Shangrila Hotel Dual Pricing For Brits

[poohy]

Although a daily reader I have never posted, however today i feel compelled to do so

I have lived here for 9 years and work in the inbound tourist industry, with full work permit etc

Today a contact wished to book the aforsaid hotel so i contacted my booking agent, the first question I was asked was the nationality (attached is skype conversation)

What Nationality are they?

Not Thai does that help?

No, but if they're British they pay a lot more...

really why?

They tear the place down and are always drunk

or so they seem to think

Anyway their best price to us today is ***** Baht/room/night for British citizens

and **** Baht for most others

both include breakfast

cheers i think they will probably be told to stuff it

Needless to say the British price was 2000 baht more then other nationalities

Why do Thais especially in the touist sector insist on shooting themseves in the feet?

[GraBangkok]

Here we go

Another Brit bashing thread

[hansnl]

Although a daily reader I have never posted, however today i feel compelled to do so

I have lived here for 9 years and work in the inbound tourist industry, with full work permit etc

Today a contact wished to book the aforsaid hotel so i contacted my booking agent, the first question I was asked was the nationality (attached is skype conversation)

What Nationality are they?

Not Thai does that help?

No, but if they're British they pay a lot more...

really why?

They tear the place down and are always drunk

or so they seem to think

Anyway their best price to us today is ***** Baht/room/night for British citizens

and **** Baht for most others

both include breakfast

cheers i think they will probably be told to stuff it

Needless to say the British price was 2000 baht more then other nationalities

Why do Thais especially in the touist sector insist on shooting themseves in the feet?

Why specially in the tourist sector?

[alant]

it is rather worrying if we brits have actually created this situation and an hotel doesnt really want brits to stay. i dont see this as another farang fleece, it is way to specific. worth finding out what actually happened.

[robbiecia]

At least they are yobs with 5 star taste.

[SantiSuk]

Are we talking Shangri-La Bangkok, that one on the Chao Praya. I used to run Asia-Pac conferences there. Surely it's a businessman's hotel and way too expensive for pillocks.

Or is there some Shangri-la on a soi off walking street?

[poohy]

Are we talking Shangri-La Bangkok, that one on the Chao Praya. I used to run Asia-Pac conferences there. Surely it's a businessman's hotel and way too expensive for pillocks.

Or is there some Shangri-la on a soi off walking street?

No its Definitley Shangrila Bangkok on the Chao phraya, at their rates I too am suprised drunken "yobs" of any nationality can afford or more to the point would want to stay there, as its not overly close to any of the the entertainment areas

[bkkjames]

I call troll.

Not a flying chance in world that Shang would discriminate against brits or anyone else. Perhaps the OP can tell us who the agent who said this was.

Anything in terms of proof in writing?

[poohy]

I call troll.

Not a flying chance in world that Shang would discriminate against brits or anyone else. Perhaps the OP can tell us who the agent who said this was.

Anything in terms of proof in writing?

[12:57:37 PM] did you get a price for the shan gorilla? mr ****

[1:35:10 PM] What Nationality are they?

[1:36:56 PM] not thai does that help

[1:37:20 PM] No, but if they're British they pay a lot more...

[1:37:32 PM] really why

[1:38:00 PM] They tear the place down and are always drunk

[1:38:10 PM] or so they seem to think

[1:38:19 PM] let me check

[1:40:29 PM] : Anyway their best price to us today is **** Baht/room/night for British citizens

[1:40:38 PM] and **** Baht for most others

both include breakfast

[1:41:23 PM] cheers i think they will probably be told to stuff it

[1:41:40 PM] ok

And the skype ? obvously names,etc have to be deleted for privacy)

I am certainly not a troll, although I am fat and cuddly. I rarely deal with this hotel and have never stayed there so I have no real bone to pick. It just seemed strange on the day i instructed my booking agent to book a room I was questioned re my clients nationality" before a rate could be given, and then "we Britsh" have to pay 2k more than all and sundry because of the hotels perception. My main concern was in a time when all hotels are having very low occupancy such policies exist, dont they want business?

Lastly The clients are staying in another 5 star hotel elsewhere in Bangkok, I do hope they do not smash anything up

[bojo]

Lastly The clients are staying in another 5 star hotel elsewhere in Bangkok, I do hope they do not smash anything up !!!!!!!................. Excellent!

Touche (I'm sorry I don't have a French keyboard)

Regards Bojo

[jonclark]

Should have asked if you, being a Brit, would have got a refund of the difference if you didn't get drunk and didn't trash the place during your stay. And if not, what the heck live up to the reputation, get pissed trash the place and tell em it was worth the extra just to defecate in the sink and throw the tele out the window.

[PatinBKk]

Everyone I know that stayed there said it is a s**thole anyway and would never go there again....Dusit is far better

[phetaroi]

it is rather worrying if we brits have actually created this situation and an hotel doesnt really want brits to stay. i dont see this as another farang fleece, it is way to specific. worth finding out what actually happened.

While double-pricing doesn't drive me crazy the way it does some, I don't really think it's a good idea. I am glad to see that you worry that Brits have contributed to the problem. As an American, I offer worry when I see Americans acting the role of the "ugly American". I think that what bothers me is that there must be many, many Brits -- married couples, families -- that never cause a bit of a problem and are probably delightful.

[phetaroi]

Everyone I know that stayed there said it is a s**thole anyway and would never go there again....Dusit is far better

Sour grapes. It's hardly what you described. Maybe you're the type they're discriminating about.

[flightcrew1]

I don't believe it for a moment, but not saying the conversation on skype did not take place. The Shangrila hotel on the river is not a party hotel and in all my years in Bangkok I've never seen drunken yobs or otherwise in the hotel.

The OP mentioned that he was skyping with a booking agent and not the hotel directly. Perhaps the booking agent was trying to steer him towards another hotel as the Shangrila does not give a good commission or he has had or they have had problems with this particular agent in the past.

[timekeeper]

Everyone I know that stayed there said it is a s**thole anyway and would never go there again....Dusit is far better

i have stayed at both hotels, IMHO, the Dusit is not better than the Shangrila but the Peninsula is better than both of them

[bkkjames]

I call troll.

Not a flying chance in world that Shang would discriminate against brits or anyone else. Perhaps the OP can tell us who the agent who said this was.

Anything in terms of proof in writing?

[12:57:37 PM] did you get a price for the shan gorilla? mr ****

[1:35:10 PM] What Nationality are they?

[1:36:56 PM] not thai does that help

[1:37:20 PM] No, but if they're British they pay a lot more...

[1:37:32 PM] really why

[1:38:00 PM] They tear the place down and are always drunk

[1:38:10 PM] or so they seem to think

[1:38:19 PM] let me check

[1:40:29 PM] : Anyway their best price to us today is **** Baht/room/night for British citizens

[1:40:38 PM] and **** Baht for most others

both include breakfast

[1:41:23 PM] cheers i think they will probably be told to stuff it

[1:41:40 PM] ok

And the skype ? obvously names,etc have to be deleted for privacy)

I am certainly not a troll, although I am fat and cuddly. I rarely deal with this hotel and have never stayed there so I have no real bone to pick. It just seemed strange on the day i instructed my booking agent to book a room I was questioned re my clients nationality" before a rate could be given, and then "we Britsh" have to pay 2k more than all and sundry because of the hotels perception. My main concern was in a time when all hotels are having very low occupancy such policies exist, dont they want business?

Lastly The clients are staying in another 5 star hotel elsewhere in Bangkok, I do hope they do not smash anything up

so tell us what agent is saying this via skype.

[PattayaParent]

It's probably beacuse The Who and The Rolling Stones stayed there at one time.

[imaneggspurt]

Sounds like a crock to me posted by someone with a greivance on this hotel, normally companies are getting the bill anyway, and i doubt 90 per cent of guests even ask the price,,as for drunken brit types, dont they head straight for pattaya,? i would,

[poohy]

Sounds like a crock to me posted by someone with a greivance on this hotel, normally companies are getting the bill anyway, and i doubt 90 per cent of guests even ask the price,,as for drunken brit types, dont they head straight for pattaya,? i would,

I have no greivance with the hotel because as you are correctly state I was getting the bill not the client, but consequently I have to know how much I am getting charged before I charge my clients can you imagine what would happen to my profits if i was suddenly handed a bill for an extra 2k per room per night because the booking was the wrong nationality and incurred a surchage.

[GraBangkok]

Sounds like a crock to me posted by someone with a greivance on this hotel, normally companies are getting the bill anyway, and i doubt 90 per cent of guests even ask the price,,as for drunken brit types, dont they head straight for pattaya,? i would,

I have no greivance with the hotel because as you are correctly state I was getting the bill not the client, but consequently I have to know how much I am getting charged before I charge my clients can you imagine what would happen to my profits if i was suddenly handed a bill for an extra 2k per room per night because the booking was the wrong nationality and incurred a surchage.

so tell us what agent is saying this via skype.

Difficult Question is it?

[poohy]

Sounds like a crock to me posted by someone with a greivance on this hotel, normally companies are getting the bill anyway, and i doubt 90 per cent of guests even ask the price,,as for drunken brit types, dont they head straight for pattaya,? i would,

I have no greivance with the hotel because as you are correctly state I was getting the bill not the client, but consequently I have to know how much I am getting charged before I charge my clients can you imagine what would happen to my profits if i was suddenly handed a bill for an extra 2k per room per night because the booking was the wrong nationality and incurred a surchage.

so tell us what agent is saying this via skype.

Difficult Question is it?

Not really, most other people seemed to understand without the aid of drawings

Anyway to summarise... the agent said its going to cost me 2K more room per night to put Brit pax into this hotel as oppposed to other nationalities

obvously this could have affected MY profit margins hence my concern!

Now I know the excess on Brits here if i get anymore requests I can just factor this cost in and take their cash, or steer the clients to a more Brit friendly hotel

[GraBangkok]

Sounds like a crock to me posted by someone with a greivance on this hotel, normally companies are getting the bill anyway, and i doubt 90 per cent of guests even ask the price,,as for drunken brit types, dont they head straight for pattaya,? i would,

I have no greivance with the hotel because as you are correctly state I was getting the bill not the client, but consequently I have to know how much I am getting charged before I charge my clients can you imagine what would happen to my profits if i was suddenly handed a bill for an extra 2k per room per night because the booking was the wrong nationality and incurred a surchage.

so tell us what agent is saying this via skype.

Difficult Question is it?

Not really, most other people seemed to understand without the aid of drawings

Anyway to summarise... the agent said its going to cost me 2K more room per night to put Brit pax into this hotel as oppposed to other nationalities

obvously this could have affected MY profit margins hence my concern!

Now I know the excess on Brits here if i get anymore requests I can just factor this cost in and take their cash, or steer the clients to a more Brit friendly hotel

Don't think anybody on TV needs drawings to understand you mate

And why do you keep repeating yourself?

so tell us what agent is saying this via skype.

What don't you understand

ppl on here would like to confirm what you are saying

Now that should be clear even to you

[IMA_FARANG]

it is rather worrying if we brits have actually created this situation and an hotel doesnt really want brits to stay. i dont see this as another farang fleece, it is way to specific. worth finding out what actually happened.

While double-pricing doesn't drive me crazy the way it does some, I don't really think it's a good idea. I am glad to see that you worry that Brits have contributed to the problem. As an American, I offer worry when I see Americans acting the role of the "ugly American". I think that what bothers me is that there must be many, many Brits -- married couples, families -- that never cause a bit of a problem and are probably delightful.

You're absolutely right...not only from Brits but also other nationalities. The 99% of farang tourist that come to Thailand act with courtesy and discretion....but that 1% that act otherwise is what sticks in the memory of the Thais that see their bad behavior. I've seen Brits, Aussies, Americans, and Germans that act like mindless yahoos when they go on vacation to Thailand....in a way they would never do back in the home country...and with the type of behaviour they would not tolerate from a foriegner in their own country.

Maybe they just lose their good judgement when they get away from home.

[flightcrew1]

Being curious I just called the hotel directly. Many rates available and promotions as well. Being British does not give you a higher rate, same as American, Irish or French (I asked). Being Thai or a resident expat here does give you a better rate though.

[poohy]

Being curious I just called the hotel directly. Many rates available and promotions as well. Being British does not give you a higher rate, same as American, Irish or French (I asked). Being Thai or a resident expat here does give you a better rate though.

Flightcrew Very interesting and thanks !

I have passed this snippet onto my Thai partner agent who will no doubt be in touch with the bulk hotel booking agent (we do not deal with hotel direct unless we have large allotments of rooms) to find out why we we quoted a differing rate yesterday.

lets see what they say now

cheers

[poohy]

Being curious I just called the hotel directly. Many rates available and promotions as well. Being British does not give you a higher rate, same as American, Irish or French (I asked). Being Thai or a resident expat here does give you a better rate though.

Flightcrew Very interesting and thanks !

I have passed this snippet onto my Thai partner agent who will no doubt be in touch with the bulk hotel booking agent (we do not deal with hotel direct unless we have large allotments of rooms) to find out why we we quoted a differing rate yesterday.

lets see what they say now

cheers

last word on the matter, as I doubt we will ever get to the bottom of this

I have just spoken to my Thai travel agent partner whom I assumed was using a bulk hotel booking service as this hotel is not one we book or use regularly,I will not give my agencies name suffice to say it been running in Bangkok and throughout Thailand since the early seventies and I have had close relationship with for 9 years, when we have carried around 3000 to 4000 inbound pax per year so when i make business they too make money

Anyway the bottom line is they called the hotel directly , and this is where the information came from

all very strange and time for a beer and time to go out a break and break few things !!

[GraBangkok]

Very strange indeed and a funny smell

Wonder what it is

It is a shame when you first found out about the extra 2.000 for Brits you didn't call the hotel yourself to confirm and before you posted it on TV

That way the you would not have now Pooh, maybe that's the smell

Your right though about a beer, gota bad tast in my mouth

[russianrobert]

I call troll.

Not a flying chance in world that Shang would discriminate against brits or anyone else. Perhaps the OP can tell us who the agent who said this was.

Anything in terms of proof in writing?

[12:57:37 PM] did you get a price for the shan gorilla? mr ****

[1:35:10 PM] What Nationality are they?

[1:36:56 PM] not thai does that help

[1:37:20 PM] No, but if they're British they pay a lot more...

[1:37:32 PM] really why

[1:38:00 PM] They tear the place down and are always drunk

[1:38:10 PM] or so they seem to think

[1:38:19 PM] let me check

[1:40:29 PM] : Anyway their best price to us today is **** Baht/room/night for British citizens

[1:40:38 PM] and **** Baht for most others

both include breakfast

[1:41:23 PM] cheers i think they will probably be told to stuff it

[1:41:40 PM] ok

And the skype ? obvously names,etc have to be deleted for privacy)

I am certainly not a troll, although I am fat and cuddly. I rarely deal with this hotel and have never stayed there so I have no real bone to pick. It just seemed strange on the day i instructed my booking agent to book a room I was questioned re my clients nationality" before a rate could be given, and then "we Britsh" have to pay 2k more than all and sundry because of the hotels perception. My main concern was in a time when all hotels are having very low occupancy such policies exist, dont they want business?

Lastly The clients are staying in another 5 star hotel elsewhere in Bangkok, I do hope they do not smash anything up

You sure it's not the agaent trying to scam an exra 2000 bht? I really don't beleive Shangrila would have such a policy. It would be suicidal.

[hansnl]

Why is it that so many of us always seem to want to kill the messenger?

Why is it that so many of us try to make somebody foolish who just wants to tell us what happened to him?

Why always assume that people tell fantasies?

Most of us live in this country and know anything is possible, nothing is too much.

I guess the man just told the truth, and was angry or shocked.

Why the unholy pressing for names?

All going out to check if he man tells the truth?

It does not really matter if the agent or the hotel singled out a nationality to charge an extra 2000.

Of course, being in the business he cannot tell names, would be the end of the business.

Many of us are victims of double pricing, farang pricing, whatever you want to call it.

If I am a victim of this stupid behaviour, I will not keep silent.

I turn around, and leave!

I will inform anyone who wants to hear.

And maybe take away a lot of customers from this enterprise.

And in this time, it will hurt.

On the other hand, if I am treated in the same way as Thai customers, I will try to give more business to the business, and tll others.