Thailand Elite Card To Be Relaunched In June

[MikeOboe57]

gerry1011, on 02 Jun 2013 - 09:50, said:

theblether, on 02 Jun 2013 - 07:49, said:

Time for a poll...........how many people responding to this topic can afford the Elite Card?

Maybe that's the true cause of the bitterness against it. You would love the 7 series beamer picking you up and access to all the benefits, including the most important one the "Special Assistance" line.

The people that will go for this will regard it as small change, these are the same guys that are spending $10,000 a year on golf club memberships and the like, first class air travel at $10K a pop, you get the idea.

I don't think they'll be one bit concerned about the thoughts of the average Thaivisa member.

The wealthy people and Thailand Elite members indeed are certainly not one bit concerned by the thoughts of the average Thaivisa members.

But I must admit that as a Thailand Elite member I always look forward to these new threads about the card.

I find reading the posts related to Thailand Elite entertaining and better than going to the cinema.

The envy, the bitterness, the hate and the frustration of some posters is just amazing. The way they twist and distort the subject is really interesting.

It's also funny to see how the two groups use different wording in their posts.

I don't remember a Thailand Elite member using denigrating words when writing about the ones who cannot afford the card. On the other side, the "will never be members" systematically use "words" to qualify the wealthy ones and the Thailand Elite members. It shows a lot about their level of bitterness and I am quite happy that I only meet these guys through a forum.

But, as I said, I still enjoy such people's company in a thread about Thailand Elite

And, to the great disappointment of the Thailand Elite haters, this subject is coming back all the time since the program is still going on and on and on... To the satisfaction of the members

Personally, I come to read this thread just to "play around".

Behind my Thailand Elite membership there is in fact nice and interesting story to tell, ... But useless to tell on this forum.

So, lets keep going !!!

I love Thailand Elite

Again you carefully circumnavigate the main issue and prefer to dance around the side shows. The Elite Card is a Ponzi scheme where the new members cover the costs for the older members and in the end the Thai tax payer has to cover the rest. A simple calculation could show you that a 2 Mio THB purchase price and an annual fee of ridiculous 20.000 THB are nowhere near enough to cover all the expenses when fully using the advertised privileges. The first card went down in flames with a huge loss and the second one will do no better.

Of course you "love Thailand Elite". It is a bargain for you but a crappy deal for the Thais.

Can you give me a reason why the ordinary Thai should pay the 5-star golf and spa expenses for a few foreigners?

So what, it's a commercial enterprise, if the Thai government has mis-priced it "Up To Them".

Not quite, it is "up to you". The EC website states

"The Company reserves the rights to modify, cancel and/or prescribe further limitation on any of the Privileges without prior notice."

http://www.thailandelite.com/membership.php

If we look at the deficit after 10 years of ThailandElite we see that on average each card holder created a deficit of approx USD 50.000 (exchange rate 1:30), annually a whopping THB150.000. And this does not consider the fact that a lot of these cards were given as "freebies" to Thai government officials and other Thai "FOTS" (Friends of TS) although they don't strictly qualify as "tourists".

The 5 year visa is an unfounded rumour as it requires substantial legal changes. The website, again, only speaks of "the right to stay in the Kingdom, with special entry visa [...]" and the fine print, oops, says:

"This special entry visa is subject to the Thai Immigration Bureau’s approval." So they haven't sorted this out yet.

The ThailandElite 1.0 card holders will most probably have to face the fact that their cards are now subject to the new terms and conditions. But they don't seem too concerned about that. The member website

http://www.thailandelitemembers.com/home/

died in 2009 and their "online petition" fizzled after a measly 50 members signed up. But maybe these were the honest blokes that actually paid for their card.

The only visitors in the blogs on that site are spambots advertising generic viagra. Browsing this site feels like a walk through Pripyat.

Sale of the ThailandElite 2.0 card should have started this month. Any news on that?

[soi41]

MikeO wrote: "The 5 year visa in an unfounded rumour, as it requires substantial legal changes"

So you are telling me, that the 3 visas I have in my passports (5 years, 3 years, passport expired, new passport=another 5 years), they only exists in my imagination?

Several other cardholders on this thread, who also have posted about their 5 year visas, they are all lying??

To get down to a level, where even the haters here can understand it: Most of you guys drink and smoke? Spend at least 200 baht/day on those vices (probably a lot more), meaning that over the 10 years, I had my card, you have wasted 700k on nothing! Whereas at least some cardholders have got value for their money!

And that is really the whole point, whoever bought the card, did it with their money. You can choose to think, they made a bad decission. But up to them!

Whenever I see you guys sitting outside seven/11 with the stonetable full with beerbottles, I feel sorry for you, but again your money, your life and you have the freedom to make your own choices without having to criticised by anyone!

Same goes for the cardholders!!

[monkeycountry]

soi41, on 03 Jun 2013 - 12:46, said:

MikeO wrote: "The 5 year visa in an unfounded rumour, as it requires substantial legal changes"

So you are telling me, that the 3 visas I have in my passports (5 years, 3 years, passport expired, new passport=another 5 years), they only exists in my imagination?

Several other cardholders on this thread, who also have posted about their 5 year visas, they are all lying??

To get down to a level, where even the haters here can understand it: Most of you guys drink and smoke? Spend at least 200 baht/day on those vices (probably a lot more), meaning that over the 10 years, I had my card, you have wasted 700k on nothing! Whereas at least some cardholders have got value for their money!

And that is really the whole point, whoever bought the card, did it with their money. You can choose to think, they made a bad decission. But up to them!

Whenever I see you guys sitting outside seven/11 with the stonetable full with beerbottles, I feel sorry for you, but again your money, your life and you have the freedom to make your own choices without having to criticised by anyone!

Same goes for the cardholders!!

I am sure you are right about all of the above. And since you seem to know alot about the other card holders as well, could you perhaps let me know if any of you guys have managed to buy land in your own name so far? :-)

Edit: I am asking of course as you told me I didn't know what I was talking about, when I posted earlier that it wasn't possible, so I assume you know something I do not, and if you are right (which I hope you are), then I think it will be breaking news.

[gerry1011]

soi41, on 03 Jun 2013 - 12:46, said:

MikeO wrote: "The 5 year visa in an unfounded rumour, as it requires substantial legal changes"

So you are telling me, that the 3 visas I have in my passports (5 years, 3 years, passport expired, new passport=another 5 years), they only exists in my imagination?

Several other cardholders on this thread, who also have posted about their 5 year visas, they are all lying??

To get down to a level, where even the haters here can understand it: Most of you guys drink and smoke? Spend at least 200 baht/day on those vices (probably a lot more), meaning that over the 10 years, I had my card, you have wasted 700k on nothing! Whereas at least some cardholders have got value for their money!

And that is really the whole point, whoever bought the card, did it with their money. You can choose to think, they made a bad decission. But up to them!

Whenever I see you guys sitting outside seven/11 with the stonetable full with beerbottles, I feel sorry for you, but again your money, your life and you have the freedom to make your own choices without having to criticised by anyone!

Same goes for the cardholders!!

I am sure you are right about all of the above. And since you seem to know alot about the other card holders as well, could you perhaps let me know if any of you guys have managed to buy land in your own name so far? :-)

Edit: I am asking of course as you told me I didn't know what I was talking about, when I posted earlier that it wasn't possible, so I assume you know something I do not, and if you are right (which I hope you are), then I think it will be breaking news.

As a card holder I can confirm you (and at the same time make you happy) that I also did not manage to buy land in my own name.

However, I must also say that I never tried to acquire any land in my own name.

There was an initial plan of allowing the members to acquire 1 rai of land.

But honestly... I don't know about you, but personally I could not do anything with such a small land. Or maybe a parking for my cars...

So, 1 rai? No way. I would not lose my time for such a small thing. Or maybe I would build a 40 floors building on it

[bubbob]

Just to be clear, neither old nor new customers can buy any land in Thailand. Old customers could however buy a certain amount of land in the name of the Elite card company, not in their own name. In other words, the land would legally belong to the Elite card company which would hold the land on your behalf.

Yes and the dodo bird was seen yesterday in Korat!!

Why post on something, where you clearly haven't got a clue ??

Please provide a link or source for your claim, that TPC is in fact proxy owners for cardholders!

No I didn't think so. http://static.thaivisa.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif%22%5Dhttp://static.thaivisa.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif%5B/url'>http://static.thaivisa.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif"]http://static.thaivisa.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif[/url]

"I guess they bought the card because it kind of "allows" foreigners to buy land

in Thailand. When I say it kind of "allows" foreigners to buy land in Thailand,

it has the typical Thai Catch 22 in it:

The Elite card project was controversial from the outset, because one of the special privileges tied to the

card is the possibility to "acquire and possess land" once the Land Privilege

law is passed. The problem: there is no sign of such law being

passed.

Foreign individuals and companies are not allowed to own any

interest in land, expect for a few exceptions such as those granted by the Board

of Investment. Until a new law is passed, the Thailand Privilege Card Company

has set up an ownership structure to be used by cardholders seeking to purchase

land under which TPC will own the land on behalf of the cardholder. But this

point has raised legal issues, with some lawyers saying the interim ownership

structure is in conflict with some existing acts and could exposed the

cardholder to prosecution."

http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/Reader/reader2058.htm

http://tourisminternetmarketing.com/2006/10/

I believe the info was also in the newspapers as well as on the TPC original website, however the above links were the ones that popped up on google?

Since you seem to know that I am wrong and insist I prove myself right, perhaps you can point me to the issue of the Royal Gazette where the new law allowing foreigners to own land was announced?

No I didn't think so. http://static.thaivisa.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif%22%5Dhttp://static.thaivisa.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif%5B/url'>http://static.thaivisa.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif"]http://static.thaivisa.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif[/url]

Well Done and Well Deserved.

[monkeycountry]

soi41, on 03 Jun 2013 - 12:46, said:

MikeO wrote: "The 5 year visa in an unfounded rumour, as it requires substantial legal changes"

So you are telling me, that the 3 visas I have in my passports (5 years, 3 years, passport expired, new passport=another 5 years), they only exists in my imagination?

Several other cardholders on this thread, who also have posted about their 5 year visas, they are all lying??

To get down to a level, where even the haters here can understand it: Most of you guys drink and smoke? Spend at least 200 baht/day on those vices (probably a lot more), meaning that over the 10 years, I had my card, you have wasted 700k on nothing! Whereas at least some cardholders have got value for their money!

And that is really the whole point, whoever bought the card, did it with their money. You can choose to think, they made a bad decission. But up to them!

Whenever I see you guys sitting outside seven/11 with the stonetable full with beerbottles, I feel sorry for you, but again your money, your life and you have the freedom to make your own choices without having to criticised by anyone!

Same goes for the cardholders!!

I am sure you are right about all of the above. And since you seem to know alot about the other card holders as well, could you perhaps let me know if any of you guys have managed to buy land in your own name so far? :-)

Edit: I am asking of course as you told me I didn't know what I was talking about, when I posted earlier that it wasn't possible, so I assume you know something I do not, and if you are right (which I hope you are), then I think it will be breaking news.

As a card holder I can confirm you (and at the same time make you happy) that I also did not manage to buy land in my own name.

However, I must also say that I never tried to acquire any land in my own name.

There was an initial plan of allowing the members to acquire 1 rai of land.

But honestly... I don't know about you, but personally I could not do anything with such a small land. Or maybe a parking for my cars...

So, 1 rai? No way. I would not lose my time for such a small thing. Or maybe I would build a 40 floors building on it

Hi Gerry. Thanks for confirming. It does not make me happy at all that you cannot buy land in your own name. I wish we both could. I do not play golf or go to spas etc. and do not have any visa problems (yet), but the land part would make the card interesting for me - if it was legal, not the proxy company option. 1 rai of land would be enough for me - I only have 1 car :-)

[MikeOboe57]

MikeO wrote: "The 5 year visa in an unfounded rumour, as it requires substantial legal changes"

So you are telling me, that the 3 visas I have in my passports (5 years, 3 years, passport expired, new passport=another 5 years), they only exists in my imagination?

Several other cardholders on this thread, who also have posted about their 5 year visas, they are all lying??

To get down to a level, where even the haters here can understand it: Most of you guys drink and smoke? Spend at least 200 baht/day on those vices (probably a lot more), meaning that over the 10 years, I had my card, you have wasted 700k on nothing! Whereas at least some cardholders have got value for their money!

And that is really the whole point, whoever bought the card, did it with their money. You can choose to think, they made a bad decission. But up to them!

Whenever I see you guys sitting outside seven/11 with the stonetable full with beerbottles, I feel sorry for you, but again your money, your life and you have the freedom to make your own choices without having to criticised by anyone!

Same goes for the cardholders!!

Oh dear,

I quoted from the "Terms and Conditions" of the new ThailandElite Card and you come up with war stories from 10 years ago. Maybe you should read the website with the current T&C as the providers won't notify you about any changes,

I never wrote that the TEC 1.0 was a bad deal for the card holders. On the contrary, every one (on average) of them cost the Thai tax payer 50.000 USD in expenses exceeding their 1 Mio THB deposit (if they paid it - a lot got it for free).

But let's look at the relaunched card. While it is still possible to get all your money back and more by excessive golfing and wellness treatment, anyone not interested in these activities will hardly see any real benefit. If they still issue the 5 year visa - the contract is extremely vague about this - each one of them then costs you around 15.000 USD - compare this to the 1900 THB per annual renewal for the "non-privileged". Furthermore the contract is extremely one-sided and can be changed or cancelled by the administration at any time. And in case of cancellation you will only get that amount of money back, that you haven't spent on "privileges". Ah, the wonderful fine print.

The new card is based on the hope that when you double the price you will make a 2 Bn THB profit in 20 years instead of a 1 Bn THB loss in 10 years. A safe and sound business model.

You could have argued about all these facts, however you chose to get low and personal. And the esteemed forum member gerry1011, who complained about the nasty tone in this thread "liked this". Understandably, because what is the point of being ThailandElite, when you can't kick the (perceived) lower classes to remind them of the pecking order.

[RogueLeader]

I think you're all just jealous. I mean, really, what would you rather do? Buy a luxury car and have change for a jetski? Set up in business anywhere in the world? Stay a night in the Taj Lake Palave Hotel suite? Or buy a card that gives you access to a dodgy country club where you can play golf with Russian and Chinese usurers, thieves and gangsters um, I mean high net worth individuals from North and East Central Asia?

[livinthailandos]

I must still admit I dont understand the so called thai elite card, you spend total upwards of what 3 - 5 million baht for the privilege of some golf, spa, a luxury car to pick you up and the possibility of some visas.

considering how things go in thailand seems there would be better areas to put that much money for.

Sent from my using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[steveromagnino]

It's ok, a substantial number of the cards were given away free, so basically it's skim for the ad spend via agencies, combined with gifts to allies of the government for free.

Everyone wins.

Except the tax payer. But there are only 6m of us paying income tax, so that's ok.

[soi41]

Let's round this interesting thread of with a little facts, that might be of interest for holders of the old and "cheap" card. Inquired about the rules for the old card, with the relaunch in mind.

Here is the answer I got from Kittiya Arunyadej (TPC customers relation manager):

Old card 2013

Membership validity Lifetime 20 years

Membership fee 1M 2M

Transfer fee 30% of prevailing rate 20% of prevailing rate

Annual fee (privileges) None 20.000

Visa-validity/lenght of stay 5 years/90 days 5 years/1 year

Golf/Spa Unlimited 24 times/year

So the rules for the "old" card has been grandfathered, at least until it is cancelled next time!

The only thing I don't understand of the above, not been a native speaker, is the term "prevailing rate". Is the 30% on what is paid for the card, or todays price??

[alyx]

Hey longtime no see

I hope you are doing well

Interesting post ( I mean for some members )

I still do not understand why cardholders have never been asked that minimum fee

Still I guess you are mistaken as golf and spa are concerned: I seem to remember that these particular have been applied for some years already

I also fail to understand the interest in a one year stay as most of the members travel in and out, don't they .

The 30, now 20%, is the fee to be paid by the seller to the company on the original price, or the selling price whichever is the highest

[alyx]

I must still admit I dont understand the so called thai elite card, you spend total upwards of what 3 - 5 million baht for the privilege of some golf, spa, a luxury car to pick you up and the possibility of some visas. considering how things go in thailand seems there would be better areas to put that much money for. Sent from my using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

No such a thing as luxury cars

[soi41]

Hey longtime no see

I hope you are doing well

Interesting post ( I mean for some members )

I still do not understand why cardholders have never been asked that minimum fee

Still I guess you are mistaken as golf and spa are concerned: I seem to remember that these particular have been applied for some years already

I also fail to understand the interest in a one year stay as most of the members travel in and out, don't they .

The 30, now 20%, is the fee to be paid by the seller to the company on the original price, or the selling price whichever is the highest

Hi alyx. I'm just fine, thank you!

In all honesty, I was surprised with the unlimited golf and spa use. But that was, what the answer from TPC said !

About the 30% transfer fee, they are not shy!! I Actually have a buyer for my card @ 1M, but if I have to give 600k of those money to TPC, I guess I'll keep it. You just can't win.

Stay well!

[yoslim]

5 year visa, really ?

so you mean you land in bkk and get stamped in for approved to stay 5 year in Thailand and only have to do 90 day reporting or is there some painful extension at immigration every 90 day + a painful visa run out of country every 90 day ?

The whole visa argument is a complete joke, I feel sorry for the fools who got scamed into this "notso elite" card, I mean you get worse conditions than a cheap charlie staying on ED or retirement visa

[gerry1011]

5 year visa, really ?

so you mean you land in bkk and get stamped in for approved to stay 5 year in Thailand and only have to do 90 day reporting or is there some painful extension at immigration every 90 day + a painful visa run out of country every 90 day ?

The whole visa argument is a complete joke, I feel sorry for the fools who got scamed into this "notso elite" card, I mean you get worse conditions than a cheap charlie staying on ED or retirement visa

Wow ! You are better than everyone ! We should give you a prize !

You not only criticize the Thailand Elite members, but also the cheap Charlies !!!

I don't remember having seen such a "complete" post in hundreds of posts regarding Thailand Elite... Very valuable contribution, thanks. Really

By the way, no visa run needed for the Thailand Elite 5 years visa (of course).

[AyG]

I see that they're advertising for a new President for Thailand Elite. Apart from the obvious qualifications (Thai nationality, age between 40 and 58, personal friend of the a senior member of the leaders of the Pheu Thai party) they're looking for someone who holds pretty serious business experience, and I quote:

"at least a title of vice president [of an] organization [that has] a revenue turnover of not less than 1,000 million baht per year."

Given the paltry revenue generated by the Elite scheme, aren't they setting the barrier a little high?

Alternative qualifications include being deputy governor of a government agency or state agency.

[steveromagnino]

I bet you the person hired is call T. Kru***p*rn, or is a face with this chap acting behind the scenes. Well known rep of the boss in Dubai, has helped many other times in assisting to manage the skim.

[Briggsy]

It's ok, a substantial number of the cards were given away free, so basically it's skim for the ad spend via agencies, combined with gifts to allies of the government for free.

Everyone wins.

Except the tax payer. But there are only 6m of us paying income tax, so that's ok.

Yes, I posted something along these lines a few pages back.

Nobody's interested amongst TV posters. They need to argue over the minutiae of whether getting an Elite card is better than getting a yearly retirement extension. Totally missing the point.

Thank you, Steve, for your sensible post.

[MAJIC]

Bring on the new generation of Mugs!

[gerry1011]

It's ok, a substantial number of the cards were given away free, so basically it's skim for the ad spend via agencies, combined with gifts to allies of the government for free.

Everyone wins.

Except the tax payer. But there are only 6m of us paying income tax, so that's ok.

Yes, I posted something along these lines a few pages back.

Nobody's interested amongst TV posters. They need to argue over the minutiae of whether getting an Elite card is better than getting a yearly retirement extension. Totally missing the point.

Thank you, Steve, for your sensible post.

Sensible indeed.

However, even if most of the posters on this forum refuse to consider it, there is also the other side of the coin... The pretty side.

As you know I am an early member. What I can tell you is that without the card, trust me on this, I would never had stayed in Thailand.

Before the haters jump on the "suckers" who bought the card (for the 100th time): I am too young for a retirement visa, don't want to have a fake business, don't need to have a real one or even work, have no plan to marry with a Thai girl, obviously don't want to do visa runs, etc... And I also don't care about any other "cheap" option. It's a question of lifestyle.

As I always say, I came to Thailand by coincidence, but I stayed here because of only two things: My friends and the Thailand Elite program.

Because I could stay with a convenient Thailand Elite visa, I began to spend (here) the money that I was spending elsewhere before.

It would not be appropriate to say more on this forum, but what I can tell you is that what I brought into the Thai economy (because I could stay long periods of time with the long term visa) is much much more than you might think. That includes a substantial amount of local taxes on "items" (such as cars taxed 200%), but also other things that give jobs to many people, revenues to others, and even help the society.

Rest assured that only my own membership brought more money into the Thai economy than what most farang tax payers moaning on this forum would contribute in their lifetime.

And I am only one of the members...

So, if you look at the real value of the members and what they bring to the economy you might realize that giving some of them a card for free was still a very good deal for the country.

[Sandman77]

I wonder that the card holders did not get there own airplane with a private pilot!

Smile

[gerry1011]

I wonder that the card holders did not get there own airplane with a private pilot!

Smile

Who knows, some may have indeed. Probably with two pilots rather than one

[rubl]

The interesting part of the elite card shown in the topic is the name "Philip Rowell". That might just be the chairman of Desire Creation Systems. Very apt in relation the an 'elite card' :-)

[paddyjenkins]

It's ok, a substantial number of the cards were given away free, so basically it's skim for the ad spend via agencies, combined with gifts to allies of the government for free.

Everyone wins.

Except the tax payer. But there are only 6m of us paying income tax, so that's ok.

Yes, I posted something along these lines a few pages back.

Nobody's interested amongst TV posters. They need to argue over the minutiae of whether getting an Elite card is better than getting a yearly retirement extension. Totally missing the point.

Thank you, Steve, for your sensible post.

Sensible indeed.

However, even if most of the posters on this forum refuse to consider it, there is also the other side of the coin... The pretty side.

As you know I am an early member. What I can tell you is that without the card, trust me on this, I would never had stayed in Thailand.

Before the haters jump on the "suckers" who bought the card (for the 100th time): I am too young for a retirement visa, don't want to have a fake business, don't need to have a real one or even work, have no plan to marry with a Thai girl, obviously don't want to do visa runs, etc... And I also don't care about any other "cheap" option. It's a question of lifestyle.

As I always say, I came to Thailand by coincidence, but I stayed here because of only two things: My friends and the Thailand Elite program.

Because I could stay with a convenient Thailand Elite visa, I began to spend (here) the money that I was spending elsewhere before.

It would not be appropriate to say more on this forum, but what I can tell you is that what I brought into the Thai economy (because I could stay long periods of time with the long term visa) is much much more than you might think. That includes a substantial amount of local taxes on "items" (such as cars taxed 200%), but also other things that give jobs to many people, revenues to others, and even help the society.

Rest assured that only my own membership brought more money into the Thai economy than what most farang tax payers moaning on this forum would contribute in their lifetime.

And I am only one of the members...

So, if you look at the real value of the members and what they bring to the economy you might realize that giving some of them a card for free was still a very good deal for the country.

first, there is nothing uglier than bragging about money. personally i don't do it.

second, you are a good example of how easily a fool is parted from his money.

third, nobody said selling these cards isn't good for thailand. we get that. we get that if some idiot with more money than sense wants to pay 1 or 2 million for a visa and then come and splurge in thailand to show off to make up for his deep and sad insecurities etc etc....then thats good for thailand...we get that.

the point is it doesn't offer much to the buyer, especially ones with enough common sense to just get visas the ordinary way, for small change.

i mean, a starbucks coffee costs, what, 150 baht? so why pay 10,000? get the point, rich boy?

[millwall_fan]

I suppose the reaction to this thread is typical. A load of washed up internet warriors railing against everything this country tries to do. Hating everything about the place but unable to go home because they can't afford to live there. Anything this country does is, according to some, motivated by self interest and corrupt practices. So TAT wants to attract an easy 3bn baht by selling 1500 Elite cards. Why not try it - it didn't work terribly well last time in terms of numbers (though the members posting here seem quite happy with it), so they are trying marketing it in the BRIC countries - those nouveaux riches who just might be interested in such a card.

We from Western countries need to wake up and realise we are not top dogs any more. The posts on here that suggest that all wealthy Russians and Chinese must have acquired their wealth by illegitimate means is small minded and racist. I would be concerned if the Elite card were TAT's ONLY marketing ploy, but its not, it is part of their strategy.

[steveromagnino]

I agree that some card holders have brought some benefits to Thailand. Not sure how much more benefit than say a typical expat working here earning 3.6m baht and paying 1m in income tax a year as well as VAT, investments, knowledge etc, but for sure some benefits.

There are around 3,000 cardholders (being generous) of which about 50% at least were free cards. Of that 50% I know of a few cardholders who would have come anyhow, and others who have the card and have never even visited Thailand. Let's assume 66% of the cardholders actually are here and injecting money into the economy at a rate of (generously) 2m a year... That's a nice windfall of 40m baht a year; questionable we wouldn't as a country have got it anyhow, but let's just run with this. Ignore any income from selling the cards, as that was not a huge amount (total was about 1,500m baht).

The cost of media alone in the first initial launch was 150m baht for IIRC around the first 3 months, and the then governor of the TAT was passing this through an agency so the real value of media was probably more like 100m baht. Total ad campaign and launch was at least 1,000m baht for the first year. The cost of administration and running the card and paying for the benefits is probably something in the realm of potentially minimum 20,000b per card, and up to around 100,000b per card depending on usage and based on some members here. Let's average at the lowest point 20,000b so that's 60m baht in expense a year. On top of that the actual card scheme has 100 employees, and management etc, that's another cost of probably around ABC @ 50,000 an employee per month something like 60m a year plus another 20m in premises power etc. You also have costs of handling the actual members contacting them etc and all the admin internally.

So all up you make 40m a year in growth to the Thai economy (not in actual revenues) and fees at the beginning revenue 1.5 billion, against costs of 1.5 billion in the first year, and costs of something like 150m every year minimum and more likely 500m since that's what the scheme actually costs to run since you cannot just have advertising and marketing for 1 year, you have to have it every year to keep the scheme going.

On these terms, it seems like a really, really bad deal for tax payers. What am I missing?

I can certainly see the benefits to a certain type of person. Just not to the people paying for it (i.e. me).

[gerry1011]

It's ok, a substantial number of the cards were given away free, so basically it's skim for the ad spend via agencies, combined with gifts to allies of the government for free.

Everyone wins.

Except the tax payer. But there are only 6m of us paying income tax, so that's ok.

Yes, I posted something along these lines a few pages back.

Nobody's interested amongst TV posters. They need to argue over the minutiae of whether getting an Elite card is better than getting a yearly retirement extension. Totally missing the point.

Thank you, Steve, for your sensible post.

Sensible indeed.

However, even if most of the posters on this forum refuse to consider it, there is also the other side of the coin... The pretty side.

As you know I am an early member. What I can tell you is that without the card, trust me on this, I would never had stayed in Thailand.

Before the haters jump on the "suckers" who bought the card (for the 100th time): I am too young for a retirement visa, don't want to have a fake business, don't need to have a real one or even work, have no plan to marry with a Thai girl, obviously don't want to do visa runs, etc... And I also don't care about any other "cheap" option. It's a question of lifestyle.

As I always say, I came to Thailand by coincidence, but I stayed here because of only two things: My friends and the Thailand Elite program.

Because I could stay with a convenient Thailand Elite visa, I began to spend (here) the money that I was spending elsewhere before.

It would not be appropriate to say more on this forum, but what I can tell you is that what I brought into the Thai economy (because I could stay long periods of time with the long term visa) is much much more than you might think. That includes a substantial amount of local taxes on "items" (such as cars taxed 200%), but also other things that give jobs to many people, revenues to others, and even help the society.

Rest assured that only my own membership brought more money into the Thai economy than what most farang tax payers moaning on this forum would contribute in their lifetime.

And I am only one of the members...

So, if you look at the real value of the members and what they bring to the economy you might realize that giving some of them a card for free was still a very good deal for the country.

first, there is nothing uglier than bragging about money. personally i don't do it.

second, you are a good example of how easily a fool is parted from his money.

third, nobody said selling these cards isn't good for thailand. we get that. we get that if some idiot with more money than sense wants to pay 1 or 2 million for a visa and then come and splurge in thailand to show off to make up for his deep and sad insecurities etc etc....then thats good for thailand...we get that.

the point is it doesn't offer much to the buyer, especially ones with enough common sense to just get visas the ordinary way, for small change.

i mean, a starbucks coffee costs, what, 150 baht? so why pay 10,000? get the point, rich boy?

Thanks for your constructive post.

Very interesting. Really. Super cool

You seem like a nice guy with lots of vocabulary.

I especially like the "boy" in "rich boy". It makes me younger

Keep on posting !!! It's posts like yours that keep this thread alive

[egro]

The interesting part of the elite card shown in the topic is the name "Philip Rowell". That might just be the chairman of Desire Creation Systems. Very apt in relation the an 'elite card' :-)

More likely it's this captain of industry bringing his millions to Thailand.

Philip Rowell

Tow Truck Driver

https://www.facebook.com/philip.rowell.5

[animatic]

File this under :

The government version of California WOW!