Thai People Pay More At Hotel

[parmi]

Yesterday i made a reservation on sawadee.com to stay in a hotel in JOMTIEN, and today when i received the booking i was told that (and to my amazement) that because i will be staying with a thai national,i would have to pay 400bht per night per room surcharge,well i called to ask why,and was told that thai nationals have to pay this surcharge because of thai law,.after 10 mins of complaining i was told that this charge would be dropped,but can anyone tell me if this has happened to them and where it happened,so i dont book a room their.by the way, sawadee.com are a very good service and this is a surchrage added by the hotel not sawadee.com, and if this is law in thailand why have i NEVER heard of it before.or is this a new law to try and apese the farang tourists who have to pay more at national parks and the like.

all answer welcome.please.

[thai_narak]

never heard of this. but what i heard is that thai people pay less as advertised in the amazing thailand. this is to encourage the local people to travel.

[onethailand]

It is definitely not Thai law - it is the hotel who would rather have farang guests. There are quite a number of hotels that do this, it is definitely not the booking agency's fault.

[Tafia]

Ive never heard of or experienced this.....particular to Pattaya??

[samran]

you get all sorts of wierd and wonderful rules. Basically to get a type of customer they want.

Some places outright refuse Thai's, though it is less the case these days, or will charge them more. The theory being, Thai's tend to pay for one room and then have 20 of their best mates all sleep in it. Growing up in a family where it was common to pile 8 people into an old Toyota corolla, there is some merit in this observation

Other places, though more mainstream advertising, tend to charge lower prices for Thai residents (either a Thai ID card holder, or one with a WP, or a non-tourist visa). You see these deals in the low season - and are genuninely good value.

Other places will try to charge higher prices for farangs (based purely on the fact that they are a farang). I don't know how long these guys stay in business for.

And finally, many hotels, especially ones with internet bookings, will tend to charge different rates depending on the day of the week, how far advance it is made, or the season. It is not unknown for many hotels to charge higher rates to say, Japanese (who book in Japan) than they would say an Australian.

Some market economics at work, some shonky practices, some smart practices.

Welcome to Thailand.

[raybkk]

On Koh Samet it is the case for overcharging Thai's. Their repsonds was that Thai's stay on their room all day with aiconditionings running. Not eating at the restaurant belonging to the resort, bring their own booze etc, etc.

Makes sence looking at it from that way.

[meemiathai]

Yes I have experienced a few times when booking on the internet.(I think they actually said I cannot book through the internet for my thai partner.) So now I don't book on the internet, I just book it through the travel agent. Or just walk in. Strange.

[MeaMaximaCulpa]

At Unico Hotel Suk soi 1 in BKK they charge their middle eastern guests a 400 Baht surcharge per room per night.

When asking why they do this, they (front office staff) said (in an embarrased voice), that these valued guests tended to wreck the room and steal the stuff they did not wreck...

<deleted>...?

Is this really so? Blows my mind. I think there is a hidden agenda here...

FYI: I am not even close to coming from the middle east, but if I were, I would be kind of angry by now...

Edit: Soi number 1 i.s.o. 3

Edited December 11, 2007 by MeaMaximaCulpa

[onethailand]

As others have pointed out, this is not restricted to Pattaya - Phuket and Koh Samui and Bangkok are most definitely affected. Chiang Mai hotels do not seem to subscribe to this practice from the contracts that I have read, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were some exceptions.

Reasons for charging Thais more - noise, overcrowding a room, tendency to eat off premises, or else bring in lots of food from nearby street vendors - and rooms are often left in a very poor state.

The reasons for charging Middle East visitors more are exactly as described. Sometimes Indians and other South Asians are also included in this bracket. But if you think it's just a racist issue - it's mostly not. I know one prominent Indian hotelier who does exactly the same thing - charges Middle Easterners and South Asians more - and for exactly the same reason as the Thai hoteliers impose a surcharge on this group.

Obviously I do not agree with this practice - but it ain't my property the guests are messing up. I am in no position to tell someone else how to run their house or business in this case.

Samran has summed it up pretty nicely.

[torrenova]

Hoteliers assess the total spend of guests which does include use of the internal chargeable amenities and the impact of the guests on the room. Hotels have to work on generalisations and averages and it is common knowledge that the middle east and indian continent people do not take care of the property. They do not spend in the hotel and thus, the total income falls. The Thais and chinese often pack in more people than the room should hold (as do the previous group) and as another poster commented, they will happily bring in food and drinks from outside, thus reducing expected average income. One way around this is to surcharge to cover the potential lost revenue.

Now when I stay in the Park Hyatt in Tokyo I will eat and drink in the hotel but I draw the line at the ludicrous price for miniture bottles of Evian and I will bring water in from outside. I do not hide the fact. However, I fail to see the reason to stay in an expensive 5* hotel and not take advantage of the facilities even though some will cost quite a lot. When married and travelling on vatation, I used to work a rough idea that the actual hotel bill would be about half to two thirds of the total bill.

[teacup]

I’m a thai and never have this problem and I have been booking through many tour companies and websites.

I have to agree with Samran here about jamming/sneaking other people in the room after booking w/o wanting to pay the surcharge. And from my own observations: many thais tend to be quite messy, noisy when using a hotel room, have many stinky foods in the room (especially durian!), and they also love to collect many hotel’s souvenirs down to a toilet wrapper!

Not me though

[onethailand]

Now when I stay in the Park Hyatt in Tokyo I will eat and drink in the hotel but I draw the line at the ludicrous price for miniture bottles of Evian and I will bring water in from outside. I do not hide the fact. However, I fail to see the reason to stay in an expensive 5* hotel and not take advantage of the facilities even though some will cost quite a lot. When married and travelling on vatation, I used to work a rough idea that the actual hotel bill would be about half to two thirds of the total bill.

LOL... wish I could live your lifestyle, I have to settle for the Shinjuku Prince... and I hardly use room service in any hotel except when nothing else is convenient.

I have noticed, however, that in many Japanese hotels, a minibar doesn't even exist - just a refrigerator kindly provided for you to keep your goods cold.

Now if only other hotels around the world would take a hint and either start providing minibars with reasonably priced goods, or just a refrigerator...

Teacup, I think either you're just lucky, or you weren't told that a surcharge was automatically added to your quotation Or maybe you just choose better chain hotels which don't dare have a surcharge for any nationality...

[Jingthing]

Thai people SHOULD pay more. With their strong baht money they can well afford it!

[BambinA]

I have never had this problem before. Anyway, i have read TH forum and they complain about hotels in Thai where are not welcomed TH people and hotels that charge TH more than foreigners as Novotel Siam square.

http://topicstock.pantip.com/klaibann/topi...9/H4695009.html

(if you can read TH, this is an example)

[onethailand]

Very constructive post, Jingthing. Much appreciated.

Bambina, is there perhaps a list of hotels there at Pantip.com which impose a surcharge on Thais?

Edited December 11, 2007 by onethailand

[BambinA]

Bambina, is there perhaps a list of hotels there at Pantip.com which impose a surcharge on Thais?

Yes, there are ignored lists as in Phuket and others

Edited December 11, 2007 by BambinA

[onethailand]

Bambina, is there perhaps a list of hotels there at Pantip.com which impose a surcharge on Thais?

Yes, there are ignored lists as in Phuket and others

Any chance you could obtain those lists, even just in Thai? Would most appreciate it.

[torrenova]

Now when I stay in the Park Hyatt in Tokyo I will eat and drink in the hotel but I draw the line at the ludicrous price for miniture bottles of Evian and I will bring water in from outside. I do not hide the fact. However, I fail to see the reason to stay in an expensive 5* hotel and not take advantage of the facilities even though some will cost quite a lot. When married and travelling on vatation, I used to work a rough idea that the actual hotel bill would be about half to two thirds of the total bill.

LOL... wish I could live your lifestyle, I have to settle for the Shinjuku Prince... and I hardly use room service in any hotel except when nothing else is convenient.

I have noticed, however, that in many Japanese hotels, a minibar doesn't even exist - just a refrigerator kindly provided for you to keep your goods cold.

Now if only other hotels around the world would take a hint and either start providing minibars with reasonably priced goods, or just a refrigerator...

Teacup, I think either you're just lucky, or you weren't told that a surcharge was automatically added to your quotation Or maybe you just choose better chain hotels which don't dare have a surcharge for any nationality...

I am afraid it will be some time before I return as I am now out of Hyatt points and I no longer have the corporate lifestyle to furnish such luxurious accommodations.

I used to stay in Marriotts all the time and I'd have them empty the minibar. I mean, take Thailand as an example. A bottle of Heineken costs Bt30 wholesale. Now sit in the bar or around the pool and they charge you Bt250++ (or something close) which is a piss take but you know that when you sign up. But in the privacy of your room, which you have paid for, why should a bottle cost anywhere near that price ? The only argument is that without the minibar, the room rate would have to be higher ! I personally think they would sell more and make more profit if their charges were more reasonable.

[BambinA]

Any chance you could obtain those lists, even just in Thai? Would most appreciate it.

follow this TH link, you will know somewhere http://topicstock.pantip.com/klaibann/topi...9/H4695009.html

For instance, (from the thread) JD Phuket 12500 for thais and 3000 for farangs.

ความคิดเห็นที่ 12

จริง

เราพักที่เจดี ภูเก็ต เรทคนไทย 12500 บาท เน็ท

ฝรั่งเยอรมันพัก บังกะโลตดิกันจ่าย 3000 บาท เน็ท

ที่ว่าฝรั่งทำตามกฎมากกว่า ไม่จริงเสมอไป คนไทยดๆีก้มีเยอะ ฝรั่งแย่ๆที่มาเที่ยวเมืองไทยก็เยอะ ถ้าเปรียบเทียบคนระดับเดียวกัน คนไทยไม่แย่ไปกว่าฝรั่งหรอกคะ

จากคุณ : ตาน - [ 9 ก.ย. 49 05:00:01 A:81.165.120.130 X: TicketID:105576 ]

[onethailand]

I am afraid it will be some time before I return as I am now out of Hyatt points and I no longer have the corporate lifestyle to furnish such luxurious accommodations.

I used to stay in Marriotts all the time and I'd have them empty the minibar. I mean, take Thailand as an example. A bottle of Heineken costs Bt30 wholesale. Now sit in the bar or around the pool and they charge you Bt250++ (or something close) which is a piss take but you know that when you sign up. But in the privacy of your room, which you have paid for, why should a bottle cost anywhere near that price ? The only argument is that without the minibar, the room rate would have to be higher ! I personally think they would sell more and make more profit if their charges were more reasonable.

Many hotels make more money on F&B than they do on the room rates. Obviously, it kind of helps if the food being served is of very high quality and not ridiculously expensive.

However, when it comes to a mini-bar, it's the same can of Coke, or bottle of water - so, like you, I have absolutely no sympathy for them when they try to charge an arm and a leg for the same product you can buy next door at 7-Eleven.

Worst for me is when I went to Monte Carlo and they wanted 6 Euro for a Coke in the mini bar. No way in hel_l I was going to pay that.

Trouble is, even in the shops they were 3 Euro or more... and 7-Eleven doesn't exist in Monte Carlo!

Even worse - those dam_n automated refrigerators that charge you the instant you remove an item...

[torrenova]

The contrast exists as well. I threatened to sue Marriott for initiall refusing to back down on an offer in the Bangkok Post for the JW Marriott which was something like Bt2500 for a room but for Thais and residence permit holders only. The best available rate I had at the time was around Bt4000.

That was before the days of internet guarantees.

[onethailand]

Surely that must be wrong, no way in the world anyone can get into the Chedi for 3000 baht... you'd be lucky to get their toolshed for that price.

My contracts, for the worldwide market, all show prices of 10K and upwards from my recollection.

Thanks for the link, Bambina.

[Boo]

I wonder what would happen if you booked a room & registered with british passports but one of you was also a thai national, was playing with this idea too about those hotels in KS road who don't allow thias. Book & turn up with thai husband who holds a british passport, would they refuse to let him have the room I wonder ??

[onethailand]

I wonder what would happen if you booked a room & registered with british passports but one of you was also a thai national, was playing with this idea too about those hotels in KS road who don't allow thias. Book & turn up with thai husband who holds a british passport, would they refuse to let him have the room I wonder ??

Doubt it. Unless you look like a rabble-rouser

Every time I've been scrutinized carefully, showing them my US passport is enough, even if I do speak Thai to them. I figure they already know that if they play any games they will be double-screwed because the rejected guest can complain loudly in both languages... as the Best Western Bang Tao Beach found out to their chagrin when they tried to move me to another hotel... needless to say I won't be sending them any custom.

[LivinLOS]

Just to add something into the mix..

If booking through sawadee for jomtien.. Is the OP sure this wasnt a mix up over joiner fees and poor communication ??

Basically a 400 baht JF sounds normal and maybe that was warned in the email / booking system (guest fee charged even on a double room booking) and the OP may be ignorant to JF's in the nightlife area markets.

Joiner fees seem to always disappear if you check in together and stay with the same person for the duration.

[chanchao]

My guess: Some staff member not understanding the joiner fee concept?

[onethailand]

It goes without saying that hotel booking sites don't normally carry information on joiner fees, nor would a hotel charge joiner fees in advance.

This is clearly one of two things:

1. Thai guest surcharge, or

2. Twin surcharge (assuming the hotel has different rates for single and twin occupancy)

I would bet on it being the Thai guest surcharge. However, if the booking party happens to be a foreign national, then I know where I would tell the hotel to put it. The Thai guest surcharge is meant to be applied only when the booking party is Thai, or when the booking party books additional rooms for Thai guests.

[meadish_sweetball]

Any chance you could obtain those lists, even just in Thai? Would most appreciate it.

follow this TH link, you will know somewhere http://topicstock.pantip.com/klaibann/topi...9/H4695009.html

For instance, (from the thread) JD Phuket 12500 for thais and 3000 for farangs.

ความคิดเห็นที่ 12

จริง

เราพักที่เจดี ภูเก็ต เรทคนไทย 12500 บาท เน็ท

ฝรั่งเยอรมันพัก บังกะโลตดิกันจ่าย 3000 บาท เน็ท

ที่ว่าฝรั่งทำตามกฎมากกว่า ไม่จริงเสมอไป คนไทยดๆีก้มีเยอะ ฝรั่งแย่ๆที่มาเที่ยวเมืองไทยก็เยอะ ถ้าเปรียบเทียบคนระดับเดียวกัน คนไทยไม่แย่ไปกว่าฝรั่งหรอกคะ

จากคุณ : ตาน - [ 9 ก.ย. 49 05:00:01 A:81.165.120.130 X: TicketID:105576 ]

This is not Chedi's policy.

3000 baht sounds like a misunderstanding, an urban legend, or the German had been given the employee rate which is reserved for employees and their immediate family - not even the bulk rate for large corporate customers would be as low as 3000.