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Phuket is quiet

IrishIvan

By IrishIvan
in Phuket

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NamKangMan Diamond Member

NamKangMan

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I hope TAT don't see any of these comments.

Only yesterday it was announced that Phuket is a year round destination and 70 per cent full right now. sad.png

Spoke to some Thai room cleaners in a reasonably sized hotel at the back of Patong the other day. I often say hello to them because it's near a bar I call into for a drink from time to time. I often ask, "How many room have customer inside?"

They currently have a 20% occupancy rate. That's occupancy rate, not vacancy rate. I didn't ask about future bookings. There is nothing wrong with the place. Clean, well maintained and affordable.

Operating on those rates, you would have to be losing money.

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Songhua Platinum Member

Songhua

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We are here (in Patong) at the moment. This is the most quiet we have seen it in many years.

Sitting in front of PS Hotel as we speak, the traffic is extremely light and hardly anybody wandering (except for a group of Chinese queued up to get into No 6).

Edited by Songhua
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LivinginKata Star Member

LivinginKata

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There is no doubt that the tourist demographics has changed dramatically over the past couple of years. The days of the free spending westerners has long gone. Now folks are on a tighter budget, and many of these westerners don't visit Phuket any more as there are plenty other cheaper places to visit. The bigger hotels with good marketing are doing just fine, but the smaller independent hotels and guesthouses are struggling. Also the bars and restaurants have a reduced customer base. Local shops are the same. I see a bleak future here in Phuket for many of the small businesses. I speak to many small business folks, farang and Thai, and I don't know anyone that sees a bright future.

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Valentine Platinum Member

Valentine

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not quiet in rawai, one thai guy dead after a shootout last night 02.00 at 7/11 next to laguna..

and the cctv camera dident work

Laguna has always been a dangerous place and has been since it was located at Nai Harn beach.

It was not a shoot out. He (Khun Korowith) was upset at a gang of teens who pestered his friend & insulted the parents so he went looking for them. Found them at a Family Mart where the gang denied any involvement. KK then stopped at 7/11 on Viset Rd waiting outside for a girl who was inside shopping. The gang then pulled up at which point one of them shot him with a home made gun. Good grief what is going on with this place & please do not justify by saying this kind of <deleted> happens elsewhere. Do the police actively patrol streets at night? They should be pulling over these gangs & searching for weapons, drugs etc. Just keep shaking them down & this type violence will decrease. They should also be dragging them back to their parents who seem to be conspicuous by their absence in these stories.
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falkan Gold Member

falkan

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not quiet in rawai, one thai guy dead after a shootout last night 02.00 at 7/11 next to laguna..

and the cctv camera dident work

CCTV did work, but the shooter was out of the range of the camera.

police said the front one worked but out of range and the left one outside dident work..

and not much blood, either homemade gun or low caliber gun..

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LivinginKata Star Member

LivinginKata

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My son and his family arrive at the end of the month for a holiday

They are stopping at the Katathani beach resort and could only get rooms in the old wimg and are hoping for a upgrade

because they are heavily booked

Some businesses are busy with real tourists and holiday makers

Katathani is a large scale hotel with good marketing. Just like I stated - they are busy.

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IrishIvan Gold Member

IrishIvan

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My son and his family arrive at the end of the month for a holiday

They are stopping at the Katathani beach resort and could only get rooms in the old wimg and are hoping for a upgrade

because they are heavily booked

Some businesses are busy with real tourists and holiday makers

Yes its a busy period for Australian tourists because school holidays now. Im guessing that your friends are from Aus?

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NamKangMan Diamond Member

NamKangMan

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There is no doubt that the tourist demographics has changed dramatically over the past couple of years. The days of the free spending westerners has long gone. Now folks are on a tighter budget, and many of these westerners don't visit Phuket any more as there are plenty other cheaper places to visit. The bigger hotels with good marketing are doing just fine, but the smaller independent hotels and guesthouses are struggling. Also the bars and restaurants have a reduced customer base. Local shops are the same. I see a bleak future here in Phuket for many of the small businesses. I speak to many small business folks, farang and Thai, and I don't know anyone that sees a bright future.

If you posted a post like that 2 years ago - you would have been shot down in flames by many members of TV and branded a "doomsdayer."

I know, because I was one of them. I saw the writing on the wall, and still do. Things are going to get a lot quiter here.

Well, 2 years later, and here we are, and guess what, not one positive change has happened on Phuket to stem the flow of the traditional "free spending westerners" from detouring Phuket for their holidays. Also, many expats have left Phuket.

Once their have gone, it's extremely hard to lure them back.

I expect to see many businesses here close over the next 12 to 18 months. The Thai owner will put some cheap Thai staff in, just to create the illusion the business is operational, whilst trying to sell the place to a starry eyed farang, but those days are over. The business will sit there for sale for a long time.

The "influential people" on Phuket are very wealthy, so, they feel no need to change what has already made them rich, but they will soon start to see the size of monthly envelopes getting smaller and smaller, and they only have themselves to blame, as they have outpriced Phuket through high rents, and taken away free market forces in things such as transport.

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LivinginKata Star Member

LivinginKata

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^
Good reply NKM

I had been hearing the 'bubble is about to burst' tale since the day I arrived here over 17 years ago. I never planned to get into business here but it sort of evolved with buying land and building apartments for long term residential rental. It was fortunate that I had the resources to buy the land freehold (through wife and company) and we did very well for 14 years. I started to see the writing on the wall for the long stay expats about 3 years ago, it was not sudden, but it has been quite a steep decline. Of course there are many factors, the poor baht exchange rate, world recession, over supply of accomodation, and other factors. Many of my guests have businesses here and these small independents have been hit hard, many have returned to their home countries to earn a decent living.

I came to the conclusion over a year ago that the bubble has indeed burst here on Phuket Island. The big chain hotels are doing well, and a few small businesses with a loyal client base are doing Ok. I can't complain myself, fortunately I don't have any rent to pay on my properties. Mind you the local tesiban keep demanding more property tax each year despite our rent revenues falling year on year. We have never increased our long term rent rate for more than 8 years so how we need to pay more tax beats the hell out of me.

Oh well - I get my old age pension next year and I will be Ok... I feel for all the newbies here struggling to make their fortune wink.png

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NamKangMan Diamond Member

NamKangMan

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^

Good reply NKM

I had been hearing the 'bubble is about to burst' tale since the day I arrived here over 17 years ago. I never planned to get into business here but it sort of evolved with buying land and building apartments for long term residential rental. It was fortunate that I had the resources to buy the land freehold (through wife and company) and we did very well for 14 years. I started to see the writing on the wall for the long stay expats about 3 years ago, it was not sudden, but it has been quite a steep decline. Of course there are many factors, the poor baht exchange rate, world recession, over supply of accomodation, and other factors. Many of my guests have businesses here and these small independents have been hit hard, many have returned to their home countries to earn a decent living.

I came to the conclusion over a year ago that the bubble has indeed burst here on Phuket Island. The big chain hotels are doing well, and a few small businesses with a loyal client base are doing Ok. I can't complain myself, fortunately I don't have any rent to pay on my properties. Mind you the local tesiban keep demanding more property tax each year despite our rent revenues falling year on year. We have never increased our long term rent rate for more than 8 years so how we need to pay more tax beats the hell out of me.

Oh well - I get my old age pension next year and I will be Ok... I feel for all the newbies here struggling to make their fortune wink.png

"Good reply NKM" - well, you know, LIK, absence makes the heart grow fonder. wink.png

I feel for all in business here. Most try to offer a good product with good service, trouble is, Phuket, in general, has become uncompetitive in pricing and has attracted so much negative publicity, especially in the last 12 months, that it's having a major effect on the traditional western tourism market here.

Basically, if you have a business here, you could be offering a good product/service, in a great location, but it just happens to be on an island controlled by "influential people" that allow rent hikes, scams, rip offs and crime to flourish, all around your business, so, whilst your business may be well managed, it's located in a part of Thailand that isn't being well managed, therefore, the people will not come, and we are seeing this now.

Edited by NamKangMan
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NamKangMan Diamond Member

NamKangMan

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[..]I feel for all the newbies here struggling to make their fortune wink.png

Q: How to make a small fortune in Thailand?

A: Bring in a big one.

That's one saying that hasn't changed, in decades, and has been proven correct, time and time again. smile.png

Edited by NamKangMan
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