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

[nigelforbes]

9 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

This "idea" was already made into law months ago.

I noticed last month, when I was looking at booking a room in Buriram in December, that some hotels already had dual pricing on their rooms.

And it wasn't "300 baht" more. It was 750 baht more. For every room type, for every date.

Luckily I found another place a couple hundred meters away that charged one price regardless of skin colour (and you can bet that is the determining factor most of the time.).

This is something other countries should reciprocate as well as the land ownership prohibition.

Make it a law that Thai citizens have to pay more to stay in hotels in other countries and are forbidden from buying land in those countries.

How long before the "elite" started howling for change ?

I do not agree that this was made into law! After the idea was first raised by the Tourism and Sports Minister in July and it first appeared in the media, the President of the Hotels Association came out and said it was a very  bad idea and it was dropped. And if it had been made into law as you say, why would Bill Heneke now be asking for it to be implemented!

Edited November 10, 2022 by nigelforbes

[Graham8888]

22 hours 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.

 

 

And this is the company that bought selfridges last year for 4 billion while struggling through the pandemic ?!

[internationalism]

just boycott all establishments of this pompous yellow shirt royalist water monitor.

He is more xenophobic than prayuth and anutin put together.

[ChaiyaTH]

I assume that many people, including myself, used to kind of look at him in a neutral or positive way. Also because he previously did come in the news supporting foreigners in a good way, but then today this. I saw it even being posted on bloomberg yesterday. He is now on my negative list.

[josephbloggs]

34 minutes ago, Graham8888 said:

And this is the company that bought selfridges last year for 4 billion while struggling through the pandemic ?!

No. That was the Central Group.

[djayz]

And how much of his earnings is Bill waiving to help aid the recovery? 

 

 

[Aussieroaming]

Grubby, greedy tosser. What was that movie name "kill bill" I think it was called. 

[jack71]

what an idiotic recommendation. the guy has no idea

[jambesobrien]

<deleted>** him! You can get a room above a bar for 3-500 a night!

who needs a big hotel?

[Shocked farang]

3 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Doesnt look Thai.

Of course not, what I am saying is that he has a Thai passport, so he has all the rights of a Thai citizen. 

[Sparktrader]

1 minute ago, Shocked farang said:

Of course not, what I am saying is that he has a Thai passport, so he has all the rights of a Thai citizen. 

Wish i did

[SGD]

23 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

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. 

He renounced US citizenship as Uncle Sam wants to tax you on your worldwide income and whilst Bill was happy to have the USA passport and live under the umbrella of protection the USA offers, he wasn't willing to contribute to the upkeep of the country or its institutions.

So he wangled a Thai passport and citizenship and got rid of a problematic tax burden.

He when it comes to influence and doing the right thing, he is clearly more more Thai than the Thais !

[herfiehandbag]

4 hours ago, madmitch said:

$8 isn't much if you're booking a five star hotel but it is if you're booking a smaller hotel. 

 

Let him put 300 baht on his prices and let other hotels decide whether or not to follow suit.

Yes indeed, but in his business B300 is, for the customer neither here nor there. If all the hotels had to apply it he would be shielded from criticism, and secure a nice cash bonus.

 

But for the "B2000 a night end" of the business it would spell disaster. But he would still be sitting pretty.

 

 

[josephbloggs]

49 minutes ago, SGD said:

He renounced US citizenship as Uncle Sam wants to tax you on your worldwide income and whilst Bill was happy to have the USA passport and live under the umbrella of protection the USA offers, he wasn't willing to contribute to the upkeep of the country or its institutions.

So he wangled a Thai passport and citizenship and got rid of a problematic tax burden.

He when it comes to influence and doing the right thing, he is clearly more more Thai than the Thais !

Sounds like Trump supporting over patriotic "USA!! USA!!" nonsense!  And a sly dig at Thais to dig inferring that they never "do the right thing".

"Happy to live under the umbrella of protection the USA offers".  Again, more nonsense.  He moved to Thailand as a child (14 years old), having lived in other parts os Asia prior to that.  He has no ties to the US, he grew up here, started his businesses here and has been here ever since he was a child.  If I was in his position I would have done the same, no doubt.

But of course if you had grown up in Thailand, become successful here, made your life here and never planned to live in the US you would "do the right thing" and keep your useless US citizenship just to pay taxes there on all the money earned here, in Thailand.  Right?  Help to fund their wars.  Or are you a hypocrite?

[BangkokHank]

If the market would be able support higher hotel prices, the prices would already be higher. And when the market is able to support higher prices, the prices will rise. For being a billionaire, this guy is not very bright.

[GreenPhoenixNRG]

Hmm, a rich hotel owner suggesting a higher taxes on foreigners, until the travelers get tired of being milked for more money for the rich or corrupt and go to Cambodia and Vietnam and cause the Thai economy to tank again. This guy can go suck a lemon.

[SGD]

10 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Sounds like Trump supporting over patriotic "USA!! USA!!" nonsense!  And a sly dig at Thais to dig inferring that they never "do the right thing".

"Happy to live under the umbrella of protection the USA offers".  Again, more nonsense.  He moved to Thailand as a child (14 years old), having lived in other parts os Asia prior to that.  He has no ties to the US, he grew up here, started his businesses here and has been here ever since he was a child.  If I was in his position I would have done the same, no doubt.

But of course if you had grown up in Thailand, become successful here, made your life here and never planned to live in the US you would "do the right thing" and keep your useless US citizenship just to pay taxes there on all the money earned here, in Thailand.  Right?  Help to fund their wars.  Or are you a hypocrite?

So he renounced USA citizenship aged 18 did he ?

 

Did he serve in the Thai military for national service ?

 

Or did he circumvent tax laws and then decide, in his latter years, to dump USA citizenship when the tax burden became too burdensome and FATCA was being initiated ?

 

If he wanted rid of the USA passport, he could have done so 50 years ago !

[jaywalker2]

18 hours ago, Shocked farang said:

I don't think that he did as he's always mentioned as a Thai-American businessman. 

thai-american because he's a naturalized thai. not a "real" thai (although he tries hard to act more thai than the thais)

[bang saen guy]

Nothing stopping him from increasing prices in his own hotels by 10,000 baht per night. Grow a pair and do it

[josephbloggs]

3 hours ago, SGD said:

So he renounced USA citizenship aged 18 did he ?

 

Did he serve in the Thai military for national service ?

 

Or did he circumvent tax laws and then decide, in his latter years, to dump USA citizenship when the tax burden became too burdensome and FATCA was being initiated ?

 

If he wanted rid of the USA passport, he could have done so 50 years ago !

Oh dear.

 

A little butt hurt that someone would renounce US citizenship in favour of Thailand?

You do realise that the naturalisation process takes several years?  I know he got it in 1991, I don't know when he started the process (it took my friend 16 years).  But I do know that pretty much immediately after he received it he renounced his US citizenship.  He didn't hang on to it and dump it later in life.  

 

So how exactly could he have renounced it 50 years ago?  He is 62 now I think.  Do they let children declare themselves stateless?

You Americans are funny.

[bamnutsak]

300 baht seems to be a thing now. TAT wants their 300 baht. Soon everyone will want their 300 baht.

 

300 baht per room per night, regardless of the price of the room? That makes no sense. If anything it should be a percentage.

 

How long would this fee be imposed? Eventually it would go away?

 

Every hotel would collect the 300 baht, and keep it? Or remit it to the government for use in "aiding the industry's recovery"?

 

This would eat into the profit margin on the zero dollar tours.

 

Seems like a lazy idea. Improve the product/experience, then charge more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicknoodle]

Pay more to line your greedy pockets! Yeah no thanks. Tourists should be paying less, to fill the hotels, fill the tourist attractions, get the numbers here, not push them away, you plonker! I, personally have already seen hotel prices increase dramatically this year. 

[kimamey]

I had to look up which hotels are his and I don't think I've used any of them.

 

Assuming some of these hotels are listed on Agoda, Booking.com ect will they be able or willing to deal with this sort of discrimination? Will it be added as a tax or will you have to pay at the hotel? How will it work with one Thai and one foreigner?

[Ralf001]

8 bucks is is nothing and certainly would not sway my decision to come holiday in Thailand if I was a tourist.

 

Not sure why all the butthurt outrage......... is damn funny to read though.

[condo62]

Typical that a billionaire would suggest that....Shame the story doesn't mention which hotels he is involved with....????

[rudi49jr]

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

8 bucks is is nothing and certainly would not sway my decision to come holiday in Thailand if I was a tourist.

 

Not sure why all the butthurt outrage......... is damn funny to read though.

What with the high inflation and prices skyrocketing, some of us do need to be a little careful how and where we spend our money. So when a billionaire suggests raising hotel prices with 300 baht, with all the price gouging I see going on around me already, I tend to get somewhat suspicious about the motives of said billionaire.

[Ralf001]

14 minutes ago, rudi49jr said:

What with the high inflation and prices skyrocketing, some of us do need to be a little careful how and where we spend our money. So when a billionaire suggests raising hotel prices with 300 baht, with all the price gouging I see going on around me already, I tend to get somewhat suspicious about the motives of said billionaire.

if $8.00 make or breaks then one should not be going on international holidays.

[rudi49jr]

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

if $8.00 make or breaks then one should not be going on international holidays.

It’s not only that $8. It’s $5 more here, and $7 more there, and so on and so forth. It all adds up to having to pay a lot more money for everything, and I’m pretty sure a lot of companies are using this crisis to jack up their prices more than necessary, they see it as an opportunity to squeeze a little more money out of us consumers. This billionaire’s plan to have to pay an extra 300 baht per room falls in that category, in my opinion, and I’m sick of being taken advantage of. Many (big) companies are making record profits, and it all goes to ridiculously high bonuses for CEO’s and managers, and to shareholders. And the average Joe gets screwed. 

[JCauto]

Ah yes, another child of privilege and enormously wealthy man telling us proles how $8 a day is a pittance, practically nothing, wouldn't even bend down to pick it up in the street. Which for his ilk is likely not even true, they never met a penny they didn't desire. Not sure where becoming enormously wealthy by peddling abominations of a beloved food sits on the billionaire sin scale, but every time I see a hot-dog and cheese-stuffed crust with fake crab and pineapple on top, it makes me sad for what we've become.

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, rudi49jr said:

It’s not only that $8. It’s $5 more here, and $7 more there, and so on and so forth. It all adds up to having to pay a lot more money for everything, and I’m pretty sure a lot of companies are using this crisis to jack up their prices more than necessary, they see it as an opportunity to squeeze a little more money out of us consumers. This billionaire’s plan to have to pay an extra 300 baht per room falls in that category, in my opinion, and I’m sick of being taken advantage of. Many (big) companies are making record profits, and it all goes to ridiculously high bonuses for CEO’s and managers, and to shareholders. And the average Joe gets screwed. 

Bill will not loose any sleep over your choice to stay at home.