Room Rate Not Refundable , What Says The Law In Thailand About This?

[Sandman77]

Hi!

On many room bills in tourist areas I read on the bill not refundable!

2 years ago I booked one month in a Pattaya resort! After 3 weeks I was hospitaleized, the reception also not give me the rest of the month

One week not back!

Because you got discount 100 bath cheaper each day and you pay monthly

Was the answer!

What says the thai law about this?

Iam also not sure would travel insurance refound the coasts?

Iam always happy travel in cambodia!

No problem you can pay later when you check out!

In thai everything must pay now!

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[taninthai]

Try running a hotel and you will see why alot of places don't give refunds same as most services in the world if you pay and reserve something and don't turn up no refund.

[lemoncake]

Try running a hotel and you will see why alot of places don't give refunds same as most services in the world if you pay and reserve something and don't turn up no refund.

totally agree.

if you book a room, it has been taken out from the system. if you get sick or do not like or whatever the excuse you may have, it is your problem. Because why hotel should have an empty room and loose money?!

So many seem to think that others should be paying for their problems, why?!

[naboo]

You pay for a room, you stay in it. You paid for it. If you don't want to stay its because your stupid. If you're not stupid, you won't pay for a room you don't want to stay in. If you're stupid, thank you for your money.

[lemoncake]

In Cambodia this will also change very soon, after a hotels loose enough money from people not paying, leaving early etc etc.

I use to allow paying on the check out, but after having too much hassles with people not having the money to pay, try to bargain, argue over the bills, check out early etc etc, from then on its full payment upfront, plus a deposit.

[taninthai]

^

here here pay full amount on arrival at our place and if booked through agoda strict no refunds or cancellation policy in effect.

[pattayadingo]

AND he got a 100 Baht a day discount. Over 3 weeks that amounts to 2100 Baht, so he has not exactly lost a lot.

[Sandman77]

So most hotels want the passboard copy, for any damage in the room!

I never heard or read a story a hotel will complain any damage, after customer go back to the home country!

When the value is to low!

I did not find any room in Thailand during

My travel where everything is 100 procent okay!

Noise aircon broken shower or heater etc!

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[lemoncake]

So most hotels want the passboard copy, for any damage in the room!

I never heard or read a story a hotel will complain any damage, after customer go back to the home country!

When the value is to low!

I did not find any room in Thailand during

My travel where everything is 100 procent okay!

Noise aircon broken shower or heater etc!

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

even with holding the passport, hotel can not do much, because passport is property of a country, then need to call the police(usually cost money) and so on.

pay upfront and deposit.

passport copy is for immigration reporting and in case something happens or as some do, try to file for charge backs on the card claiming they never stayed at hotel.

I do not think any hotel would charge you for noisy aircon, but will charge you for broken remote or lost remote cover.

In my hotel we give air remotes to guests on check in, so can see nothing is broken. When they checking out and LCD screen is cracked, or cover missing or buttons covered in beer, they can not claim it was like that

[mca]

Try running a hotel and you will see why alot of places don't give refunds same as most services in the world if you pay and reserve something and don't turn up no refund.

totally agree.

if you book a room, it has been taken out from the system. if you get sick or do not like or whatever the excuse you may have, it is your problem. Because why hotel should have an empty room and loose money?!

So many seem to think that others should be paying for their problems, why?!

Spot on. When I worked for of the major hotel chains in Bangkok we used to have these special "early bird" offers. Get the room for half price but it was no cancellations, no date changes and full payment up-front.

The amount of times we had dullards saying they were going to sue us because they wanted to cancel and we refused a refund. That's why these Einsteins were getting a room for 2000 baht instead of 4000 baht. You want the luxury of cancelling and not paying a penny it's 4000 baht.

I could write a book about tales within the hotel industry. I swear a lot of folks think because they're paying to stay they can treat a hotel like their own house and hotels operate as a charity not a business.

Pissed up, argument with the girfriend and put an ashtray through the TV? Why you're right of course Sir. Why should you have to pay for a new TV?

Got plastered and shit on the carpet for joke? Well naturally Sir. Why should you have to pay for a few extra days because we can't sell your room to someone else because we're deep cleaning it to get rid of the delightful smell of crap.

Edited February 19, 2013 by mca

[lemoncake]

When I worked for one of the major hotel chains in Bangkok

Try running a hotel and you will see why alot of places don't give refunds same as most services in the world if you pay and reserve something and don't turn up no refund.

totally agree.

if you book a room, it has been taken out from the system. if you get sick or do not like or whatever the excuse you may have, it is your problem. Because why hotel should have an empty room and loose money?!

So many seem to think that others should be paying for their problems, why?!

Spot on. When I worked for of the major hotel chains in Bangkok we used to have these special "early bird" offers. Get the room for half price but it was no cancellations, no date changes and full payment up-front.

The amount of times we had dullards saying they were going to sue us because they wanted to cancel and we refused a refund. That's why these Einsteins were getting a room for 2000 baht instead of 4000 baht. You want the luxury of cancelling and not paying a penny it's 4000 baht.

I could write a book about tales within the hotel industry. I swear a lot of folks think because they're paying to stay they can treat a hotel like their own house and hotels operate as a charity not a business.

Pissed up, argument with the girfriend and put an ashtray through the TV? Why you're right of course Sir. Why should you have to pay for a new TV?

Got plastered and shit on the carpet for joke? Well naturally Sir. Why should you have to pay for a few extra days because we can't sell your room to someone else because we're deep cleaning it to get rid of the delightful smell of crap.

Sorry could not help myself but laugh.

Glad to see i am not the only one.

[fletchsmile]

You need to check the terms and conditions for cancellation when you book.

A few months back I booked 2 rooms in a hotel in Hua Hin thru Asiawebdirect.com, that looked nice online and paid on credit card. We thought we'd try somewhere new. When we arrived there were building works on 3 sides, it was noisy, room wasn't as big as advertised (I measured it) so it was cramped plus didn't look as nice, pool didn't look nice either and was much smaller than it looked - not much room to swim, just dip, sea view was a building site view, difficult to park the car, twin beds instead of a passionate king size etc etc.

As we only had a week and life's too short I went online again and booked and paid by credit card for somewhere we've been before which was much nicer and we knew we can rely on. Called Asiaweb and cancelled the rest of the booking at the place we didn't like. We left within an hour. The cancellation charge was 1 night per room as per the terms and conditions.

When I rang AsiaWebdirect they were great and confirmed money would be refunded on the credit card less a 1 night cancellation fee. which it was in a couple of weeks.

All in the terms and conditions as agreed. Seemed reasonable to me to forfeit one night.

We probably wouldn't have booked online if there was a no refund policy. 1 night fee was fair

Fletch

Edited February 19, 2013 by fletchsmile

[taninthai]

Yep I can see you two posting above have experience,I had a customer telling me last week what a great relaxed laid back lifestyle I have,if only they knew some of the things that go on when you are running a hotel.Today I got away with a 12 hour shift yesterday it was 16 hrs oh yeah it's well relaxed and laid back .....not

Edited February 19, 2013 by taninthai

[scorecard]

There's a milion stories about hotel owners and guests.

I spent 80% of my time for 10 years in and out of hotels all over Asia, finished that project about 10 years back.

Worst experience was a 5 star hotel In Pattaya, company booked 5 rooms for a meeting, 3 night stay. All booked about 5 or 6 weeks in advance on Agoda or similar (Agoda just an example).

After check in the duty manager came to my room and said that there was a mistake in the room rate when the rooms were booked and he wanted 400Baht more per room per day.

I told him to wait and I checked online, in fact the rate was cheaper than the rate we had already reveived weeks earlier. I refused to pay and got every excuse in the book how the extra money would be deducted from his salary.

One morning one of my colleagues was workling in his room and the room maid asked if she could clean the room, he agreed. He noticed that the maid took one of the unused white towels to finish cleaning the bathroom, to dry the floor.

An hour later the duty manager knocked on my door and said he wanted 200Baht reimbursement to replace the towel my colleague had ruined. I called my colleague and he was shocked and informed me about the maid using the towel. I refused to pay.

More hassles on check out so I called the hotel management company in Singapore, they apologised and told the cashier to drop the extra charges.

My assumption (repeat assumption) was that the duty manager was trying a scam to gain some extra s[ending power.

Never ever had anything like this before or again.

[lemoncake]

You need to check the terms and conditions for cancellation when you book.

A few months back I booked 2 rooms in a hotel in Hua Hin thru Asiawebdirect.com, that looked nice online and paid on credit card. We thought we'd try somewhere new. When we arrived there were building works on 3 sides, it was noisy, room wasn't as big as advertised (I measured it) so it was cramped plus didn't look as nice, pool didn't look nice either and was much smaller than it looked - not much room to swim, just dip, sea view was a building site view, difficult to park the car etc etc.

As we only had a week and life's too short I went online again and booked and paid by credit card for somewhere we've been before which was much nicer and we knew we can rely on. Called Asiaweb and cancelled the rest of the booking at the place we didn't like. We left within an hour. The cancellation charge was 1 night per room as per the terms and conditions.

When I rang AsiaWebdirect they were great and confirmed money would be refunded on the credit card less a 1 night cancellation fee. which it was in a couple of weeks.

All in the terms and conditions as agreed. Seemed reasonable to me to forfeit one night.

We probably wouldn't have booked online if there was a no refund policy. 1 night fee was fair

Fletch

Checking cancellation policy is always a must.

But your story reminds me of one of my guests from China, 1 night booked in the cheapest room.

She was not happy with the room because it was different than the photo.

I asked her what was different, the answer was the light.

Bottom line is, as a guest one should always use some common sense when making a booking ie

1. If you booking the cheapest room, do not expect anything great, it is cheapest for a reason

2. If you booking the cheapest room for a short stay do not expect any favors from the management

3. If you booking into a budget hotel, it is budget/cheap for a reason, so do not expect 24 hour 5 star service

It always helps to be friendly with the hotel staff from the start, so when you have a problem they will be happy to help out, and keep in mind to be reasonable with what you want and expect.

You mentioned the room was smaller because you measured, were you aware that most room when measured include the bathroom and balcony?!

One can always book a short stay to see before committing to a longer one

[lemoncake]

Yep I can see you two posting above have experience,I had a customer telling me last week what a great relaxed laid back lifestyle I have,if only they knew some of the things that go on when you are running a hotel.Today I got away with a 12 hour shift yesterday it was 16 hrs oh yeah it's well relaxed and laid back .....not

You amateur

I been doing 18 hour days for almost 2 years already.

Not to mention phone calls at 4,5,6 am because the guest is too drunk to remember his passcode for the safe and is demanding for someone to come and open it right now.

[candypants]

i take 30 percent upon booking for my house to confirm an additional 30 percent 4 weeks out and the final 40 a week prior to arrival. security deposit paid cash on arrival refunded upon inspection at checkout.

no refunds, especially during high season. In my first year of renting i lost 120k (thb) over christmas trusting people. Never again.

I will offer the opportunity to re book during non peak at a lower rate, but i ain't giving cash back unless it is a repeat, very good customer or i can find another booking for the time period

[h90]

usually we pay 1-2 nights before and the rest at checkout.

Unless my better half negotiate a super good price than we pay it full in advance. That sounds fair to me.

stay three weeks and get a huge discount....but pay it in advance....not check out after 3 days with the 3 week discount.

[candypants]

So most hotels want the passboard copy, for any damage in the room!

I never heard or read a story a hotel will complain any damage, after customer go back to the home country!

When the value is to low!

I did not find any room in Thailand during

My travel where everything is 100 procent okay!

Noise aircon broken shower or heater etc!

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

perhaps you should up your budget.

you pay 400 baht per night and you take your chances.

[fletchsmile]

You need to check the terms and conditions for cancellation when you book.

A few months back I booked 2 rooms in a hotel in Hua Hin thru Asiawebdirect.com, that looked nice online and paid on credit card. We thought we'd try somewhere new. When we arrived there were building works on 3 sides, it was noisy, room wasn't as big as advertised (I measured it) so it was cramped plus didn't look as nice, pool didn't look nice either and was much smaller than it looked - not much room to swim, just dip, sea view was a building site view, difficult to park the car etc etc.

As we only had a week and life's too short I went online again and booked and paid by credit card for somewhere we've been before which was much nicer and we knew we can rely on. Called Asiaweb and cancelled the rest of the booking at the place we didn't like. We left within an hour. The cancellation charge was 1 night per room as per the terms and conditions.

When I rang AsiaWebdirect they were great and confirmed money would be refunded on the credit card less a 1 night cancellation fee. which it was in a couple of weeks.

All in the terms and conditions as agreed. Seemed reasonable to me to forfeit one night.

We probably wouldn't have booked online if there was a no refund policy. 1 night fee was fair

Fletch

Checking cancellation policy is always a must.

But your story reminds me of one of my guests from China, 1 night booked in the cheapest room.

She was not happy with the room because it was different than the photo.

I asked her what was different, the answer was the light.

Bottom line is, as a guest one should always use some common sense when making a booking ie

1. If you booking the cheapest room, do not expect anything great, it is cheapest for a reason

2. If you booking the cheapest room for a short stay do not expect any favors from the management

3. If you booking into a budget hotel, it is budget/cheap for a reason, so do not expect 24 hour 5 star service

It always helps to be friendly with the hotel staff from the start, so when you have a problem they will be happy to help out, and keep in mind to be reasonable with what you want and expect.

You mentioned the room was smaller because you measured, were you aware that most room when measured include the bathroom and balcony?!

One can always book a short stay to see before committing to a longer one

Yes a lot of what you say makes sense.

In our case there were quite a few other things. eg you had to go across stepping stones to get to the rooms, which went over the pool. Not really safe for little kids or my mum in her 70's as it it was raining and slippery, and no cover. Check-in and service in that short time were also poor.

Also basically felt like what we got wasn't what was advertised. On the measuring, yes I included balcony and all other space within the walls, assuming it was just a box. It also looked like one of the cheaper standard rooms rather than a deluxe type we'd booked. I asked about the size and quality to a staff member, and asked to change they said other rooms weren't available. Basically think we got downsized/ downgraded as they were pretty full.

Shortest stay ever in a hotel on holiday, and not something we make a habit of. No point arguing tho and just wasting time as its buyer beware in Thailand and all that. Just politely made excuses and left. You can never get your moments back, and you never know how many future family holidays there'll be.

Edited February 19, 2013 by fletchsmile

[rattler]

Honestly sometimes you wonder the brain capacity of posters like this, they think the world and everyone should dance to their tune??

Wife rents rooms out for a job and the contract says if you cancel early you lose the deposit, the amount of morons who think they can cancel after 2-3 months into a 12 month contract and then get all arsey is incredible, they are total wan**s

Maybe they think we dont have to advertise, clean, repair, pay office staff for helping find customers or other agents etc etc etc

Had every story under the sun, the favourite is My Mum has died/seriously ill, then 5-6 days later we see them moving into a new condo ( my wife knows many other agents)

[rattler]

Yep I can see you two posting above have experience,I had a customer telling me last week what a great relaxed laid back lifestyle I have,if only they knew some of the things that go on when you are running a hotel.Today I got away with a 12 hour shift yesterday it was 16 hrs oh yeah it's well relaxed and laid back .....not

Yep 99% of these people have no clue how much work is involved, not a clue!!

[rattler]

Yep I can see you two posting above have experience,I had a customer telling me last week what a great relaxed laid back lifestyle I have,if only they knew some of the things that go on when you are running a hotel.Today I got away with a 12 hour shift yesterday it was 16 hrs oh yeah it's well relaxed and laid back .....not

You amateur

I been doing 18 hour days for almost 2 years already.

Not to mention phone calls at 4,5,6 am because the guest is too drunk to remember his passcode for the safe and is demanding for someone to come and open it right now.

Yer all part timers its a 24 hour day for us!!! No seriously, 3 am phone call from pissed up idiot customer who has "lost his key" for the 4TH time in 6 months, followed the next day by them calling to say " why do I have to pay 1000 baht for a lost keycard.

No clue that to get a new one we often have to make a police report before the office will issue a new card, then theres the TAXI fare out to where they are etc etc.

PS I say "us" but of course mean just my wife, its just that I happen to sleep next to her ( most nights ) so know what goes on.

I do go with her sometimes when the customer is arsey as they feel its good to "talk down" to the poor Thai girl................who earns 250k a month and way way more than the tenants who must think she gets 10k max as they spend too much time reading TV.

[roamer]

Maybe you should be thinking more about getting your pregnant girlfriend, if she's still around, back to Austria instead of wondering about possible hotel rip-offs ?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/616733-with-how-many-month-pregnant-woman-can-fly-in-a-airplane/

Loony tunes...or the longest running troll on TV.

[colinneil]

Buyer beware in thailand, not always so. You pay 400 baht you take your chance.Last week i stayed in pai with wife and 4 other thai ladies. I found a small place (bungalows), i went to ask /book, 400 baht per night oh thats ok! Owner showed me some bungalows, i said i wanted 3 (6 people) got 2 for the ladies good size good furnishings. Then lady said to me its valentines day, yes i said alteady got the roses, special for you and your wife v.i.p. bungalow no extra charge.

Perfect wife was over the moon she thought i had paid extra for our bungalow(i kept quiet). Service exellent never seen better and only 400 baht per bungalow.Everybody happy.

[lemoncake]

Buyer beware in thailand, not always so. You pay 400 baht you take your chance.Last week i stayed in pai with wife and 4 other thai ladies. I found a small place (bungalows), i went to ask /book, 400 baht per night oh thats ok! Owner showed me some bungalows, i said i wanted 3 (6 people) got 2 for the ladies good size good furnishings. Then lady said to me its valentines day, yes i said alteady got the roses, special for you and your wife v.i.p. bungalow no extra charge.

Perfect wife was over the moon she thought i had paid extra for our bungalow(i kept quiet). Service exellent never seen better and only 400 baht per bungalow.Everybody happy.

Not sure what your point is. Naturally different prices apply to different locations , not to mention the difference between hotels, guesthouses, boarding rooms and bungalow's

[phuturatica]

I can't help but laugh at this kind of post.

Basically, you booked a room and paid for it and then because you did not stay in it due to your own problem, not the hotel's so you want a refund for the last week?

I've never run a hotel before or even worked in one but even I can see that's hilarious and ridiculous.

[martynsnowmans]

this is a few yeard ago but still makes me mad when i think about it , maybe things have changed now . about 7 years ago myself and the thai wife to be went down from udon thani to get married in bkk ( yes we,re still married now ) it was xmas time so prebooked rooms with asiarooms i,ve used them many times no problem ,

4 nights in the royal asian hotel its a fair sized hotel and busy , i had already paid for the 4 nights by credit card but at booking in we were told because i was booking in with a thai lady it would be 700 bt per night 2800 bt extra , i went up like a bottle of pop ( crazy ) the cash was no problem it was the princable, and explaned we were here to get married and i was,nt just bringing a bar girl back to my room . i had them phone asiarooms and they told me in english that the guy was ripping us off as we,ed payed for the room which was a 2 person room but as it was xmas we would have problems finding a new hotel so pay and they would claim the money back we did that , but when we checked out after getting married the guy was on reception again , i know you should be carful about how you talk to the thais ( loosing face ) but i gave him the f/=king of his life and let every1 hear it , i did get my refund from asiaroom few weeks latter .

[robblok]

Yep I can see you two posting above have experience,I had a customer telling me last week what a great relaxed laid back lifestyle I have,if only they knew some of the things that go on when you are running a hotel.Today I got away with a 12 hour shift yesterday it was 16 hrs oh yeah it's well relaxed and laid back .....not

You amateur

I been doing 18 hour days for almost 2 years already.

Not to mention phone calls at 4,5,6 am because the guest is too drunk to remember his passcode for the safe and is demanding for someone to come and open it right now.

Both of you like me should not nag you chose it and so did I we are all self employed and extra hours often means extra revenue. As a business owner you are in charge.

[Scottythai]

this is a few yeard ago but still makes me mad when i think about it , maybe things have changed now . about 7 years ago myself and the thai wife to be went down from udon thani to get married in bkk ( yes we,re still married now ) it was xmas time so prebooked rooms with asiarooms i,ve used them many times no problem ,

4 nights in the royal asian hotel its a fair sized hotel and busy , i had already paid for the 4 nights by credit card but at booking in we were told because i was booking in with a thai lady it would be 700 bt per night 2800 bt extra , i went up like a bottle of pop ( crazy ) the cash was no problem it was the princable, and explaned we were here to get married and i was,nt just bringing a bar girl back to my room . i had them phone asiarooms and they told me in english that the guy was ripping us off as we,ed payed for the room which was a 2 person room but as it was xmas we would have problems finding a new hotel so pay and they would claim the money back we did that , but when we checked out after getting married the guy was on reception again , i know you should be carful about how you talk to the thais ( loosing face ) but i gave him the f/=king of his life and let every1 hear it , i did get my refund from asiaroom few weeks latter .

While I agree with the losing of the deposit I do not agree with this thinking. Who the hell cares who stays in your room. If I paid for my room and I have a guest what business is it of the hotel's. Now I am never one to just go pick up a bar girl and bring her back but when I am on holiday with a girl and my parrents <deleted> and the hotel asks this when we check it it makes me go a bit rancid. As I have a somewhat better grasp of the thai language I normaly demand to see the manager or who ever the highest person on at the time is. 2/5 times this will stop the issue right there. When the manager comes I bring up many things I will not mention here but if you look at Thai law you can see it for your self. It is infact an illegal charge that hotels have been doing for sometime. Quite often the money will go to a slush fund that is used for end of the year partys ext.