Chaingmai Hotels

[DDP]

Imperial Mae Ping

The racist attitude of the front desk staff of this hotel toward my wife

could have spoiled our holiday we are a mixed race couple and my wife was

told that she could not be staying there as she was not a European.

Complaints to the management resulted in a bowl of fruit and an invitation

to book directly with the manager the next time we are in Chaing Mai We left

and will not be going back. In the thirteen years that we have been together

we have traveled all over Thailand and Chaing Mai is one of our favourie

places and have never been treated with any thing less than traditional Thai

hospitality whether it was a 5* hotel or a room and fan up country.

Could it have been anything to do with the fact that my wife is Thai?

Rgds Doug

[john b good]

Imperial Mae Ping

The racist attitude of the front desk staff of this hotel toward my wife

could have spoiled our holiday we are a mixed race couple and my wife was

told that she could not be staying there as she was not a European.

Complaints to the management resulted in a bowl of fruit and an invitation

to book directly with the manager the next time we are in Chaing Mai We left

and will not be going back. In the thirteen years that we have been together

we have traveled all over Thailand and Chaing Mai is one of our favourie

places and have never been treated with any thing less than traditional Thai

hospitality whether it was a 5* hotel or a room and fan up country.

Could it have been anything to do with the fact that my wife is Thai?

Rgds Doug

DDP

What you have encountered is not uncommon in Thailand.

Some "monkey" at the front desk will make some assumptions based on their own negative beliefs (about Thai women in the company of caucasian men) and then act on their assumptions.

The fact that they (the front desk staff) are pulling a salary or perhaps 3-4K/month appears to make them jealous of anyone who dares to occupy a 1,200baht room in 'their' hotel for a night.

The Imperial Mae Ping is a hotel that I have had some exposure to over the years.

They are better suited to catering for the ageing SAGA tourists who whilst they might think that the smiling staff are all angels are being ripped off in the process.

I could tell you quite a few stories about the staff at the Imperial Mae Ping hotel.

Probably no coincidence that it is located on the same plot of land as were the most notorious wh*re houses in Chiangmai.

[Tony0703]

Perceptions are not at all good for Business! The Front Desk should be sacked! It's NOT good enough to have some Baboon with narrow blinkers on any front desk anywhere in the world! If they ever tried that with be there would be a Hospital bed waiting for them at the local Hospital as it is none of anyones business what nationality a person may be!!! DISGUSTING!!!

[KevinN]

RACIAL--PREJUDICE--What a bunch of shit.

I can see where a hotel that considers it's self as a family oriented place would have some thought to restricting accomidations to married couples to protect their reputation.

Some folks do not want to take rooms in sleezy [no matter what they look like] hot bed whorehouses that cater to hookers off the streets using a room for a dozen encounters a night.

I have stayed in motel/hotels in the states and around the world where that happens,and ###### hard to get a good nites rest with the comings and goings all night,doors slamming and drunks making deals and price negotiations .

It would not have made me mad or caused me to raise so much ###### unless after being told that we were actually married that they still refused on racial grounds. Which is actually there own business tho.

[Ajarn]

Imperial Mae Ping

The racist attitude of the front desk staff of this hotel toward my wife

could have spoiled our holiday we are a mixed race couple and my wife was

told that she could not be staying there as she was not a European.

Complaints to the management resulted in a bowl of fruit and an invitation

to book directly with the manager the next time we are in Chaing Mai We left

and will not be going back. In the thirteen years that we have been together

we have traveled all over Thailand and Chaing Mai is one of our favourie

places and have never been treated with any thing less than traditional Thai

hospitality whether it was a 5* hotel or a room and fan up country.

Could it have been anything to do with the fact that my wife is Thai?

Rgds Doug

Sorry, but color me skeptical....

wife was

told that she could not be staying there as she was not a European

I've seen many Thais staying at the Mae Ping, so I wonder what the REAL story is, because it sure ain't that the Mae Ping only accepts Europeans....I feel that there is more to this story than presented, and I will follow-up with the manager tomorrow. If it is true, then the story should be spread even further. If it's not true, then that should be exposed, too.

[DDP]

Thanks for all you interest i have emailed ajarn with details of the apology from the hotel management i trust that he will follow it up. as i said before it has never happened to us before in Thailand and we do not belive it to be the policy of the hotel. Just the bigotry of some of the individuals that they employ.

At 50 plus my wife is happy to be mistaken for an 18 year old

[Ajarn]

Thanks for all you interest i have emailed ajarn with details of the apology from the hotel management i trust that he will follow it up.

So far, I have not received any such details...

Later that night.....

Okay, he sent me scanned copy of a generic Mae Ping hotel welcome card with a non-specific apology and 'sorry for any inconvenience,' signed by the front office manager. He also wrote that they had been staying there for three days already, and his wife is in her fifties...

The plot thickens

More tommorow.

Tomorrow arrives.....

Got this in the afternoon, in response to my earlier phone call....(in part)

I will give you all details of Mr.& Mrs. "P" that stayed at our hotel within tomorrow due to today I have to join a meeting untll late evening.

Sincerely yours,

Preeyanuch Y.

Front Office Manager

The Imperial Mae Ping Hotel, Chiangmai, Thailand

More tommorow, it seems...

Edited July 16, 2004 by Ajarn

[Ajarn]

Here is complete reply I got from the Mae Ping Hotel. Frankly, I have no reason to doubt their version of the events, but, hey, TiT, and all that....

To keep things in perspective, they had been there for 3 days before this incident, and they continued to stay on another 4 days.

The manager also forwarded a copy of the original hotel registration form showing a Mr. and Mrs. "P" , and she also forwarded a scanned copy of Sunee's business card from Scotland (Only 'Doug and Sunee'. No surname.).

Dear Mr. Lawrence,

First of all, I'd like to say "Thank you" for your understanding of this matter. Regarding

the incident that occurred during the stay of Mr. and Mrs. "P" , I would like to

give you my account and the account of my staff members.

I received a call from the Lobby Manager asking for me to see to a complaint from Mr.

and Mrs. Porteous. I went to greet the couple and was given the complaint. I

apologized, and proceeded to go to the front office to investigate the problem. The

receptionist, named Mr. Somporn Daorueng, informed me that Khun Sunee (Mrs.

"P" ) asked him for the key to room 1028. Upon check-in, all guests are given a

key card that is to be presented to the front desk for identification when they would

like to pick up their room key. It is hotel policy that if this key is not presented, the

receptionist will ask for the guests name and verify it in the computer. Because the

registration indicated no Thai names (it only said Mr. and Mrs. "P" , please see

attached file), Mr. Somporn was confused. Mr. Somporn asked Khun Sunee for her

name again, thinking that Khun Sunee may have been asking for the wrong room,

and she became upset. Security, and the well being of Mr. and Mrs. "P" and

their belongings, was Mr. Somporn’s primary concern. He was simply following hotel

policy, and he explained this to Khun Sunee. Mrs. "P" complaint, that the Mae

Ping hotel is racist and that Mr. Somporn told her that “she could not be staying there

as she was not a European,” is unfounded. More than half of the guests at the hotel

are of Thai descent, and no such complaint has been filed in the past. Mr. Somporn,

and the rest of the hotel staff, did not intend to be rude in anyway. The entire incident

was merely a misunderstanding. I went back to the couple to explain everything and

give my sincere apologies. Mr. and Mrs. "P" seemed to be understanding.

Khun Sunee gave me her business card (please see file attached) and told me she

will come to Chiang Mai again, so I told her to contact me directly whenever she

would like to book a room. After the conversation was finished I asked Mr. Somporn

to prepare a special fruit basket with a complimentary card, and I sent it to the guests

room (as shown on your mail).

On behalf of the staff of the Imperial Mae Ping hotel, I express my deepest apologies

for any inconvenience that Mr. and Mrs. "P" incurred during their stay at our

hotel.

Please do not hesitate to contact direct to me anytime if needed more details,

Sincerely yours,

Preeyanuch Y.

[20yearsinthai]

Maybe Mrs P took the actions of the hotel in the wrong way. I have seen this kind of thing before with my own wife. Overreacting to events that she doesnt understand,

[Ajarn]

Maybe Mrs P took the actions of the hotel in the wrong way.  I have seen this kind of thing before with my own wife.  Overreacting to events that she doesnt understand,

My sense, too. The guy checking can't release the keys without ID or the KeyCard, and Sunee couldn't, or got upset and wouldn't, show herself as a "P" . Passport in Thai surname, perhaps, and as I saw, her business card would give no clue, either. I would feel frustrated, just like her, and I might even blow my top in such situation... But the coming back a couple of months later to write such stuff is curious, and the story, to my ears, really doesn't fit together nearly as good as the response from the hotel, leading me to believe that Doug, or his wife, is not being completely honest here.

Frankly, maybe she should be busting Doug's balls for his only registering as Mr. and Mrs. Porteous (I saw a copy of the original registration card). And Doug should have given her the KeyCard, which would have negated all the crap. But, maybe the front desk should have caught it, too. With such security measures, the hotel should maybe check more carefully that full names are written, as the form clearly asks for that, and it was obvious one of the people checking in was Thai, or at least that in a couple, the wife has another name...

What if two women showed up claiming to be Mrs. "P" , asking for keys, but only the second one has the ID, and they had already given the room keys to the first woman?

This story actually gives me more confidence in their guest security. Might make a good hideout...

[lopburi3]

Here is complete reply I got from the Mae Ping Hotel. Frankly, I have no reason to doubt their version of the events, but, hey, TiT, and all that....

To keep things in perspective, they had been there for 3 days before this incident, and they continued to stay on another 4 days.

Although I understand he named the hotel in his post do not believe two wrongs make a right and believe you should consider removing his last name from your post if you did not change it. Regards.

[Ajarn]

Here is complete reply I got from the Mae Ping Hotel. Frankly, I have no reason to doubt their version of the events, but, hey, TiT, and all that....

To keep things in perspective, they had been there for 3 days before this incident, and they continued to stay on another 4 days.

Although I understand he named the hotel in his post do not believe two wrongs make a right and believe you should consider removing his last name from your post if you did not change it. Regards.

Yep, good point. It was my oversight, and it has been corrected.

[DDP]

Hello

Sorry that I have not been able to reply but the need to earn a crust had taken me away.

Firstly at no time did we imply that the hotel is racist but that dose not stop the staff from having there own attitudes that is the same all over the world.

1. The incident referred to took place on the afternoon on the day before we were due to check out otherwise we would have moved hotels. Lawrence asked me for dates and I think that I gave him the wrong ones.

2. We did indeed meet with Miss Preeyanuch who is a credit to the hotel but she was not present when the incident happened.

3. This was not the first time that we had had reason to complain about the attitude of the counter staff to ward my wife and therefore myself we had already spoken to a junior manager. Miss Preeyanuch was unaware of this till we spoke with her. Therefore we were already known to the counter staff before the incident and had been in the hotel for seven days.

4. To quote my wife “I know what I heard I know what was said to me there is no mistake this is my language I had picked up the key two or three times every day and no body had asked for id before, this guy was looking at me as if I was some kind of idiot." Of course I was upset.

Why did we wait so long to post this well we had been away from our business for over a month and had a lot of catching up to do. I also had to get every body else away for holidays before the summer season started and I needed time to get my thoughts in order. You will note that at no time did we try to hide our identities and the email address is real. We appreciate Lawrence for trying to make some order out of this. For those of you who know the Mae Ping and chose to belive them well if it was my friend I would also be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt well we understand that.

I always knew about the power of the internet but I failed to realise exactly how much interest that this would create and I would like to thank every body who contributed to the debate whatever your point of view.

I do not intend to carry this any farther every one has had there say it was never our intention to run down the hotel just some of the staff who work there.

Due to the attention of the scum who take pleasure in sending viruses via email I shall be shutting down this email address

Rgds

Doug

[maitembot]

Sorry mate. I think your wife has the attitude problem.

[Darknight]

Due to the attention of the scum who take pleasure in sending viruses via email I shall be shutting down this email address

Eeeuh Duh.... everybody gets them

You're surely not from these times anymore, maybe you should brush up on you internet skills as well as your social ones

[cutethaigirl]

Firstly at no time did we imply that the hotel is racist but that dose not stop the staff from having there own attitudes that is the same all over the world.

Who wrote the original title to the thread?? The R word is in there clearly.

Computer viruses coming to you. Well that is a novelty. Bet no one else in the world gets them??

You stated your case at the Hotel and the Mangaer apologised and tried to make ammends.

Then you come to a public forum and have another try.

Ajarn and the Manager at the MP seem to have gone to great lengths to state the full case.

Personally think that you would struggle in a court of law with this one

Incidents happen the world over. Serious is when they become repetitious.

I am no great fan of the Mae Ping after visiting a 'free' concert at their Beer Garden to be presented with a 100 baht a head 'watch show' charge but reality is reality.

Ajarn perhaps you could inquire of the MP policy on such charges?

[Ajarn]

I am no great fan of the Mae Ping after visiting a 'free' concert at their Beer Garden to be presented with a 100 baht a head 'watch show' charge but reality is reality.

Ajarn perhaps you could inquire of the MP policy on such charges?

Perhaps...

Self Service is always free

[email protected]

Direct to the General Manager, Khun Worapong.

Oh, and the sweetest sounding is Khun Preeyanuch, who even "P" agrees is a credit to the hotel..... [email protected]

She did welcome any inquiries.

[cutethaigirl]

Thanks Ajarn

Done.

we await:-)

[astral]

See the similar theme in the Bangkok General Forum

These hotels should be listed and shamed.

They do not deserve our custom.

Edited July 19, 2004 by astral

[Ajarn]

See the similar theme in the Bangkok General Forum

These hotels should be listed and shamed.

They do not deserve our custom.

Are you suggesting the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel be listed and shamed?

That would be a mistake.

[cutethaigirl]

These hotels should be listed and shamed.

They do not deserve our custom.

Correct.

Do not give them it:-)

Is that other posting real.

This is Thailand and there are hotels that do not accept Thai people????

Seems that it is about time Thai people started to make a bit more noise at these type of places.

Can not imagine any other country in the world behaving like that.