How is Patong these days?

[Baron Samedi]

Hi guys,

Just trying to figure out how things are in Patong right now.

Tourism, nightlife, prices, etc...

Hotels are pretty cheap on Agoda right now eventhough high season is starting.

So I was wondering...

Thanks for sharing your views on the current state of affairs ????

[MrJ2U]

Lots of rain in October and the seas can be not as clear or calm because of weather.

 

School holidays next month.  Everything gets expensive. 

 

Prices are reasonable and its busier than the last two or three years.

 

For a little extra try to book something on or close to the beach.

 

You mentioned Agoda.  Maybe get an idea but you'll be better off booking directly with the hotel.  Especially if you need to make changes and there more inclined to give the better rooms to people who book directly through the hotel. 

 

Four Points by Sheraton is directly opposite the beach and has a great breakfast.

 

Theres definitely cheaper options!!

 

Amazing it was like 2,000 baht last year,  but of course it was COVID-19 and barely any tourists. 

 

If you do, sign up for Marriott its free. You'll get points and perhaps a free upgrade. 

 

a 

 

[Deli]

I'm loving it. Would love it even much more without the masses of Indians. Be prepared, they always stanx where you you don't want them to stand.

[Tropposurfer]

Its still very quiet. Go back to 2nd or 3rd road and is dead.

Oceans not as nice (and more dangerous) this time of year (May to October).

 

[DFPhuket]

You mentioned nightlife and it's pretty much like it was before Covid on Bangla road. But for the rest of Phuket, it is quiet.

 

I'm friends with one of the big international chains on the beach road and occupancy is about 35% now, but looking better (almost good) starting in November. It's the rainy season so rates are always lower, but in pre Covid days that hotel would expect about 75% occupancy this month. 

 

I agree with the earlier poster than it's good to look on the hotel sites, but booking directly with the hotel is better. In the unusual case where you find a cheaper rate (after clicking all the way to the final booking page) than on the hotel site, email the hotel and ask if they will meet it. Since they don't have to pay a commission if you book direct, they usually will offer a better rate. 

[xylophone]

18 hours ago, Baron Samedi said:

Hi guys,

Just trying to figure out how things are in Patong right now.

Tourism, nightlife, prices, etc...

Hotels are pretty cheap on Agoda right now eventhough high season is starting.

So I was wondering...

Thanks for sharing your views on the current state of affairs

The other posters here give a fairly good indication of how Patong is faring right now, and I also post quite regularly on a thread here called: Patong – the Wake, so you might want to look at that and see if you can pick up some info.

[zzzzz]

16 hours ago, DFPhuket said:

You mentioned nightlife and it's pretty much like it was before Covid on Bangla road. But for the rest of Phuket, it is quiet.

 

I'm friends with one of the big international chains on the beach road and occupancy is about 35% now, but looking better (almost good) starting in November. It's the rainy season so rates are always lower, but in pre Covid days that hotel would expect about 75% occupancy this month. 

 

I agree with the earlier poster than it's good to look on the hotel sites, but booking directly with the hotel is better. In the unusual case where you find a cheaper rate (after clicking all the way to the final booking page) than on the hotel site, email the hotel and ask if they will meet it. Since they don't have to pay a commission if you book direct, they usually will offer a better rate. 

Hotels CAN NOT offer a lower price online than the price that you get on any booking site> it is in violation of their agreement. 
if they did they would be kicked OFF the booking site
sometimes, not often, you can get a better rate booking direct.
Many times people find that they walk in, get a price which is higher than agoda lets say an ask to get that price and are refused, so you use the hotels wifi and book via agoda an all is good  ????

 

[KhunLA]

6 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

Hotels CAN NOT offer a lower price online than the price that you get on any booking site> it is in violation of their agreement. 
if they did they would be kicked OFF the booking site
sometimes, not often, you can get a better rate booking direct.
Many times people find that they walk in, get a price which is higher than agoda lets say an ask to get that price and are refused, so you use the hotels wifi and book via agoda an all is good  ????

 

Wife usually gets a better price when calling direct.  I rarely use booking sites, except as a reference tool.

 

If not a better price, then can reserve without prepayment.

[HighPriority]

19 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

Hotels CAN NOT offer a lower price online than the price that you get on any booking site> it is in violation of their agreement. 
if they did they would be kicked OFF the booking site
sometimes, not often, you can get a better rate booking direct.
Many times people find that they walk in, get a price which is higher than agoda lets say an ask to get that price and are refused, so you use the hotels wifi and book via agoda an all is good  ????

 

My experience also.

Other times they don’t want to make a booking in person (Patong, seriously !) and ask you to book online. ????????‍♂️

Edited September 23, 2022 by HighPriority
Additional information was added to enhance my previous information ????

[DFPhuket]

3 hours ago, zzzzz said:

Hotels CAN NOT offer a lower price online than the price that you get on any booking site> it is in violation of their agreement. 

I was curious about this since it has not been my experience. I just did a comparison of Agoda, hotels.com and the official hotel websites for an Oct 17-25 stay (7 nights), choosing a king room, with a cancellable rate (varied between 1 and 7 days before arrival) at three major hotels on Patong beach. In each case, the hotel site was cheaper. The cheapest rate was obtained if you signed up for their points program (free). I've attached a summary. 

 

[Baron Samedi]

There are so many different configurations to book anyway.

 

I always book through Agoda with a Wise card and that gives me a 6% discount on my rooms on top of all the other discounts that the site offers (long stay discount, flash sales...). You end up with a price that is difficult to beat.

 

Now some places aren't on Agoda or Booking etc... And it's true that you can get some great deal with them. I've seen rooms with a monthly rent of 4000-5000THB. At that price the only thing you gonna find on Agoda are dorms.

 

So it really depends on how you wanna play your cards.

[sharksy]

I recently did all the Hiltons (3) in Phuket, travelling around.  First night or 2 I booked with Expedia, but Hilton Honors was always cheaper and claimed to refund double the difference if cheaper elsewhere.

Other hotels, sometimes it was cheaper on Expedia, other times cheaper telephoning them.  Don't think there is a hard and fast rule.

[BaanOz]

On 9/22/2022 at 1:34 AM, Deli said:

I'm loving it. Would love it even much more without the masses of Indians. Be prepared, they always stanx where you you don't want them to stand.

Haha interesting you say this.
 

My Thai wife was complaining so many Nepalese and Burmese trying to lure us into Thai restaurants. Found Thais doing the cooking but guess they are better value out the front?

One other comment, we noticed is many old chooks in Bangla now ????
Not too many younger girls.

[jak2002003]

12 minutes ago, BaanOz said:

Haha interesting you say this.
 

My Thai wife was complaining so many Nepalese and Burmese trying to lure us into Thai restaurants. Found Thais doing the cooking but guess they are better value out the front?

One other comment, we noticed is many old chooks in Bangla now ????
Not too many younger girls.

Your 'Thai wife' sounds racist. 

 

What about you other wife?

 

Why do people have to say 'Thai wife' instead of just 'wife' anyway.  

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, BaanOz said:

One other comment, we noticed is many old chooks in Bangla now ????
Not too many younger girls.

Interesting that you should say this, because a friend of mine who has just returned to Patong, and who split up with his long-term girlfriend a while ago, has been on the lookout for an attractive "potential" girlfriend, and as per the old US movie stars name, he has had "Slim Pickens", saying that even if he went for a massage, he isn't tempted because too many oldies/wrinklies sitting outside of the parlours, and he's not that desperate!!!!

[London Lowf]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

Interesting that you should say this, because a friend of mine who has just returned to Patong, and who split up with his long-term girlfriend a while ago, has been on the lookout for an attractive "potential" girlfriend, and as per the old US movie stars name, he has had "Slim Pickens", saying that even if he went for a massage, he isn't tempted because too many oldies/wrinklies sitting outside of the parlours, and he's not that desperate!!!!

Got back to Phuket last Sunday and the rain finally eased off enough to ride in to Patong last night.

 

The beach road parking was reasonably busy (compared with last March) and there were plenty of people milling around on Bangla at 10pm, but very few in the bars - although that did improve at around midnight.

 

It was good to see the girls back dancing (sort-of) on the bars but the standards were generally poor - even the usually choosy Bar Funk only had one reasonably hottie on display while the other girl was barely average.

 

I think the girlie scene is increasingly moving online and, although there were a few ladydrinks being bought, I saw no evidence of any takeaway business from the bars during my three hour visit.

 

I have been a little disappointed to note that every bar that I have visited in Kamala and Bangla has increased their beer prices by B10 - not a deal breaker but I thought that I had left 10%-plus inflation back in Blighty ????

Edited October 22, 2022 by London Lowf

[zzzzz]

Quote

....I have been a little disappointed to note that every bar that I have visited in Kamala and Bangla has increased their beer prices by B10 - not a deal breaker but I thought that I had left 10%-plus inflation back in Blighty

beer up 10 baht
the baht up from 32 to 38/$ since Feb and ur complaining  
i feel for ya

Edited October 22, 2022 by zzzzz

[BaanOz]

4 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Your 'Thai wife' sounds racist. 

 

What about you other wife?

 

Why do people have to say 'Thai wife' instead of just 'wife' anyway.  

Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.

I said Thai wife as she speaks Thai fluently and those I mentioned could not and she was wary of eating there.

Later we had enough looking for a place and found at the one we chose were Thai cooks.

BTW been married to the same amazing wife for 30 years ????
 

[BaanOz]

2 hours ago, London Lowf said:

I have been a little disappointed to note that every bar that I have visited in Kamala and Bangla has increased their beer prices by B10 - not a deal breaker but I thought that I had left 10%-plus inflation back in Blighty ????

Cheapest I found on Bangla was B69 (haha) in a bar a few back from Kangaroo. Other cheapies had it for B79 or 5 for B400.

[BaanOz]

On 9/23/2022 at 5:05 AM, DFPhuket said:

I was curious about this since it has not been my experience. I just did a comparison of Agoda, hotels.com and the official hotel websites for an Oct 17-25 stay (7 nights), choosing a king room, with a cancellable rate (varied between 1 and 7 days before arrival) at three major hotels on Patong beach. In each case, the hotel site was cheaper. The cheapest rate was obtained if you signed up for their points program (free). I've attached a summary. 

 

Got a deal this week (thru to Oct 31) on the Holiday Inn Resort site for B2500 a night total, standard room 2 nights min. Must book 3 days in advance.

Edited October 22, 2022 by BaanOz

[London Lowf]

2 hours ago, zzzzz said:

beer up 10 baht
the baht up from 32 to 38/$ since Feb and ur complaining  
i feel for ya

I appreciate your sympathy, but it was more of an irritation than a complaint - it's still a little cheaper than back home, albeit far less enjoyable.

 

The Baht is now 42.30 compared to 44.50 a year ago - another irritation!

 

My pension fund has also dropped about 5% in the last month thanks to the (lack of a) British government - oh well!

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by London Lowf