foreigners thinking of a visit in the next few months, they really need to think again.

[tomazbodner]

43 minutes ago, webfact said:

The CCSA spokeswoman Dr Apisamai Srirangsan has slammed deceitful hotels in Thailand who are utilizing sharp practices in an effort to get bookings.

Darling, you're part of the government. Pass the law that stops these practices and heavily penalises them to the point it's no longer feasible for anyone to do it.

 

Stop whining and do something about it.

[John Drake]

Hotel scam

Limo scam

Covid Test scam

Insurance scam

 

Please check all the appropriate boxes to make sure your Thailand Pass is complete.

[ezzra]

Covid or no Covid, scamming tourists is an old tradition in this country and nothing has changed, not all are engaged in this ugly practices though but give a Thai half a chance to put the shifty on you and they will because for them we're fair game...

[clivebaxter]

22 minutes ago, John Drake said:

Hotel scam

Limo scam

Covid Test scam

Insurance scam

 

Please check all the appropriate boxes to make sure your Thailand Pass is complete.

Plus from Jan 500 baht arrival charge to go with the 800 baht total departure charge in your air ticket, why do tourists bother?

[grego49]

55 minutes ago, smedly said:

Gathering in groups for parties ????

 

you told them Thailand was open when in fact in places like Pattaya very little is open, all it took was a few hundred extra tourists in town and certain places like TreeTown are crammed with people every night - there simply is no other place to go at night 

 

You cannot invite tourists to Thailand claiming it is open when it clearly isn't - it's a blatant lie and is now causing severe overcrowding in the limited palces that are open and clearly breaking existing rules 

 

something needs to change

The government would be a good start,,,

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

Gathering in groups for parties ????

 

you told them Thailand was open when in fact in places like Pattaya very little is open, all it took was a few hundred extra tourists in town and certain places like TreeTown are crammed with people every night - there simply is no other place to go at night 

 

You cannot invite tourists to Thailand claiming it is open when it clearly isn't - it's a blatant lie and is now causing severe overcrowding in the limited palces that are open and clearly breaking existing rules 

 

something needs to change

Agreed, the change needs to start at the top - but don't hold your breath waiting.... 

 

[spidermike007]

What she does not seem to understand, like most of these goons, is that the image of Thailand has already been damaged, the timidity and lack of courage with regard to tourism has not helped, and it is likely the tourism industry will take many years to recover, if it ever does recover. 

 

They just keep forgetting. 

1. Thailand needs foreign tourism 100X more than tourists need Thailand. 

2. Thailand is NOT the center of the known universe. Thailand has been forgotten. 

3. Thailand is not the most desirable nation on earth. 

4. Thailand is not what it used to be. Alot of the character is disappearing. 

5. Thailand is run by idiotic and arrogant children, who have done nothing to fix the problems plaguing the nation long before Covid.

6. The confused and long muddled policy has turned off 99% of tourists. 

These are not appealing qualities. Weakness and childlike cowardice has it's price. 

[poskat]

 

FTFY

"letting the country down and reinforcing its image"

 

[tomacht8]

My friend, top earner, is the tourist TAT dreams of. He only books top hotels, visits the best seafood restaurants and spends a lot of money.

Now his girlfriend comes flown in. He booked a room for himself and his girlfriend for 4 nights for 3040 Baht per night. In addition, for the first night of quarantine a SHA + room in the same hotel for 11900 Baht including transfer and PCR.

 

Sure that he did the math for himself.

11900 - 3040 = 8860 Baht

room paid.

8860 - 2600 = 6260 Baht

PCR test paid

6260 - 700 = 5560 Baht

VIP transfer (BKK -Asoke)paid.

 

Now he asks himself for what service he paid the 5560 baht?

That's $ 170 US. additional expenditure without an additional, specified service. He takes it easy, but it sticks in the head of a tourist for a long time.

[SmartyMarty]

Are any of us really surprised by this?

[inThailand]

Just another day here but on steroids, to make up for the pandemic caused lost scamming revenue. 

[Boomer6969]

2 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

4 nights for 3040 Baht per night

Top hotel? ????

[outsider]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

"... only being done by a few hotels, are letting down the country and damaging our image," said Dr Apisamai. 

 

"... many foreigners were not complying with mask wearing rules and gathering in groups for parties."

 

Only done by a few hotels??? Even your politicians are in it, not just the hotels! The scamming and unfavourably targeting tourists and foreigners, that is.

 

As for 'many foreigners', how many is many? Also, when your politicians say Thailand is 'open', did they understand what 'open' means?

 

[internationalism]

out of 35 AQ hotels, only one send me their full policies and they were the best in comparison to all the other hotels.

Around half hotels did not reply to my enquiries.

 

There are multiple issues facing a tourist, which hotels might take advantage and deceive potential guests.

I was deceived by villa khaosan.

 

One is waiting time at the airport for transport to hotel or to hospital fos testing. Most claim, that their drivers are at standby at the airport. That is not true. Drivers might be anywhere in town and you need some 45 minutes waiting in a crowded arrival hall for them to arrive. Most of those drivers don't speak english, so that is another problem with finding them.

As same reported, hotels would rather send a minibus to pick up many guests, instead of individually picking them in sedan cars, for their own safety. Private transport is offered at cost. Some mentioned 1500b additional charge.

 

The second is waiting time for test. Some claim very short time 6-8h or even 4-6h, but in practise it's 18h, in some cases 28h (richard barrow experienced it himself). Even after the test is ready, hotel reception doesn't always inform about results. They try to keep their guests locked in and ordering overpriced food from their restaurants.

 

My breakfast was served at 10:30 am, but supposed to be served at 7am and was cooked earlier on or even the previous day and kept in the fridge. Such food is barely eatable. So only around time of check out they bring you food, after some 10-20h of fasting. They know very well, that guests are forced to buy their food.

 

Another are very harsh amend and cancellation policies. Some hotels need an amend minimum a week in advance and charge 1000b for each one.

Some need many weeks for cancellation. Most don't give refunds on cancellation, even if price included pcr test (2400b) and transport from the airport. Some only 50%. Some charge 3-10% operational fees.

That is becoming their clear additional profit.

 

That's probably only a tip of an iceberg what is happening with this project. 

Bet, that corruption money is involved, same as with ASQ and ALQ projects earlier on.

 

Thailand, hub of AQ scammers

[aussiexpat]

I didn't come when it was 14 days quarantine or 7 days, but when they said Thailand was opening back up I was really excited to return.

 

To see everything in Pattaya closed, masks mandatory everywhere, no groups allowed, no drinking except on the curb and huge fines for any offense. How is that open, in my country, that's a pretty serious Lockdown!

 

Add on all the well publicized scams for hotel, taxi and insurance

 

Return to 'Amazing Thailand' is just getting further and further away in my mind (only need to come back to sort my condo).

 

[cnx101]

Scammed as soon as touchdown, but this is normal here.

[daveAustin]

As much affection as I have for the place; regarding image, I’m afraid that horse bolted long ago. They’ve had a looong time to clean up their act and now is the time when Thailand NEEDS people. Tourism will never fully recover even if everything were completely open and there were no scams. 

[sandyf]

Agoda is an American owned company and for a long time have handled a significant portion of the quarantine premises.

If the Thai government raised the quarantine from 7 days to 15 days do you believe that Agoda would only charge another 4 days rather than the additional 8 days?

That is what they did to me in reverse, I had to initiate a chargeback for the difference.

[Bruno123]

27 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

Top hotel? ????

 

Why not? Does he need to spend 10k per night in order to impress you? How much do you spend per night?

[Xonax]

Thailand had all chances to make a new beginning, and make tourist feel welcome and not just wanted for their money. But the rotten eggs in the basket seems to still exist and is ruining it for all the good people, that was hoping for a new beginning.

[ChrisKC]

Well, who would have thought it?

 

Name and shame them - when they return home. They might be served with slander or libel if they do it here!

[MyFriend You]

30 minutes ago, aussiexpat said:

I didn't come when it was 14 days quarantine or 7 days, but when they said Thailand was opening back up I was ready to go once all my stuff was sorted.

 

To see everything in Pattaya closed, masks mandatory everywhere, no groups allowed, no drinking except on the curb and huge fines for any offense. How is that open, from my country, that's Lockdown!

 

My return date getting further and further away from coming back to the so called 'Amazing Thailand' (only need to come back to sort my condo).

 

Same here, same reason, C Ya When I C Ya I always say, may be sometime next summer the way things are going now.  It ain't worth the drama...........family will have to wait for their vacation from Vietnam to Pattaya till end of summer.

[VenturaAce]

I've been assured that the Thai tourist industry will try to recuperate its losses as fast as possible. The prices will be going up as there's fewer tourists around spending. It will be a money grab for sure.