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

[mancub]

5 hours ago, Daithi85 said:

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.

'Set prices' doesn't stop some from trying it on, however ! Applies to number of Bangkok taxi operators also.

[aussiexpat]

4 minutes ago, VenturaAce said:

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. 

Yep, TAT started with SHA, then SHA+ and now it's SHA ++ to sort this problem. All with higher costs of compliance being passed on to us of course

 

Stands by for SHA+++ coming soon before we're allowed a beer at 200 baht each ????

Edited November 23, 2021 by aussiexpat

[Daithi85]

Just now, mancub said:

'Set prices' doesn't stop some from trying it on, however ! Applies to number of Bangkok taxi operators also.

I agree with you 100 percent, but what the other guy says is 100 untrue. 

[johng]

17 minutes ago, ChrisKC said:

They might be served with slander or libel if they do it here!

Not might  they most certainly would be. ????

[frankie machine]

gee, i must say that in my 13 trips to thailand, i did encounter a couple of honest hotel operators.  

[wensiensheng]

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

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...

To be fair, Thais cheat Thais just as much, but tourists are easier marks and have more money to lose.

[ronster]

21 minutes ago, VenturaAce said:

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. 

Seen this on Koh samui already . Places have went from everything included for 20000bht a month to 30/40000 a month with bills added .

Cars now 40000bht a month to rent from 20/25000 before and also guests that had pre booked and paid for 3-6 months at a certain rate with resorts now getting asked to leave so the resort can advertise the place for much higher rates than the guest paid . Despite the fact the place is still quiet ! 

[Spock]

46 minutes ago, Bruno123 said:

 

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

For me, 3040B is an expensive hotel. Maybe not so for the hiso foreigners who have money to burn on accommodation.

[bougnat]

Scamming foreigners with double pricing was fully legalized by a constitutional court last October. Can this country go lower? in any case he makes a lot of efforts for that.

 

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

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

Sharp practices are soon found in Thailand, usually as soon as the doors open at airport arrivals.

[Skeptic7]

Headline could just as easily been "Deceitful Thailand Letting Everyone Down". Government, hotels, hospitals, taxis, attractions, street vendors and the beat goes on.. 

 

Typically Thailand. 

[scorecard]

6 hours ago, RandolphGB said:

Thais will be Thais. 
 

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.  

And the various authorities who should have / could have stopped this activity decades ago and didn't will continue to do nothing and keep their pocket money rolling in.  

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

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

The problem being  a greenhorn doesn't know the going rate for something... taxi-ride, drink, meal at a cafe etc etc.

Unscrupulous Thais will take advantage of a "pinky" if possible.

[simple1]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

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.

Agoda terms of use...

 

https://www.agoda.com/info/termsofuse.html?cid=1844104

[Jack Cook]

Seriously. Old habits die hard. They’ve had no Farangs to fleece for a couple of years so in true Thai style they will

ramp it up for all its worth. Won’t be worth going back until at least June, if ever.

[RandolphGB]

6 hours ago, Daithi85 said:

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.

1) There's no such thing  in Thailand as a 'set price', especially not for taxis

2) Motorcycle rental was double that

3) Yes, that's what they asked for five minute journey

 

As I said, Thais see tourists returning and dollar signs light up in their eyes. Taxis in Bangkok are up to the same tricks again. 

[Caldera]

It was always a given that the scams will return faster than the tourists, to make up for lost income. Sad really. 

[Harveyboy]

7 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.  

never going to change they learn it from a young age...

Edited November 23, 2021 by onthedarkside
derogatory comment removed

[kuzmabruk]

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

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. 

Most expats in Thailand who are not employed, came here for warmth and a little pussy along with affordable rent and food.   I don’t understand why, in this forum, people complain so much.   I have 24 years in country and nothing has changed.   Prices have gone up and the girls are fatter but the Thai people remain the same - predominantly uneducated farmer types with zero knowledge of the outside world and zero business sense.  But the immigration department and transportation systems have both improved dramatically.   Love the ignorance and the weather and food that comes it.   Happy as hell where I am and why aren’t you?   Maybe because you have spent your life whining like a little bi+ch.  

[Joules]

I just had to book a room for a few days in BKK.  I noticed that several properties had "Sheets and towels, extra charge" in the fine print.  <deleted>?

[kuzmabruk]

Scamming is a genetic trait of the human race.  It is up to the buyer to confirm everything before commencing a transaction.   Sort of like checking the menu to see if service charges are automatically added or not.  Whether water is complimentary or not.  Whether you have to return the rental car or bike with a full tank.

Edited November 23, 2021 by onthedarkside
flame comment removed

[Millcx]

6 hours 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.

Country Open Scam

[The Hammer2021]

7 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.  

They have earned nothing during the pandemic. You have learned nothing

[koratkarlos]

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

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

This may be in the end the biggest issue of all.  I have seen the SHA+ manicured, sterlized, overpriced and boring advertising pleading to the wealthy tourists.  Not for me.  I miss the spontaneous, fun, unpredictable, real, affordable Thai experience which is being buried by over regulation, false claims and sanitized empty promises.  Once the word gets back to Farangland I am not so sure any tourists will come.

[Surasak]

2 hours ago, outsider said:

 

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?

 

"Also, when your politicians say Thailand is 'open', did they understand what 'open' means?"

When is a door not a door? When its ajar.

[onthedarkside]

A pair of posts making derogatory comments on Thais in general and Thai culture have been removed.

 

Criticizing or calling out wrong-doers is one thing. Attributing those bad practices to an entire country or nationality is something else.

 

Please see the following forum rule:

 

"You will not post slurs, degrading or overly negative comments directed towards Thailand, specific locations, Thai institutions such as the judicial or law enforcement system, Thai culture, Thai people or any other group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation."

[The Hammer2021]

3 minutes ago, koratkarlos said:

This may be in the end the biggest issue of all.  I have seen the SHA+ manicured, sterlized, overpriced and boring advertising pleading to the wealthy tourists.  Not for me.  I miss the spontaneous, fun, unpredictable, real, affordable Thai experience which is being buried by over regulation, false claims and sanitized empty promises.  Once the word gets back to Farangland I am not so sure any tourists will come.

Dreadful government

[sandyf]

 

When I applied for COE I had to book to book and pay for 15 days quarantine in line with government regulations which I did through Agoda.

By the time I arrived in Thailand the regulations had changed and I was only required to do 7 days quarantine but Agoda were only prepared to refund 4 of the 8 days difference.

Had quarantine increased rather than decreased would there have been an additional charge of 4 days or 8?

I was scammed by an American owned company so I would certainly agree that scamming is not a Thai trait.

Edited November 23, 2021 by onthedarkside
quote of hidden post removed

[richard_smith237]

This happened to me... 

 

I booked Radisson (Ratchada) as an SHA+ booking....   (fully refundable up to the day before)

I e-mailed them asking about the PCR test and Airport Transfer. 

 

They did not reply. 

 

They replied on the Check-In date that they did not do PCR tests or Airport Transfers. 

 

I’d already re-booked a Plan B. 

 

But....  With all the hassle with Thailand Pass I’d forgotten I’d made that booking.

Agoda gave me a full refund because I contacted the hotel through them and the hotel did not respond. 

Additionally, after I’d booked the hotel changed their classification on Agoda from SHA+ to just SHA.

 

 

I thought it was either very cheeky or an innocent coincidental mistake that the hotel didn’t respond to my questions for 10 days until the day of arrival when theoretically it was too late to cancel. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mayhem11]

Went to Kamala Beach last week. A Grab from our hotel to the town, a distance of 3 km, cost ฿360.00. A taxi charged ฿200.00.