Pattaya To Woo Visitors With Free Rooms

[marsteele]

Pattaya has been going on now for years about being family city and wants to get away from the sex image

So It would be a logical step to give free room or even a pay for 4 and get 3 free in the better quality hotels to families

What is a family

A couple with a child or children under the age of 15

Puts a stop to the sex tourist getting free accommodation

Maybe your right and no one will take them up on this

But you have to be in it to win

Pattaya is not a family city and never will be until they get rid of the sex tourists. They will have to do more than just offer free rooms to get decent people with families there. Who is going to spend more a family of 5 or one sex offender.

[SoiGirlHunter]

>>>Thailand is still a paradise for single men (or those who live like they are single)

you rang

c'mon u must miss it. I am sure if your wife gave u the green light u would hunt.

[huskerpr]

I am coming to Pattaya on May 1st for 10 days, I have contacted the hotel I have booked, however they are offering no such discounts. Can you guide me to the hotels participating and/or the tourism board. Thank you!

[balo]

[

Pattaya is not a family city and never will be until they get rid of the sex tourists. They will have to do more than just offer free rooms to get decent people with families there. Who is going to spend more a family of 5 or one sex offender.

It depends on where you stay with the family , theres a lot of activities for families in the Pattaya area , just avoid the bars and you'll have a nice family holiday.

[webfact]

[

Pattaya is not a family city and never will be until they get rid of the sex tourists. They will have to do more than just offer free rooms to get decent people with families there. Who is going to spend more a family of 5 or one sex offender.

It depends on where you stay with the family , theres a lot of activities for families in the Pattaya area , just avoid the bars and you'll have a nice family holiday.

I'll second that if you remain in the Jomtien/Bangsarey area.

[teacherhh]

Index mall is famous for this, we bought a small item for 200 baht regular price, the next week we went to the 60-80% sale and the same item was 250 baht on offer!! so where so many other topped up prices.

buyer beware!!

[David006]

And who will benefit?

Suspect our local "Cheap Charlie's"/balloon chasers will soon find a way of milking the system, genuine tourists will not get a look in.

My thoughts exactly.

amongst these "balloon chasers" you can find quite a bunch of financially well stuffed folks... who can buy the entire "balloon premises" easily without even thinking about their bank balance.. I've met a few!

/additions made webfact

This story is a paper seller....light on facts and high sensationalism...where do they get this crap. Sounds like the weather news here."be careful there is going to be flooding and an early rainy season...take care you not get in mudslide..!" large pinch of chilli and another pint .....

.the only way you can expect fair pricing is to shop around and use your gf/wife's cousin/relative/friend to book or buy...

just relax, enjoy life in LOS and look out for the "smiling" moon tonight...its free!

[animatic]

Free room, one beer, free womb service.

That will pack them in.

[ironhut]

Free rooms?

Is this kind of like when the airlines sometimes have free (or 100 THB) flights and you only have to pay the taxes and fuel charge...and end up spending a minimum of 5000 THB per ticket?

I could see this happening where you pay for the taxes and some other things.

NO WAY will these rooms be totally free all over the city for 5 months.

[Rainmon]

OK since no one else has bothered to explain "Balloon Chasers" bars that are having a free BBQ or some special deal to put balloons up outside the bar. It is not unusual in places like Pattaya (with thousands of bars) to have several bars putting on free food because it's the owners birthday or some other auspicious event. Often when bars do this they find themselves invaded by "Balloon chasers" whose only motivation is to indulge in a free meal/cheap drinks or both.

wheres the party tonight, I haven't eaten in 2 days???

thank for explanation! everyone here who is a balloon chaser please post where to go eat the free food to go with the free rooms this week, cheers...

Edited April 22, 2009 by Rainmon

[bob6023]

If thai gov't was serious they would devalue the bht to 40 to 1 USD.

[wanderluster]

FREE ROOMS WITH THE MANDATORY PURCHASE OF BREAKFAST, AT THE DISCOUNTED RATE OF ONLY 2000 BAHT

[anon467367354]

Maybe the police will also join the scheme, reducing normal no receipt fines by 50% for those who do not break any laws!

oiee!

[antony77]

I've seen these free room offers before. Free room but with taxes 17% and compulsory breakfast at Bt650 per person

[Stuart8]

Well when I go to Thailand I am a tourist. Threre are two things that would encourage me to travel there again, apart from poitical stability. Cheaper flights would be the first. Flights have been steadily increasing in cost over the last few years. Secondly a devaluation of the Thai Baht as bob says. That would bring the cost of everything back to where it had been a couple of years ago, and would benefit the Thai economy.

Edited April 22, 2009 by Stuart8

[Rainmon]

Seriously Thailand will have to do something to get tourism to return, I don't think Pattaya will have any problems except for the normal down turn in low season and it will be even slower with the world economy down so much.

I would imagine that some of the regular guys that go to Pattaya will stay home this year NOT because of the political problemsm but because they lost their jobs back home and cannot afford to go anywhere...

[fredythehound]

devalue the baht,last year baht 1000 = 16 pounds now 1000 baht 20 pounds,india and other nations have stoped buying rice ect from thai as thier currencies have devaluled and thai baht not keeping in line with rest of world

[DonGato]

Are this the same "tells" of 50% off in Thai Airways?... Yeah right!

[marsteele]

[

Pattaya is not a family city and never will be until they get rid of the sex tourists. They will have to do more than just offer free rooms to get decent people with families there. Who is going to spend more a family of 5 or one sex offender.

It depends on where you stay with the family , theres a lot of activities for families in the Pattaya area , just avoid the bars and you'll have a nice family holiday.

Activities for families what running and hidding from those that crawl the streets there looking for children. I know a lot of thai families who vow that they would never take thier children near Pattaya. Sorry I don't think so not Pattaya or any of the beach areas in Thailand we take our children overseas where it is safe for families.

[marsteele]

[

Pattaya is not a family city and never will be until they get rid of the sex tourists. They will have to do more than just offer free rooms to get decent people with families there. Who is going to spend more a family of 5 or one sex offender.

It depends on where you stay with the family , theres a lot of activities for families in the Pattaya area , just avoid the bars and you'll have a nice family holiday.

I'll second that if you remain in the Jomtien/Bangsarey area.

so you are saying a family has to stay in one area because it is to dangerous to move around ? That is exactly what I have been told and that is why you do not get the families going there just the sicko's

[BlueSmurf]

devalue the baht,last year baht 1000 = 16 pounds now 1000 baht 20 pounds,india and other nations have stoped buying rice ect from thai as thier currencies have devaluled and thai baht not keeping in line with rest of world

You are completely correct .The baht needs to be devalued before it goes into freefall.factories have closed and are still closing.A devalued baht by 20/25% will make Thai products cheaper.The weaker baht will offer more value for tourists and encougage them to travel here.. The only disadvantage to this would be that the cost of fuel will go up but its cheaper now than for a long time and will not hurt so much.The weaker baht will effect imports but the average thai does not buy imported goods..To help wilt the cost of imports the import duties which are extremely high could be lowered..It would be better to do this and have some tourists and be able to export thai products than to just hope things will get better...

But we all know what is happenning , prices are up, services do not get better and as for FREE ROMMS well the only way to qualify will be to book to come here from abroad with the room included....I live in the north and yes I will come down if the room is free.Yes The weaker baht will help me come here instead of going to phuket which is getting really silly on prices..I.E small beers in Bangla road 150 baht!! Thank God for seven /eleven!!

Oh yes I'am in Pattaya now and bar fines waived that would be good news as well!!!

[Asianrider]

the Thai authorities great at releasing these attention grabbing headlines, forgive me if i'm cynical that many farang customers will be getting free rooms -

[BlueSmurf]

jeez.......i have never come across a more miserably negative group of bloggers in my lifetime! piss and moan....piss and moan is all you guys ever do.....ever think about moving back to your home country? I will continue to travel to Thailand (it is hardly 'unsafe' in comparison to most countries with more 'stable' governments) and I will even go to Pattaya next month and spend my money.......

You are welcome! Please spend as much as you can and you may make some of us feel better. But if you want an answer to your question notice that many of us live here as against "travelling to Thailand". Maybe that has something to do with the ammount of winning we have to do to cheer ourselves up :-) And as a matter of fact many of us think a lot of going back to home countries, many already did and many will although we don't necessary feel unsafe here as well and still enjoy "occasional" visit to the bar or some other touristy ativity ;-)

Yes, I have thought about it long and hard and my one way ticket out is for May 4th (12 Days from now). I am taking my wife and daughter with me (on a one way ticket as well). I have lived in Thailand for about eight years now and had nothing but good things to say about Thailand the first couple of years I was here. My views have changed since. There are still many good things here, but the negatives outweigh the positives for us.

As for safety, it was never a concern of mine. I still think that Thailand is one of the safest countries in the World to live in. Cost of living is fairly low, if you live by Thai standards, but if you like your Western Food (and drinks), like me and if you like a proper Sealy bed to sleep in and an automatic washing machine and dryer, etc. etc., you will find the cost of living to be actually higher in this country.

At 50 years old, living in a bamboo hut, just doesn't have the same romantic appeal anymore, as it had 30 years ago.

Thailand is still a paradise for single men (or those who live like they are single), but those days are over for me and to be honest, I don't miss them.

So what would hold me here? Certainly not the beaches filled with plastic and garbage, the smog and burning in Chiang Mai, from December until April, the unfriendly visa laws, the double standards and pricing for foreigners, the $5 ATM charges from both ends, the poor exchange rates, mechanics and builders who know little but pretend to know everything better than us, the land ownership and business laws restricting foreign ownership, the poor quality of Asian made appliances, (or the high duties on the quality ones imported)....

Yes, if I was younger, I would probably be putting up with it all and thinking it was fun. After all, I used to enjoy living on the beaches of Tulum in a bamboo hut, or hanging my hammock between two mango trees for $2 a day, but I am not that young anymore and the fun has gone out of it. As for the backpackers, who still enjoy these things...well guess what....Thailand doesn't want them...they call them "Farang Khii Nok" Farang - That's you, the foreigner Khii = SH*t and Nok = Bird.

So, as I see it, they are shooting themselves in the foot. They are biting the hand that has been feeding them for many years now.

As for the Auto Industry, lets get realistic...The US and Canada aren't going to dump trillions of dollars into bailouts, to see the jobs go to Asia. These bailouts are a way to get around Global Free Trade. They help North America to re-tool and revamp the whole auto industry and to become competitive again.

Overall, I think we will see a lot more global Protectionism. I think the times of Western Money flowing so freely into Asia, in order to buy sub-standard products from Countries like Thailand, will come to an end soon.

Even in my own business...most of my textiles are now being produced in Indonesia, because it was just too difficult to have consistent quality come out of Thailand. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but it's hard to find and hard to maintain here.

So yes, aside from the occational visit to my wife's family every few years, there is no reason for us to return to Thailand any time soon. This was my last year of production in Thailand. All of my operations are now in Indonesia.

I am just one of the Expats leaving. I'm sure we could start a thread about it and you will see hundreds of posts. Maybe different stories, but the same end result. More people are leaving Thailand than there are moving here and this is not a good trend for Thailand, because Baby Boomers are looking for a place to retire and a lot of them are looking right now.

I'm an Expat, not a tourist, but in the years, I lived here, many tourists came to visit us, as a result of us being here and saying nice things about Thailand. I think for every Expat leaving, you can count on at least one or two new tourists a year, not coming here.

Good post...Honest and to the point especially about what we who live here may say now to others..As with you I still believe its safer here than where I come from but its not the land of smiles anymore!!!!!

[Navalator]

I think this could prejudice those tourists who have booked & paid in advance,surely these guests are those that the hotels wish to secure,the return market is the key to success.

The "Return Market" concept is not one seemingly understood by Thai tourism operators. "Soak the Tourist" however is well understood and practiced thus assuring no need for the return market idea. The two tiered admission fee concept is also well understood by tourist trap operators and thug taxi drivers who have no regard for the "return trade" idea. The Thai tourist business is constantly shooting itself in the foot! Perhaps the current world economic panic will drive these people out of business. Good riddance!

[thaimate]

whenever the supermarkets have a two for one,why does the price double? and when the promotion is over the price of a single item goes up .

just got some small toms from carefour ,cost originally 21 baht ,two for one promotion 36 baht. do they think we dont notice?

[SNGLIFE]

Pfffffft....

Free hotel room BUT the water in the refrigerator is THB 1000 per day. lol

[marsteele]

whenever the supermarkets have a two for one,why does the price double? and when the promotion is over the price of a single item goes up .

just got some small toms from carefour ,cost originally 21 baht ,two for one promotion 36 baht. do they think we dont notice?

Crefour is French company not thai

[MaiChai]

Reality is that the rest of the world is in recession and people are either being made unemployed or are worried about it. Thus they stop spending and keep their money. That means expensive long haul holidays are dropped in preference for either holiday at home or closer to home.

For us Brits we have been hit by currency problems and Thailand is much more expensive for us. I try to do the same for the same amount as before and that means we cut corners; luxuries go and we look for cheaper ways to do the same thing. The end result is we have less cash to flash around and we look for more value. That means Thai prices are analized more closely before we spend. Thailand needs to learn about value for money because there is no way we farangs are going to spend like before. Luckily we do have the big supermarkets where we can get value for money. Other destinations look more attractive like the Phillipines/Cambodia/Vietnam/Indonesia; all these places now have a cheaper cost of living.

Cheap/free hotel rooms won't work. You have to get the foreigners here first and the big cost is the flight and not hotel rooms. Fuel is cheaper now but flights are still expensive.

Someone mentioned going back home; I did this and really enjoyed being back in my home country. All those issues that bug you about Thailand go away and alot of things can be bought at home more cheaply (and with better quality) than here. Its also nice to be an equal citizen again without all the reduced rights!

[whitfield]

What a cynical old lot you all are. Almost certainly 1 Free Night for every night paid.

Any way I am coming over on 30 April for 5 nights for Top of the Gulf Regatta. Loads of yachties in town. That should cheer the girls up.

[Orac]

[

Pattaya is not a family city and never will be until they get rid of the sex tourists. They will have to do more than just offer free rooms to get decent people with families there. Who is going to spend more a family of 5 or one sex offender.

It depends on where you stay with the family , theres a lot of activities for families in the Pattaya area , just avoid the bars and you'll have a nice family holiday.

I'll second that if you remain in the Jomtien/Bangsarey area.

so you are saying a family has to stay in one area because it is to dangerous to move around ? That is exactly what I have been told and that is why you do not get the families going there just the sicko's

For someone who has never been to Pattaya and clearly doesn't know the geography you seem to have some strong opinions.