Atlanta Hotel Bangkok

[keepwalking]

Hello,

Looking for any input on whether something is legal here or not.

I went to the Atlanta Hotel Cafe today..Soi 2 Sukhumvit. My guidebook said it was a charming old style hotel cafe with vegetarian food which is good for me. Walked deep into the Soi and eventually found it - not an impressive building but indeed a charming cafe and throwback foyer.

On walking in, there was a big sign saying "sex tourists not welcome". I am not one so thought ok, fair enough, and went in. I sat down in the cafe and was brought the menu and ordered. The menu repeats and explains their policy on sex tourists - it seems admirable enough but is perhaps quite pompously expressed (I cannot remember the phrasing but one part was like "if you do not agree with us you do not matter"). Anyway, that is not my point.

On paying my bill I said to the old lady at the checkout it was a nice cafe. She asked me if I was a tourist - I said no. She asked me where I lived. Also who I lived with. I told her I lived with my girlfriend. She asked if my girlfriend was Thai - I said yes. All this was done with smiles and isnt the weather lovely type atmosphere. She then said I seemed respectable enough and am welcome back but my gf would not be able to come, in fact no Thai people could come with me. Seeking clarity she said it did not depend if man woman old or young - no Thai person.... but another farang would be welcome as long as that person looked respectable. She pointed to the "policy" in the menu about sex tourists...I said "that is not me" but she said it did not matter.

Nonplussedly, I did not start a row but was not best impressed by the fact I could not bring my gf because...what?... she is Thai and may be interpreted by other guests as being a bar girl or similar?

So....is banning Thai customers from the cafe legal? It seems baby out with the bathwater type stuff.......I may try to turn up with a dear old Thai grandpa and granny to test their policy.

[scottyd]

Think of it as a blessing;

You: "Im going out to watch the football"

Wife: "Wait till I get ready, i'm coming with you"

You: "Sorry you are banned"...................goes off and watches football.

[Lucifer]

Book 2 of the most expensive rooms for 4 weeks. Bring a farang friend (for the other room)with you....and your Thai girl friend/s.

Oh the fun.

[Jingthing]

They are protecting their ridiculous brand in the name of high morality. What a crock!

[britmaveric]

Dump of a place, staff are very rude and not sure why anyone would want to stay there let alone eat there.

I've been tempted to plan smth for the dear old Atlantic, but at the end of the day couldnt be bothered because if a place does not want our dosh, and insults our gfs/wives/mates - why should we go there?

[RobotTeacher]

Many guesthouses around KSR Bangkok don't allow Thai guests either. Most tourist accommodation won't allow Thai guests. At least they didn't try to double charge you on the food or beer you might had consumed or get really stupidly rude with you. I've had numerous problems with bars and restaurants in Bangkok and Chiang Mai catering to tourists trying to double charge me where they'll charge me and I pay when serving a beer and then attempt to charge for it again just a few minute later or when I attempt to leave. When in disagreement, Thai people can get very confrontational; putting you in a precarious position should you accidently walk into the wrong situation and argue with them over their corrupt business practice they're applying to you. Some are correctable and some aren't. I would say you can't correct a hotel to change their guest policies, but you can only choose whether you come back or not.

Robots have a hard time too with being accepted at most guesthouses and hotels, but when they prove they too have Thai baht concealed in a pick pocket/scam proof compartment, they're welcomed with a smile, but an electricity surcharge applies. LOL

[t.s]

mate, keepwalking

[oevna]

On paying my bill I said to the old lady at the checkout it was a nice cafe. She asked me if I was a tourist - I said no. She asked me where I lived. Also who I lived with. I told her I lived with my girlfriend. She asked if my girlfriend was Thai - I said yes. All this was done with smiles and isnt the weather lovely type atmosphere. She then said I seemed respectable enough and am welcome back but my gf would not be able to come, in fact no Thai people could come with me. Seeking clarity she said it did not depend if man woman old or young - no Thai person.... but another farang would be welcome as long as that person looked respectable. She pointed to the "policy" in the menu about sex tourists...I said "that is not me" but she said it did not matter.

A friend of mine had a similar experience at that restaurant. I had dinner there once with friends and family, which included one Thai person (a friend's girlfriend). They didn't ask her to leave at that time, however my friend tried to go back there later with his girlfriend (the same woman who they allowed in the first time), and this time the staff would not allow her in because she is Thai.

I have not gone back since. I understand that they have the right to refuse service to anyone, and that is fine with me. But I have Thai friends, and I like to be able to go out and have dinner with them. I won't put them through the indignity of being kicked out of a restaurant in their own country just for being Thai. So for their policy, The Atlanta will lose my business.

[EvilDrSomkid]

This hotel is notorious for being anti sex tourist and anti Thai. I have read stories about them many times.

Somepeople take themselves too seriously. It does go to their head.

Who cares in the end? Heaps of nicer places to go.

[NewLifeNY]

Well if you ever need to:

1) Running away from some Thai Mob trying to kill you, well just enter there and you should be safe....

2) If you are running from your Thai Girlfriend trying to kill you, well just enter there and you should be safe......

So that place has "its good things" too.....

[desertrat]

A Thai lady business owner I know had a meal with a female Singaporean Girl Friend, both in their 40's.

They both spoke in English. When it came to pay the bill, the Thai lady spoke to the crone in question, in

Thai.

She was then interrogated about her relationship with the other lady !

Was told she would not have been served if the crone had known she was Thai.

Go Figger.. my Geordie friend would have said, "She's a heid the ba'"

The Atlanta has had many "faces" in the '70's it was a favorite for hippies and druggies, frequently busted.

[dantilley]

Most tourist accommodation won't allow Thai guests.

Completely untrue.

[ovenman]

The Atlanta Hotel's website is good for a few laughs. Five-star pretensions in what appears to be a one-star property.

[britmaveric]

^1 star is being generous I might add.

[ovenman]

^I was giving them the benefit of the doubt.

[lingnoi34]

I have stayed once (one day) at the Atlanta as everything else was fully booked. It's an old dump...

On another note, the old lady receptionist at Reno Hotel (soi kasemsan rd. 1) has much the same attitude. If a mixed nationality couple walks in she will ask if they have a reservation. If no, she will say "Sorry, fully booked" every time.

LN

[serpentine]

It was one of Bangkok's best kept secrets for 30 years but has gone downhill of the last few. The restaurant was my favorite in the world. The rooms were great value. The staff have all worked there most of there lives and have been groomed by the eccentric arrogant owner or his son. The whole Orwellian propaganda style posters "No Sex Tourists" type posters everywhere is amusing. Although I could see the relevance with it's close proximity to Nana.

It is embarrasing when you meet thai friends there and they do look down on them and interogate, although many thais who do go there understand the eccentric time warp charm of the hotel and grin and bare it.

Most people who were going there understood that it was basically a museum to old colonial style ways, and all guests are expected to honour the Thailand of yesterday. The thing about no thai originating I believe from the fact that unless the girl is your wife, she would have no business accompanying you to a room.

My friends and I have had a ball over the years there pretending we were old snobs from a bygone era, whilst up in or rooms getting drunk as monkeys. A few of the old thai ladies are entertaining. We got one on the wine one night. She was about 60 and it was like drinking with a teenager behind her parents back. She felt rebellious because she sneaked a wine with some white people.

It was often used for film and advertising shoots over the years and judging by the foyer displays some very interesting people have stayed there.

Anyway, remaniscing aside, my favorite hotel in Asia went bad.

A loyal customer had a lot of cash stolen by the cleaning lady (it was locked in a safe but the lady found the key) and the foreign owner played thai and denied it all, even though the guest had been staying there for 10 years and was a favorite customer with all the staff.

Because of this incident they lost the repeat business of at least 20 people instantly.

The diving platform is awesome though. The restaurant is great too except they wont let yu eat there if they don't know you. It's hilarious. I've seen them turn back people when it's empty, because they were not guests.

[Johpa]

Crikey! Are you telling us that the Atlanta is still around?!? I stayed there about 30 years ago and most of the guests were bringing over visitors from the Grace Coffee Shop or the Thermae. The owner use to be some taciturn German guy who did not give a whit that you had to wait 30 minutes for the tap water to come out clear and not brackish. The hotel did have a unique architectural atmosphere that was certainly pre-modern, almost colonial.

[ThaiEye]

Lotus Village in Sukhothai also runs a discriminatory policy towards Thais and especially Thai women. Even though my friends wife is an educated office worker, she wasn't alowed to stay in his room. This is discriminatory and patronizing against both Thai people and foreigners with Thai wives/girlfriends.

Lotus Village Sukhothai

Edited February 22, 2009 by ThaiEye

[Sojourner]

Consider this, my country doesn't want me to bring my Thai g/f with me when I go home. Makes the Atlanta policy look pretty small.

[kiakaha]

If a mixed nationality couple walks in

how about mixed ethnicity then...plenty of caucasians in thailand(holiday or working) are married to 2nd generation Asian-Americans etc... (Asian-New Zealander in my case)

[theoldgit]

Their policy is disgraceful, I think they need to be named and shamed in the national press.

They say "no sex tourists", it's their business and I suppose they can implement their two faced moralistic policy. I would have thought that a foreigner is more likely to be a sex tourist than a local office worker, but the foreign "sex tourist" would be welcome and the local office worker would not be, as I say it's disgraceful.

I for one wouldn't subject my Thai friends to the humiliation of being turned away, oh and I suppose no Thai people would be allowed to work there or supply them.

[keestha]

Times have changed, obviously.

The Atlanta Hotel was the first place where I ever spent the night in Thailand, it was back in 1974. I slept in a dormitory, and I woke up in the middle of the night because the Japanese backpacker in the bed next to mine had chosen to take a lady of the night with him.

As far as the present is concerned, I wonder what would happen if you walked in there with your Thai wife and one or more half Thai children.

[Briggsy]

Long live the Atlanta Hotel. May you never die. An oasis of virtue situated in a veritable cesspit of insatiable greed, unchecked vice and moral vacuum.

Seriously, they should make a movie about a place like this with a square-jawed male lead vanguarding the righteous crusade against depravity on Sukhumvit as personified by an arch-enemy type cum uber-pimp. This part could be played by a fat greasy Chink who despite his great wealth sits in a cluttered and filthy Bangkok shophouse, always garbed in dirty old vest and shorts, accompanied by his goons and obsessed with counting his cash. The hotel manager, on the other hand, would be able to rise above mere financial concerns to a higher plane where he would bring happiness and moral righteousness to the masses.

[theoldgit]

I think the owner is actually a retired Blackpool landlady, the Brits will understand that

[Groongthep]

The restaurant is great too except they wont let yu eat there if they don't know you. It's hilarious. I've seen them turn back people when it's empty, because they were not guests.

Unless the policy has changed in the last few months, any reasonably sober farang is still welcome in the restaurant, guest or not. I often take first time visitor friends to the Atlanta just to show them the lobby and the pool area which, as others have said, are throw-backs to the Bangkok of decades ago and worth a visit if you have never been there before and are in the area.

After looking around we usually go in the restaurant and get something to eat. The food is average, neither particularly good or bad. I have never had a problem from the staff but I have never went with with anyone other than another farang because my Thai friends couldn't care less about the place.

I have never stayed in one of the rooms but I did ask to see one about a year ago. I was curious to see what they where like so I pretended to be interested in booking one. It was indeed a dump.

Edited February 22, 2009 by Groongthep

[sabaijai]

I have stayed once (one day) at the Atlanta as everything else was fully booked. It's an old dump...

On another note, the old lady receptionist at Reno Hotel (soi kasemsan rd. 1) has much the same attitude. If a mixed nationality couple walks in she will ask if they have a reservation. If no, she will say "Sorry, fully booked" every time.

LN

They say the same to me, even when I arrive alone At the Reno it's very difficult to get a room on a walk-in basis as it's fully booked most of the time. I have stayed there with my Thai wife many times, with advance reservations. They do not discriminate against mixed couples; just take a look around the coffeeshop or poolside.

[Jimjim]

Yes I have stumbled across the website of the Atlanta before and while I'm not a sex tourist, whoever runs the place certainly are arrogant pricks. Asking probing questions to determine if you live with a Thai girlfriend just to tell you she is not welcome in their hotel? What <deleted>.

[fruittbatt]

Lured by the retro decor, we made the mistake of staying at the said establishment a few years ago. My younger daughter was here on holiday, so we booked a so-called "family suite". The decor was grim, old, and dreary. The food in the restaurant was toned down for farangs..or was it because spices might incite the evil sexual appetites of the pale-skins?

We all found the "no-sex-tourist" policy and references to "catamites" extremely puzzling as well as offensive. The Atlanta's headline posters about sex-tourists left me questioning what constitutes a sex-tourist. Even people who visit Thailand with the stated object of having as much sex as possible surely do many other things...like visiting shops, internet cafes, tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants, bars..and maybe even temples. So much hysteria about so little...made me wonder if racism was in fact the motivating force behind the hotel's policy.

The night of our stay there was a massive thunderstorm which shook the whole hotel like it was a maracca in the hands of a giant. It was a truly gothic moment. Very scary. I like to think it was the god of gaydom and equal rights wreaking vengeance on this miserable place.

Another interesting sideline is that my daughter (by now truly paranoid about this weird place) claimed she saw a camera in a wall by the swimming pool. She also said that the chlorine in the water seemed way over the normal strength...perhaps to bleach anyone with skin that was slightly too dark for the taste of the management?

[moe666]

The original owner was a old Austrian guy when I stayed there in 1998 no problem bringing a girl in , leave her ID at the counter. I believe he died a few years ago and his son took over and has hired a farang manager. I noticed the heavy hand a few years ago when I took the girl friend up to eat and make a phone call. There were few hard looks and when I shot back this is my wife they backed off. Haven't been back since and will not return.