Visiting Bkk With Your Thai Wife

[Limbo]

Loo-krung (children of a farang-Thai couple) are still very popular. There is hardly a popular series on television without one of the actors being halfbreed.

But what about their parents?

A good friend (foreigner) married to a Thai wife went with her, accompagnied by their three year old daughter to Bangkok to visit a trade-fair. Together they run a firm with more than forty employees (in Northern Thailand).

After a car ride of about 11 hours their story got almost biblical dimensions:

There was no place in the lodge!

First they tried the Pratunan Park Hotel. They were rudely told that there were no vacant rooms and the staff turned their back on them.

The Byoke Sky Hotel gave the same story, but in a more polite way.

The First Hotel offered hope. My friend went in alone, asked for a room with a big bed so that the daughter could sleep inbetween them. They had, no problem at all.

Untill his wife and daughter came in. Also that room was suddenly gone!

This was their welcome to Bangkok. Extremely embarrasing, especially for the Thai wife of my friend. To be refused a room in your own country ...

Standing there, tired after a long journey with a sleeping child on your arm.

Is this a general policy in certain categories of hotels in Bangkok (these hotels charge around 2500 Baht for a room)?

Limbo

[chico]

same post twice !

any reason?

[Limbo]

same post twice !

any reason?

Yes indeed.

After posting it in the general forum I realized that for obvious reasons the local Bangkok Forum would have been the better choice.

My mistake.

Thanks for your reply.

Limbo.

[Joey Boy]

maybe they were full?

[DJ Pat]

I think you ought to be a bit ruder in this situation, it worked wonders for me and my GF

[The Philosopher]

Loo-krung (children of a farang-Thai couple) are still very popular. There is hardly a popular series on television without one of the actors being halfbreed.

But what about their parents?

A good friend (foreigner) married to a Thai wife went with her, accompagnied by their three year old daughter to Bangkok to visit a trade-fair. Together they run a firm with more than forty employees (in Northern Thailand).

After a car ride of about 11 hours their story got almost biblical dimensions:

There was no place in the lodge!

First they tried the Pratunan Park Hotel. They were rudely told that there were no vacant rooms and the staff turned their back on them.

The Byoke Sky Hotel gave the same story, but in a more polite way.

The First Hotel offered hope. My friend went in alone, asked for a room with a big bed so that the daughter could sleep inbetween them. They had, no problem at all.

Untill his wife and daughter came in. Also that room was suddenly gone!

This was their welcome to Bangkok. Extremely embarrasing, especially for the Thai wife of my friend. To be refused a room in your own country ...

Standing there, tired after a long journey with a sleeping child on your arm.

Is this a general policy in certain categories of hotels in Bangkok (these hotels charge around 2500 Baht for a room)?

Limbo 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Byoke Sky Hotel - What a load of codswallop I stayed in the Byoke 2 weeks ago with my TW and 8 year old no problem.

[britmaveric]

I think you ought to be a bit ruder in this situation, it worked wonders for me and my GF

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

DJ Pat - rude? My mate tried that approach and they ended up tossing him out on his ear.

[davethailand]

I think you ought to be a bit ruder in this situation, it worked wonders for me and my GF

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you ought to be a bit ruder in this situation, it worked wonders for me and my GF

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

DJ Pat - rude? My mate tried that approach and they ended up tossing him out on his ear.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pats bird still had her uni outfit on thats why they were blanked?

[Viking]

You should see the looks I get when I check in with my now 17 year old son! Mamma Khmer from Issan so he’s very dark and Thai looking. Had some comments as well.

[DJ Pat]

I think you ought to be a bit ruder in this situation, it worked wonders for me and my GF

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you ought to be a bit ruder in this situation, it worked wonders for me and my GF

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

DJ Pat - rude? My mate tried that approach and they ended up tossing him out on his ear.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pats bird still had her uni outfit on thats why they were blanked?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Funny that, she did indeed wear her uniform as she'd been studying that day.

[Diablo Bob]

Loo-krung (children of a farang-Thai couple) are still very popular. There is hardly a popular series on television without one of the actors being halfbreed.

But what about their parents?

A good friend (foreigner) married to a Thai wife went with her, accompagnied by their three year old daughter to Bangkok to visit a trade-fair. Together they run a firm with more than forty employees (in Northern Thailand).

After a car ride of about 11 hours their story got almost biblical dimensions:

There was no place in the lodge!

First they tried the Pratunan Park Hotel. They were rudely told that there were no vacant rooms and the staff turned their back on them.

The Byoke Sky Hotel gave the same story, but in a more polite way.

The First Hotel offered hope. My friend went in alone, asked for a room with a big bed so that the daughter could sleep inbetween them. They had, no problem at all.

Untill his wife and daughter came in. Also that room was suddenly gone!

This was their welcome to Bangkok. Extremely embarrasing, especially for the Thai wife of my friend. To be refused a room in your own country ...

Standing there, tired after a long journey with a sleeping child on your arm.

Is this a general policy in certain categories of hotels in Bangkok (these hotels charge around 2500 Baht for a room)?

Limbo 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very Odd............

My wife and I have been going to Bangkok for years and have NEVER experienced any problems.

We have stayed at everything from the Federal Hotel to the Landmark Hotel and have always been treated well.

[charley lucky]

thats brilliant...ha!

I,ve never had a problem, been here 27 years,but I have heard of the odd complaint from friends

[alexth]

Never had such problems...I think they were just a little unlucky

[t.s]

Never had such problems...I think they were just a little unlucky

i dont buy it either. never had an issue.

[Casanundra]

The only time I have seen something similar was when I was sitting in a hotel lounge reading a newspaper when a guy who had booked into the hotel earlier came downstairs to meet his Thai wife who had been out shopping somewhere only for the hotel to mistakingly try and charge him the extra guest fee thinking she was some sort of bar girl or something. The main problem was that he failed to inform the hotel when he checked in that his wife would be staying with him.

Needless to say a quick name check of her ID card soon put an end to that when it was revealed that she had the same surname as him whereby the staff suddenly started back peddling as fast as they could... but it most certainly made for an entertaining 10 minutes I can tell you.

Being turned away as a couple is just unfortunate and it makes you wonder how the couple where being 'perceived' on their day of arrival.

[john b good]

Never had such problems...I think they were just a little unlucky

i dont buy it either. never had an issue.

Around ten years back I had a problem at a hotel in Phuket.

We had booked in (my wife with me at reception, welcome drink and all that)

Later in the evening we went out for a meal and returned at around midnight or 01.00 and the night staff asked my wife for her ID card. She gave it to them.

I asked what the go was and they had told her that they thought that she was a hooker (she has been many things but never a hooker per se)

In the morning I got hold of the general manager (this was a mid to high class joint, Accor) and told her in no uncertain terms that if it happened again they would be getting some free advertising in the Bangkok Post by way of a letter to the editor from me naming the hotel.

It didn't happen again, leastaways not to us.

Because there are so many hookers in the realm many assume that every female is one.

[lotus eater]

I read in a respectable source of information that in fact the ratio of hookers to overall population in thailand is less than in several other asian countries - eg India.

So I'm afraid the inference of the hotelier's assumption is that the ratio of hookers in the company of farangs is thought to be very high.

[Ulysses G.]

Thais are pretty darn good at telling hookers and former hookers from regular girls.

[john b good]

Thais are pretty darn good at telling hookers and former hookers from regular girls.

Yeah well ! she might have been there before but shure as shootin she won't be back there with me again.

She weren't no hooker Ulysses "honest"

[Ulysses G.]

I believe you and what happened to your wife is unfortunate, but in general Thais seem to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff - so to speak.

[dutch]

In about 30 years we (me and my wife) must have booked hotels in Thailand over a hundred times.

Most of the time, my wife did the booking (only 4 or 5 star).

Never ,ever any problems.Not even the slightest "misunderstanding"

[dutch]

Although we stayed in Korat-Hua Hin-Chang Mai and Khon Kaen, most of our stays were in Bangkok (7 or 8 different hotels)

[Farma]

There are some hotels that have a policy of preferring Farang guests. IE wife phones to make a booking and the hotel is full, I phone 5 minutes later and they have a number rooms available.

Manhattan staff made rude suggestive comments to my wife in front of me a couple of years back. I made a point of telling the manager I didn’t appreciate their comments. It was water off a ducks back, they didn’t care. I’ll never go back there even though I like the location and rooms.

One misunderstanding similar to the one mentioned by john b good occurred at a resort on Koh Samui. It resulted in the manager and staff apologizing profusely to my wife the following morning. I don’t think the resort manager appreciated being called out in the middle of the night to receive a quick course in management and customer relations.

These are my only hotel problems in 25 years although I’ve read plenty of recent reports of Thai wife unfriendly hotels in online hotel reviews.

I now mostly stay in 4 star hotels and never have a problem.

[otherstuff1957]

I've heard of other people having occasional problems of this sort - but it's never happened to me!

When I travel in Thailand, I usually stay at small guesthouses and we have never had any problems of this sort.

[vegas]

When my missus was using the pool at a resort we stayed at in Samui she was asked by one of the 'nobodys' at the resort if she was a guest. The first point here is that the guy was putting his nose in where it didn't belong as he was merely a waiter and secondly, how likely is it that someone would walk in off the street and go for a swim in the pool in a flash resort? My missus asked him who he was and then told him to piss off once she established he was just a waiter with no right to be hassling the guests. Personally I've seen this a lot when employees here have a 'dead end' job and want to throw their weight around. Security guards are the worst, both here and OS.

[monkey woods]

Just got back from Bkk where we stayed at the SD Avenue in Pinklao. No problems there either. My wife did all the talking at the reception, and was even given a special reduced 'Thai rate' on production of her ID card.

This after we tried unsuccessfully to book the same hotel through a third party company on the internet at a higher rate.

[richard_smith237]

Just got back from Bkk where we stayed at the SD Avenue in Pinklao. No problems there either. My wife did all the talking at the reception, and was even given a special reduced 'Thai rate' on production of her ID card.

This after we tried unsuccessfully to book the same hotel through a third party company on the internet at a higher rate.

I have experienced similar situations to the above with the twist that its is me (the farang) who is apparently a less desirable guest.

My girlfriend and I recently nipped down to Pattaya (from bkk) to spend a couple of days wakeboarding there.

Upon leaving the lake we started minor hunt for a reasonable hotel to stay at in Jomtien. The Jomtien Palms resort looked acceptable from the outside, so (as I was rather fatigued) while I waited in the car my girlfriend ran in, flashed her Thai Airways ID in the hope of a little extra discount for us (I make this note here to point out that she is a lady of easy virtue to no one other than myself (I hope) and the staff will have very easily recognized this, read on…)

The Rate was acceptable for us, I grabbed our bags and proceeded to check-in. At this point she was quite rudely told that Farangs pay full price, and cannot get the price originally quoted.

I was quite surprised at this – and quietly pointed out that we no longer require a room.

We checked into the Montien in Pattaya, mentioned our annoyance at the treatment we received at the previous hotel we’d enquired at, genuine shock and surprise was shown. We were treated wonderfully at the Montien and faith in the Thai service sector while shaky was restored.

Has anyone had this experience before? I have been in Thaland for a number of years and have not experienced this (in such an obvious manner) before, is this common in Pattaya and Jomtien?

Thirdly, is this extra ‘farang charge’ for all non-thai’s ? do indians, Cambodians, Malaysians etc.. have this cheeky extra charge ?

[tropo]

I believe you and what happened to your wife is unfortunate, but in general Thais seem to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff - so to speak.

Don't forget the age difference. Even if the girl is not a hooker, a young Thai girl would be perceived that way if she was with an older foreigner...and in reality even a non-bargirl will be thought of that way even if they know she's not a hooker.

It's best to chill and not let it worry you. I'm with a Filipino girl 28 years my junior, and they ask her for ID on occasion...it's an honest mistake. I love it when we can't get into discos because without ID they won't let her in as she looks too young...that always gives me a thrill.

[t.s]

Loo-krung (children of a farang-Thai couple) are still very popular. There is hardly a popular series on television without one of the actors being halfbreed.

But what about their parents?

A good friend (foreigner) married to a Thai wife went with her, accompagnied by their three year old daughter to Bangkok to visit a trade-fair. Together they run a firm with more than forty employees (in Northern Thailand).

After a car ride of about 11 hours their story got almost biblical dimensions:

There was no place in the lodge!

First they tried the Pratunan Park Hotel. They were rudely told that there were no vacant rooms and the staff turned their back on them.

The Byoke Sky Hotel gave the same story, but in a more polite way.

The First Hotel offered hope. My friend went in alone, asked for a room with a big bed so that the daughter could sleep inbetween them. They had, no problem at all.

Untill his wife and daughter came in. Also that room was suddenly gone!

This was their welcome to Bangkok. Extremely embarrasing, especially for the Thai wife of my friend. To be refused a room in your own country ...

Standing there, tired after a long journey with a sleeping child on your arm.

Is this a general policy in certain categories of hotels in Bangkok (these hotels charge around 2500 Baht for a room)?

Limbo 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very Odd............

My wife and I have been going to Bangkok for years and have NEVER experienced any problems.

We have stayed at everything from the Federal Hotel to the Landmark Hotel and have always been treated well.

both the landmark and the federal have reputations for being very hooker freindly. very. you have also chosen an area where people are very used to the "scene"

[pete98146]

Thais are pretty darn good at telling hookers and former hookers from regular girls.

Not always! In fact, my wife isn't even Thai. I'm married to a Filipina and we stayed in the Asia Hotel last April. Couldn't help but notice that the entire staff was rather "icy" towards me and the wife. I'm 44 years old and she is a 25.

The most embarrasing moment came on our second night of our stay. We went out for dinner and drinks and came back to The Asia around 11pm. As we were waiting for the elevator, the security guards rushed up to us and said, "sir, you are not allowed to bring women up to your room."

Imagine the look on the security guards faces when my wife started talking to them in Tagalog! I had a nice long talk with the hotel manager the next day. Funny how quickly the staff turned their frowny faces to bright smiles.

Moral of this story is that not every asian lady/farang man is a hooker/john relationship. Many Thais just assume the worst and it's unfortunate for everybody involved.