Billionaire hotel tycoon Bill Heinecke asks Thailand to charge foreigners more per room to aid industry’s economic recovery

[snoop1130]

PHOTO: Skift

 

American-Thai billionaire and hotel tycoon Bill Heinecke advises Thailand to charge international tourists an extra 300 baht (US$8) per room per night to aid the hotel industry’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

 

Heinecke wrote in his open letter addressed to Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha that a surcharge, “will help Thailand’s hospitality sector survive this difficult environment of depressed demand and rising costs.”

 

The hotels needed to charge more because the tourism industry is dealing with high inflation and rising costs of raw materials, wages, energy, and fuel prices, said Heinecke who chairs Minor International Pcl, which runs more than 500 hotels worldwide.

 

Full Story: https://thepattayanews.com/2022/11/09/billionaire-hotel-tycoon-bill-heinecke-asks-thailand-to-charge-foreigners-more-per-room-to-aid-industrys-economic-recovery/

 

-- © Copyright The Pattaya News 2022-11-09

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Monthly car subscription with first-class insurance, 24x7 assistance and more in one price - click here to find out more!

[pomchop]

if you are a billionaire you can spend one dollar per second for 31 years....maybe mr billionaire should donate a few of his millions to assist the travel industry that was a big part of making him wealthy.

[ThailandRyan]

He wants another couple of billion in his pocket it seems.

[nigelforbes]

Sad, he should know better than to propagate two tier pricing.

[Pouatchee]

sycophant

[JayClay]

Lol.. Isn't this the same guy who thought that now is not an appropriate time for a tourist tax on flights?

[Orinoco]

Wingnut, I'm alright jack. type of guy.

[worgeordie]

Plus don't pass any of the increase onto the staff , keep it all .

regards worgeordie

[RandiRona]

How about not selling any room less than $100?? Let’s demolish this together!!!

[Theyreallrubbish]

He wants to charge an extra $8 and doesnt want his competitors being able to undercut him and take his customers.  He doesnt want to compete fairly with other operators who are more efficient and better managed and dont need an extra $8 per room to cover their costs.  Instead he wants the government to force them to lose their competitive advantage

 

Another 'capitalist' asking for the government to benefit him at the expense of everyone else.

 

 

[soi3eddie]

If Mr Heinecke thinks that hotels need to charge more then surely they will. Hotel pricing is driven by costs and the market (supply/demand). No artificial support needed to generate more profits for him! Is he saying publicly that there should be dual pricing for foreigners? This is just plain wrong and will backfire on him and the country if they pander to his greedy non-sense. Especially when everything needs to be done to attract travellers in this recession. If I knew which hotels he's involved with, I would surely boycott them.

 

[josephbloggs]

1 minute ago, Theyreallrubbish said:

He wants to charge an extra $8 and doesnt want his competitors being able to undercut him and take his customers.  He doesnt want to compete fairly with other operators who are more efficient and better managed and dont need an extra $8 per room to cover their costs.  Instead he wants the government to force them to lose their competitive advantage

 

Another 'capitalist' asking for the government to benefit him at the expense of everyone else.

 

 

Agree,  Supply and demand. There is absolutely nothing stopping him from putting up his prices by 300 baht a night. If others chose not to it is up to them - you can't force that on the entire industry.

He just lost a lot of my respect with this request.

[engamann]

????????????

[LomSak27]

A man who knows what he has to say and who to say it to. It does not matter if it sounds ridiculous or not. After all this is the man who took his 116 Pizza Hut restaurants and rebranded them overnight into The Pizza Company after a "dispute" with the parent company.  Not easy and according to some, the real reason he eventually renounced  US citizenship and became a citizen of Thailand. 

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, soi3eddie said:

If I knew which hotels he's involved with, I would surely boycott them.

It's not that difficult to identify the businesses of a public company.  But, if you don't know which are his hotels the chances are that you don't use them so the loss of your non-existent business wouldn't exactly be catastrophic to his group.

[kinyara]

Lol, as if his potential customers are immune to rising inflation and increased costs.

[Bluespunk]

**** that.

[jaywalker2]

More proof, if any were needed, that in Thailand (as elsewhere) brains and excessive wealth do not necessarily go together.

[Rhys]

How profound... playing with other people's money..

 

[Lacessit]

Poor guy, perhaps he is down to his last Lamborghini.

How did he get to be so rich with such a dumb proposition? Inheritance?

[daveAustin]

Go and do one grandad, and while you’re at it perhaps spend some of your billions to prop up the ‘struggling’ hotel industry… leave the little man out of it! Yeah, thought so. Donkey!

[sscc]

1 hour ago, jaywalker2 said:

More proof, if any were needed, that in Thailand (as elsewhere) brains and excessive wealth do not necessarily go together.

This man is American-Thai.   

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

American-Thai billionaire and hotel tycoon Bill Heinecke advises Thailand to charge international tourists an extra 300 baht (US$8) per room per night

I wouldn't be happy having to pay 600 Baht for a room , I don't think that I'd bother going 

[rasmus5150]

8$ extra??..??..

Seems like he has copied Elon Musk's price strategy from Twitter.

 

Unfortunately Thailands normal strategy to cope with loss/less customers, is raise the prices, and hope that nobody will notice.

[johnhender]

Everyone loves capitalism till they are the victim - Maybe some of these hotel should up their standards and act like they actually care about the guests- instead of seeing everyone as a walking Baht there for them to extract everything they can get out of them How about some actual service, Upkeep of the hotel, and decent buffets - They want the money but don't want to put in the work- and yes I know about Hotels one of my. clients runs the largest chain in the world and they do that by being great at their job and putting the guest satisfaction first and the money follows . Anytime I go to a hotel in Bangkok. it is a crapshoot because there is no consistency, they never learn anything nor do they want to learn unless it is from another thai - Us dumb Americans know nothing 

I am so tired of billionaire crying they are poor-that extra charge will go right into his greedy pockets. Trickle down economics is BS - Don't <deleted> on me and tell it is raining 

[paul545]

Easy to find out which hotels and businesses he’s involved in. Google him and look at Wikipedia.

[2baht]

6 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

I wouldn't be happy having to pay 600 Baht for a room , I don't think that I'd bother going 

There's plenty of bridges you can sleep under for free!

[Barber]

Fantastic idea, put up the hotel prices, I mean the flights have already gone up to 3 times the normal rate, on my last visit last month I noticed that the beer and food prices had increased..

I don’t think Mr billionaire will be making any extra money, as very few people will be able to afford to go to Thailand for a holiday. With the avage flight going from £500 to £1300/ £1900.

[Tom89]

Which hotels does he own? I'll make a point of never staying there.

[Dialemco]

Can't believe that a hotel billionaire is asking the Government to place a tax on his hotels accomodation perhaps his smile means he is joking if not he can always surcharge his accomodation and pay the surcharge to Government coffers or charity. Giod Luck