Running A Guest House As A Company.

[ArtfulD]

Hello,

After reading nearly all posts on this forum and finding out a tonne of info must admit my dream of living in Thailand has been slightly soured by the property laws...

To that end however and not being new to running a hotel and guest house as my family did in the UK I was wondering if this would be an acceptable business to run to aid in the purchase of a property? I would not intend on making a lot of profit from it, just enough to put something down in my tax return every year. Would such an endeveour enable me to buy a nice 4/5 bedroom house with minimal risk of losing the lot? Ive seen a superb house for sale in the region of 18M TBH where 1 room could be let to friends on holiday etc. Maids/gardener also could be employees of the company.

Thanks.

[meom]

Hello,

After reading nearly all posts on this forum and finding out a tonne of info must admit my dream of living in Thailand has been slightly soured by the property laws...

To that end however and not being new to running a hotel and guest house as my family did in the UK I was wondering if this would be an acceptable business to run to aid in the purchase of a property? I would not intend on making a lot of profit from it, just enough to put something down in my tax return every year. Would such an endeveour enable me to buy a nice 4/5 bedroom house with minimal risk of losing the lot? Ive seen a superb house for sale in the region of 18M TBH where 1 room could be let to friends on holiday etc. Maids/gardener also could be employees of the company.

Thanks.

I suppose you could. You could also invest the 18 mil offshore and live of the interest in LOS. Depends your life style.

[ArtfulD]

Yes that is something I have considered, using that money I have set aside for buying a property and using the interest earned as rental payment and live off the interest of other funds. However looking at what properties I can rent on 18M TBH @ 5.4% interest im currently getting seem to be of a lower standard than a house bought for 18M....

Although there would be no worry of losing anything then.

[jhj2000]

I’ve had experience of a guest house and a bar in Thailand and they were both disasters. I didn’t run them my wife and one her friends did. The bar survived for about a year mainly supported by family, friends and the occasional farang drinking there. It could have survived but what did for it and the other bars was the competition of which bar could play the loudest music. At the end of the year it was only a small loss. The guest house was at the lowest end of the market 100 – 150 Bhat per night. The rate attracted farangs as well as Asian people and was usually full every night. I used to enjoy going there in the evening and sharing food and bottle of 100 pipers with the guests. In the end I pulled the plug on it. One night everyone was well over the limit and started confessing to their past sins, one guest was wanted for murder in the U.K., his money running out and wanted to know what he should do; another was on the run from the death penalty in Malaysia. I suppose we broke even on that venture.

What you want to do is more like a “Homestead” venture. I think that could be rewarding but don’t expect to survive on the income it will provide.

[ArtfulD]

I think you misunderstood my reasons for running a guest house. It is merely as a convienient form of business to be able to purchase a property and land. While I would do a extremely limited amount of guests (e.g. friends staying etc) as something to put on my end of year tax results, It would not be a requirement to make any profit at all with the business as I have other income generators offshore. But as I understand it a business generating nothing year in year out can cause scrutiny upon it.

[jhj2000]

I'm sorry, get good legal advice.

[theviking]

You dont have to "run" the guesthouse.

-Start up the company.

-Buy the house/land.

-Write down some numbers for tax purpose.....ex. 180.000/year, for renting a room in a 18mill. house.

If money is not the problem, you not have to actually run the guesthouse.....but you will have to make cashflow in you're company.....but again....thats just numbers

[bonviveur]

Hey Guys

This is also an idea I was playing around with owning (as a freehold) and running a guesthouse as a mean to stay and make a living in the LOS. I know that there is not a lot of money in it but most people I spoke to says they're doing ok, can you someone run a guesthouse and make a good living at it?

Anyone with experience or know someone who ran a guesthouse?