The Farang Hotel Owners Must Be Making A Fortune...

[Chunky1]

The Thais refuse to lower their prices but farangs know that farang business is #1 so they are surely lowering their prices and making tons of $$$$ during these low tourist dayz.

[Nowhereman60]

Ok, so, are you jealous or something?

[mca]

Heaven forbid somebody in business should make a profit. The very thought of it.

[Ulysses G.]

There are very few tourists. Who is going to rent their rooms?

[Pikey]

Gets my vote for "pointless post of the day". CM is so quiet you could fire a gun down most streets without the risk of hitting anyone. As a business owner dependent on tourism, I'd say we are f*cked for the next few months at least......

Cheers,

Pikey.

[taninthai]

there is so much accomoddation available and competetion in the accomodation market if you haggle and are staying for 5-7 days every resort will lower their price however you need to have tourist to haggle with and there are only a handfull o tourist here now

we have closed our resort for low season now.its just not worth paying staff keeping food in just waiting to get 1 customer for a couple of nights its gonna be a long low season!

[steven100]

Thread closed ..

[JohnnyFeelIt]

I was at JJ market for a few hours on Sunday, coulda counted the foreigners I saw on one hand. 99.999% Thai folk out shopping, and some very good deals to be had, everything heavily discounted. Birkenstocks at 100 baht etc...

[TheKingfisher]

Are you serious....

NO HOTELS owners are making much money at the moment, the entire kingdom is going into the slow season on 30-50% capacity, and that is going to halve again when the rains come.

Not to mention the continuing press about the reds (black shirts) who are possibly going to make trouble.

You want to wish that the hoteliers are making money soon, as the tourism industry and all its up and down stream industries make up about 15% of the countries employment.

Without the hotels full and tourists flooding in at the rate of min 30,000 per day the country’s economy will go belly up, unless manufacturing increases exponentially to make up for the loss of jobs.

It’s not a good time for this country, and it's a real hard time for anyone in this industry.

B

[BigWheelMan]

There are no Farang business owners in Thailand

Take a look at their leases and company registrations, they`re all in Thai names.

Edited May 31, 2010 by BigWheelMan

[kevozman1]

There are no Farang business owners in Thailand

Take a look at their leases and company registrations, they`re all in Thai names.

So as a forienger in Thailand you can not own a business?

I know you can not own land as a foreinger but you do not

need to own land to own a business do you.

[LickersPhuket]

There are no Farang business owners in Thailand

Take a look at their leases and company registrations, they`re all in Thai names.

you sure about that???? wanna see my lease????

[midasthailand]

There are no Farang business owners in Thailand

Take a look at their leases and company registrations, they`re all in Thai names.

So as a forienger in Thailand you can not own a business?

I know you can not own land as a foreinger but you do not

need to own land to own a business do you.

I think if you are from the USA, because of the amity treaty you can own the majority share in a business but for all others you need a majority Thai ownership. This is easily arranged through one of TV's sponsors "Sunbelt" or any other reputable law firm.

[Chunky1]

i have read 1000000 posts about how Thais should lower prices but don't, therefore, all the farang owned businesses lowering prices farang should be cleaning up, no?

[keestha]

Quoting the OP "The Thais refuse to lower their prices but farangs know that farang business is #1 so they are surely lowering their prices and making tons of $$$$ during these low tourist dayz. "

Really not true OP, but you are not the only one who thinks so. Many times I saw inexperienced hotel owners offering crazy prices during the low season, in the illusion they would fill up that way. Banners advertising 300 Baht a night rooms, that kind of thing. It just doesn't work when there are so few tourists around.

Only exception would be hotel rooms sold through package tours - off season offers like 700 Euro for return flight and 2 weeks 4 star hotel, half pension ( breakfast and dinner) included.

If you have a hotel which depends on walk-ins and people booking directly with the hotel, it is really better to charge normal low season prices at roughly 50% the high season price. Going supercheap would lower your turnover, it would attract very little extra customers and the money you make per rented out room would be far less.

Oh and by the way, Thai hotel owners certainly also lower their prices in the off season

Edited May 31, 2010 by keestha

[moe666]

I would venture to say that it will be a year before tourism make a small come back. It is now high season for tourist from the states how many cancelled their plans last month with the red shirt fiasco.

How many people cancelled trips for Nov. and beyond because of uncertanity of what the future holds.

Good luck on the everyday tourist returning any time soon, the bread and butter of Thai tourism.

[Pikey]

There are no Farang business owners in Thailand

Take a look at their leases and company registrations, they`re all in Thai names.

you sure about that???? wanna see my lease????

Lickers, BWM seems to be joyfully pedantic for the sake of it. We all know what we mean but for some, they can't let it pass without nit-picking.

Owner, Thai-proxy owner, whatever, I stand by my original observation that we are all still f*cked businesswise for the coming months.......

Cheers,

Pikey.

[tfc]

The place I'm staying at is farang managed and it's full. Main reason is because the manager has put his prices down to suit. No haggling, no hassles. I feel sorry for those who have hotels that are empty but its just not good business sense to raise the prices. Even if you get the odd person, once they figure out that they are paying too much they won't recommend anyone else. I think the main reason that the place I'm at is full is through recommendations and word of mouth.

[anothertorres]

this was an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal the other day, have a look at this particular response from Minor's CEO:

WSJ: Some hotels across Thailand are reportedly suffering less than 50% occupancy since the protests. What are the most important concrete steps Thailand and its tourism industry need now?

Mr. Heinecke: Business leaders in Thailand need to come together. We need to work very closely with government bodies such as Tourism Authority of Thailand.

It's also very important to avoid any panic-discounting and other such tactics. Reducing our prices will not bring visitors back, but restoring confidence will and it's the long-term strategies that will pave the way to a strong tourism industry in the future.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...dist_smartbrief

[popmybubble]

On a more positive note, the FCO for the UK no longer advises against travel to Bkk & Chiang Mai which will hopefully encourage more people to go ahead with travel plans

[keestha]

The place I'm staying at is farang managed and it's full. Main reason is because the manager has put his prices down to suit.

tfc,

Maybe I am not the only accomodation provider who is curious now whereabouts in Thailand this place is, and roughly how many rooms they have.

Am I right in guessing it is probably in a place like Bangkok, which even in the low season has a high volume of tourists?

[thaiman]

I'd be surprised if any farang could actually make a Fortune in any "legal"business in Thailand!

[witold]

I love reading business advice from people who mostly have never operated any business themselves. Thais have been doing excellent in Tourism industry and milking tourists for every dime with tourism growing by leaps and bounds every decade. Yet, TV guys still think they are not good business people because they have some crack pot idea that is not implemented by some random place.

Either way, that Farang operated hotel is actually owned by Thais! So Thais are cleaning up either way. haha.

[anotheruser]

i have read 1000000 posts about how Thais should lower prices but don't, therefore, all the farang owned businesses lowering prices farang should be cleaning up, no?

You seem to be missing the point that there are no tourists around to "clean up" on at the moment.

[roamer]

Nothing like a post with nothing to back it up.

If you know where to look there are some great bargains to be had, including Bangkok and appeals to owners not to lower their prices have fallen on deaf ears in many cases. Contrary to some of the opinions expressed above they know that to capture the limited number of arrivals by lowering prices enables them to keep their heads above water and the staff paid. On sites like Latestays I'm seeing 30% often 50% discount on this time last year.

No doubt a 300B flophouse last year is still a 300B flophouse today.

Edited June 1, 2010 by roamer

[bangon04]

The place I'm staying at is farang managed and it's full. Main reason is because the manager has put his prices down to suit.

tfc,

Maybe I am not the only accomodation provider who is curious now whereabouts in Thailand this place is, and roughly how many rooms they have.

Am I right in guessing it is probably in a place like Bangkok, which even in the low season has a high volume of tourists?

Surely one of the ways special pricing / discounting can work is through the many internet comparison sites eg AsiaRooms, since this is becoming a major source of bookings. A previous poster has stated that walk-ins are less influenced by a poster/banner outside the door.

The budget hotels are competing on price, the luxury hotels are competing more on facilities / location. Even when the Intercontinental in Bangkok was nearly empty, they were giving upgrades for free but not lowering prices.

[rixalex]

i have read 1000000 posts about how Thais should lower prices but don't, therefore, all the farang owned businesses lowering prices farang should be cleaning up, no?

Why be faffing around with the insinuations? Why not make your accusation directly? Do you lack the courage of your conviction?

You think that foreigners who complain about Thais not lowering prices when business is slack are hypocrites because in the same situation, the foreigner wouldn't / doesn't lower them either. Right?

[powderpuff]

I wonder if "Chunky" knows one farang hotel owner?

Are you a 2 week millionaire?

[whistleblower]

There are no Farang business owners in Thailand

Take a look at their leases and company registrations, they`re all in Thai names.

So as a forienger in Thailand you can not own a business?

I know you can not own land as a foreinger but you do not

need to own land to own a business do you.

I think if you are from the USA, because of the amity treaty you can own the majority share in a business but for all others you need a majority Thai ownership. This is easily arranged through one of TV's sponsors "Sunbelt" or any other reputable law firm.

"sunbelt" and "reputable" in the same sentence made me piss my pants with laughter!

[BWPattaya]

Two things occur to me.

One, Thais often raise prices to cover for their losses. For example, a house for rent is empty for a long time, so in order to make up the loss they raise the rent.

Two, if a hotel or guesthouse offers a low rate to someone who walks in and I were staying there I would want a refund. Why should a regular or someone who booked earlier pay more than someone asking for a discount? It can backfire on the owner.