Phuket Restaurant Prices - Dual Pricing

[portlandtree]

16 hours ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

fool me once shame on you--fool me 2x

 

When this happens i pay the bill and leave

 

then write a review on google maps-----that review is forever....call it karma

555 bad review? They will sue you for defamation, better way dual pricing ahh no problem drink a lots of water at the end find a good  place in the restaurant then stick your finger down your throat and say take your high priced trash back.  Hey it was an accident or claim food poisoning then sue them 

[digger70]

23 hours ago, Don Dunkelblum said:

Dual pricing has been approved by Thai courts as legitimate:

 

If this is true, it is allowed to discriminate in Thailand.

I might be wrong but I thought there are laws against this. 

 

Anyone knows if this is happening as well in Cambodia?

Maybe time to make a move.

There are laws against Many things here in Thailand but are they adhered? 

We all know the answer to that .

Most of them aren't . Don't get ripped of .Ask for prices first before you order And /or before entering  some places.

[KhunLA]

2 hours ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Not sure where you are from, but plenty of dual pricing in USA -- you are just more accustomed to it there...

 

I would expect that in Phuket they pay high rents and land costs, so prices will be higher than the soup in my village where the lady has a couple of picnic tables outside her home. 

I've never seen dual pricing in the USA.  Seen discounts for locals, and justified, more for repeat visits.

 

And higher prices ... across the board ... for higher overheard, that's not dual pricing.  Charged different because of race and or nationality, that just ain't right.  I'll usually avoid such places, or do a work around.

[carabaothai]

1 hour ago, TigerandDog said:

only 99.8% accurate. If you have a pink ID card you pay Thai prices, if aged 60 or over entry is free. That's been my experience over the 8 years I've lived here.

I have a pink card, I am over 60 and I paid 400 thb the entry at Maya Bay last month! When my wife paid 40 ????????

And a Thai friend, over 60, paid 0 THB ????????????????

Free for him and 10x the thai price for me ????????????????

[thailand49]

Inflation, confirm the the courts you can more more because you are better off, then you are in tourist area number 1, rent is high,  to keep the Sand box clean it cost money plus you eating over a cliff views are expensive. 

[Doctor Tom]

Over the years, I have found Phuket to be the center of rip off land, far worse than Bangkok and that is bad enough.  I stopped going to the place 10 years ago and I don't see myself ever being subjected to that place  and its people any time soon. 

[Doctor Tom]

38 minutes ago, carabaothai said:

I have a pink card, I am over 60 and I paid 400 thb the entry at Maya Bay last month! When my wife paid 40 ????????

And a Thai friend, over 60, paid 0 THB ????????????????

Free for him and 10x the thai price for me ????????????????

Why go then? 

[KarenBravo]

3 hours ago, RocketDog said:

When dating my now wife I visited Phuket about 3 times.

I  still cannot understand the attraction for tourists except that it has an airport. Moreover, why Thai nationals would go there is a real mystery.

It's crowded, noisy, expensive, difficult to navigate, and the beaches crawling with so much flesh you can't see the sand. It rains and floods often and the power and water are sometimes off. One way on and off the island.

She suggested that I move from Cha-am to live with her there. I told her flatly that would never happen.

 

There is no accounting for tastes I suppose.

......and yet you still came three times.

[khunPer]

On 4/14/2022 at 11:13 AM, Banana7 said:

Phuket restaurant prices, especially in the Patong area, are very high compared to other tourist locations in Thailand. 2 weeks ago, in Patong beach, I paid 120 and 150 baht for a bowl of vegetable and pork soup, which normally costs 50 or 60 in Pattaya.

You pay for the location where you sit...????

 

A great mixed fruit shake can be 30 baht by a street vendor, a not as good mixed fruit shake easily costs 300 baht in a 5- or 6-star resort's beachfront café (I talk from multiple experience)...

 

The 4 Seasons-resort, in the area where I live, charge 1,200 baht for a cheeseburger in the coffee-shop - I presume that include french fries - you can have a number of excellent cheese burgers in other places for that kind of money...????

[Tradewind777]

I’ve not been back to Thailand for 2 years… I hated the xenophob attitude of many Thais I came across (in Phuket in particular). The behaviour expressed in this article and responses just make me sick and not to ever return .. they are stupid not to realise how off-putting their unfair practices are.

[LaosLover]

In the 80's I worked at The Bottom Line nightclub in New York (where Bruce Springsteen rocketed to fame from). They had separate menus in Japanese where everything costed quadruple. But when they were found out, they had to pay a fine and then stopped.

 

So yeah, it happens in tourist places all over the world, but Thailand is unique for giving it a wink.

[JimmyJ]

7 hours ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Not sure where you are from, but plenty of dual pricing in USA -- you are just more accustomed to it there...

False.

 

Unless you are referring to locals discounts - which are very rare.

And those are based on place of residence and applied regardless of skin color and appearance and language.

 

What Thailand does wirh dual pricing would be illegal in the US.

 

Even the National Parks in Thailand - in practice, based on all accounts I've read -  it is based on having an Asian appearance, not on being Thai.

Those with a Caucasian appearance pay much more.

[LaosLover]

I wouldn't mind the overcharge if you could see that it went to real upkeep of a park or historic site.

 

In India, visiting the Taj Mahal is expensive for a tourist, but it's a world class site, done up to death.  

 

If you go to Sukothai, they're basically just mowing the grass and then calling it a day.

[Don Dunkelblum]

9 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Just not true, food quality is the same (they use more peanuts and coconut milk in Cambodia, less chilli's). I had this nice curry in Siam Reap, with fresh bread rolls, if you have alcohol with your meal, Cambodia will be cheaper (sex on the beach $2). Although mostly I eat Indian food in Cambodia as they are good quality everywhere.

 

'sex on the beach - 2 USD' : wow, that must have been fantastic. Is that the reason why you roam South-East Asia? Any bargaining? Which beach was that?

It must have been one of your best days I can imagine.

[1FinickyOne]

8 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Seen discounts for locals,

Discounts for locals means not equal pricing... the reason or cause is unimportant... but I am ok w/things like paying a bit more to enter a national park while Thai can go for free or less... 

 

Seem to be lots of rationalizations on this forum when it hits their pocket... 

 

I am just glad I get to come and stay here w/such minimal effort - - others find the same conditions to be jumping through hoops, climbing Mt Everest... and I do not expect everything to be the same as in my home country... 

[KhunLA]

19 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Discounts for locals means not equal pricing... the reason or cause is unimportant... but I am ok w/things like paying a bit more to enter a national park while Thai can go for free or less... 

 

Seem to be lots of rationalizations on this forum when it hits their pocket... 

 

I am just glad I get to come and stay here w/such minimal effort - - others find the same conditions to be jumping through hoops, climbing Mt Everest... and I do not expect everything to be the same as in my home country... 

Discount for locals (USA) would be something like Disney, use to offer to FL folks, for repeat visits.  Good motivation, as seriously, how many times do you really want to visit in a year.  If you live local, once or twice of any tourist attraction is more than enough.  Same with 'memberships' for museums.

 

But Asian Floridians, aren't charged 2-5-10 times as much ... that's just wrong.

 

Local restaurant here gives a VIP card (for all) to local residents.  Good repeat business motivator.  No problem with those type of discounts. 

 

What's done in Thailand, to non Thais is just plain wrong.

More expensive medical service, expat surcharge ... W T F

 

National Parks

Museums

Amusement Parks

And we're not talking 10% ... 2 to 20 X the Thai price.

 

Welcome to Disney, that's $100 a day per person ... Oh wait, you're Thai, that's $200 for you

Welcome to our restaurant, here's the 'black' menu ... let the riot & looting begin ????

 

Most don't affect me, as don't do Nat Parks, most aren't worth the Thai price.

Museums & Amusement Parks also, and simply not worth Thai price,

or if free, I probably wouldn't bother unless really bored.

 

Just the principle of it, it's wrong.

[London Lowf]

7 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

Over the years, I have found Phuket to be the center of rip off land, far worse than Bangkok and that is bad enough.  I stopped going to the place 10 years ago and I don't see myself ever being subjected to that place  and its people any time soon. 

Maybe it's because I am English that I don't have a problem with Phuket - at home we have the nick-name "Rip-off Britain", and it's a name that we gave ourselves.

 

When I came to Kamala I paid B15,000 a month for a medium term one bedroom apartment with parking and a garden full of fruit trees, less than B5 a unit for electricity, B38 a litre to fill up the bike, and cheap local food and alcohol. A PYT was B2,000 and if I didn't want to ride back after some fun and a few beers there were dozens of perfectly acceptable rooms in Patong for B500 a night.

 

Compared to my home town on the "English Riviera" those prices are just plain silly and if it wasn't for family ties and health issues I would move to Thailand full-time.

 

I did go into the National Park at Layan at least three times a week and was never asked to pay - I don't think anyone (local or tourist) gets stopped apart from people that arrive in cars. Of course, if you are on an organised (tour then it's a different matter.

 

My biggest problem last visit was the amount of rain ????

 

 

[KhunLA]

No admission fee at Layan park

[Nemises]

Dual pricing happens in many countries across the world, as shown here. 
 

If you don’t like it, then don’t go to those countries. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Captain Monday]

I vowed never to visit Phuket again about 20 years ago. For the taxi mafia and some hostility from locals, but mainly because it was not a good value. National parks same. Solely as a result of the pandemic I flew direct to HKT in 2021 only for the Sandbox almost as soon as it opened. Stayed in Patong even and witnessed the grand scale of self-induced economic destruction.  

 

Don't feel the same way I did 20 years ago an Phuket has a lot to offer "international travelers from the region". What people do with their money is their own business. caveat emptor

[ThailandRyan]

One of the current issues is that many of these folks have had to live a less than money filled life and lived on handouts and the help of friends.  Once back in business and with tourists coming the goal is to make some of the money back quickly to refill their accounts and wait for the next slow times.  Even if it is not high season they see foreigners as being more well off than themselves and I am talking tourists not the local expats who live here.  

[sandyf]

10 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

Even the National Parks in Thailand - in practice, based on all accounts I've read -  it is based on having an Asian appearance, not on being Thai.

Those with a Caucasian appearance pay much more.

That is not true,  I have been to several that have had 3 prices, Thai, ASEAN and others.

I have also been into many places at the Thai price with pink card. 

Quite easy, if they don't accept the pink card I don't go in. Same in restaurants, my wife orders, in markets I only pay what is marked on the plastic bag.

Learn to live with it.

[KhunLA]

49 minutes ago, sandyf said:

That is not true,  I have been to several that have had 3 prices, Thai, ASEAN and others.

I have also been into many places at the Thai price with pink card. 

Quite easy, if they don't accept the pink card I don't go in. Same in restaurants, my wife orders, in markets I only pay what is marked on the plastic bag.

Learn to live with it.

Reality check ... me & wife don't walk together at fresh / local markets, locally or out & about.  If I see something I like, then I'll ask her to price it first.   I'm always a few paces ahead or behind her....nuff said.  

 

2 reasons really, 1-pricing, 2-she lingers.  I can do a whole mall, while she's still on 1 floor.

 

If I'm out by myself, I'll linger at a vendor and see what they charge a local, simply say I want the same, and always ask 'how much' in Thai.  Makes it hard to 'add on' to the price when they know I just saw a transaction.  It's not just the obvious things; parks, hosp & menus.

[WorriedNoodle]

Last time we went to Phuket (before the Tsunami), the dual pricing vs rest of country was already in your face. McD burgers even had higher prices, than the rest of the country. Never been back since.

[Doctor Tom]

7 hours ago, London Lowf said:

When I came to Kamala I paid B15,000 a month for a medium term one bedroom apartment

You can get a three bedroom house with a  garden for that price around me, or in Jomtein  and close to the sea if that is your thing.  Thats an outrageous price for one bed condo at that time, or any time. It rather proves the point, that  everything on Phuket seems to come with a premium attached to it that is not warranted. 

[BritManToo]

18 hours ago, TigerandDog said:

only 99.8% accurate. If you have a pink ID card you pay Thai prices, if aged 60 or over entry is free. That's been my experience over the 8 years I've lived here.

My favourite eating spot in CM, Huay Tung Tao lake, entry 20bht Thai, 50bht foreigner, over 60s free. But they won't offer you free entry (no signs up except 20bht/50bht), they ask for 50bht and you have to know over 60s is free entry.

[BritManToo]

37 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Reality check ... me & wife don't walk together at fresh / local markets, locally or out & about.  If I see something I like, then I'll ask her to price it first.   I'm always a few paces ahead or behind her....nuff said. 

Local markets, item not priced = no sale.

[KhunLA]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Local markets, item not priced = no sale.

Yes, big markets, especially tourist markets people always ask about, how to haggle ....

... if haggling is expected, you already paid to much, no matter how low they go.

 

I leave the 'fresh' veggies & meats to her.  I'll do the prepped, cooked, or pastries.  Usually marked, or I know by now how much things cost.  Anything else the markets have, I can get same place they do, LAZ ????

[BritManToo]

Just now, KhunLA said:

I leave the 'fresh' veggies & meats to her.

I bought some nice yellow mangoes 25bht/Kg, and deep fried chicken breast in breadcrumbs 5bht/piece from our local Thursday market. Everything in the market is priced. Don't eat veggies, wouldn't dare buy the rotting meat.

[KhunLA]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

I bought some nice yellow mangoes 25bht/Kg, and deep fried chicken breast in breadcrumbs 5bht/piece from our local Thursday market. Everything in the market is priced. Don't eat veggies, wouldn't dare buy the rotting meat.

That's what Makro is for.  Vendors here are pretty good, on not scamming.  Udon Thani was bad, way too many expats there, so lots of dual pricing at the huge night markets.