Six illegal hotels in disputed Hua Hin area face heavy fines

[webfact]

Six illegal hotels in disputed Hua Hin area face heavy fines

 

Picture: Thai News Agency

 

HUA HIN: -- A raiding party headed by the Hua Hin district chief finally booked six illegal hotels in the disputed area of the city at the center of beach encroachment.

 

The area is the Ratdamri road from Saphan Pla to Sarn Jao Mae Thap Thim.

 

Some thirty soldiers, police and members of the local Hua Hin administration under the leadership of district  chief Rutpratheep Thamrapheephat carried out the raid.

 

Six hotels were not only guilty of encroachment but had been operating without the requisite licenses.

 

The establishments face fines of up to 10,000 baht a day going back to when they were opened. They will be prosecuted under a 1994 hotel law.

 

Source: Thai News Agency

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-12-14

[tagalong]

Lovely to see action in that area....

[ChrisY1]

It is good to see enforcement...however, the local authorities have a lot to answer for by allowing these establishments to actually get built, and then operate as a hotel.

They obviously have known of their existence, Hua Hin is not exactly a massive metropolis.....!

[IamNoone88]

Encroachment is a resounding no. However the outdated hotel laws and the processing of these licenses need review. There should should be consideration given to a simplified license for smaller guest houses and private short term accommodation, similar to an Inn Keepers Act. This would close the gap between major hotels and smaller businesses, stipulating basic regulations and once issued would mean tax revenue is collected. Doubt it would happen ......

[JohnnyBKK]

The owner is french, I know him. He doesn't care about licenses or anything like that.

[JustNo]

10k a day back until the day that they opened LOL... ouch that's gotta hurt 

som nam na 

[scorecard]

30 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

It is good to see enforcement...however, the local authorities have a lot to answer for by allowing these establishments to actually get built, and then operate as a hotel.

They obviously have known of their existence, Hua Hin is not exactly a massive metropolis.....!

 

 

Agree totally.

 

IMHO there should be more punishment of derelict officials - this should be a natural and automatic step (even required by law) when laws and regulations have been broken.

 

When officials ignore their duty it can surely be assumed that there's a reason, perhaps:

 

- Simply too lazy and should therefore be fired and banned from jobs paid for by taxpayers funds. 

 

- Collusion, which takes the matter of the derelict officers into another sphere and should be punished even more.

 

Perhaps the punishment of the derelict officials should be more severe than the punishment of the culprit?

 

[Lamkyong]

32 minutes ago, JohnnyBKK said:

The owner is french, I know him. He doesn't care about licenses or anything like that.

looks like he has no choice now

[louse1953]

59 minutes ago, JohnnyBKK said:

The owner is french, I know him. He doesn't care about licenses or anything like that.

He does now.

[Sparkles]

Why does the Army have to be involved.If its a breach of rules its a local admin responsibility or are they incapable of enforcing their own rules ?Yes I think we know the answer to the obvious ? Happening in Chiang Mai too and of course high season causing maximum impact

 

[Lupatria]

So the budget for the new years celebration is secured now?

[williamgeorgeallen]

28 minutes ago, Sparkles said:

Why does the Army have to be involved.If its a breach of rules its a local admin responsibility or are they incapable of enforcing their own rules ?Yes I think we know the answer to the obvious ? Happening in Chiang Mai too and of course high season causing maximum impact

 

can demand a higher fine at the start of high season.

[JustNo]

32 minutes ago, Sparkles said:

Why does the Army have to be involved.If its a breach of rules its a local admin responsibility or are they incapable of enforcing their own rules ?Yes I think we know the answer to the obvious ? Happening in Chiang Mai too and of course high season causing maximum impact

 

Regarding Hua Hin I have been here 7 years now and this is the lowest high season I have ever seen. As much as I do like it to be quieter as it is now, it isn't good for the economy and the businesses that I use in and around town. Some of the restaurants and bars are dead on weekends, and the roads getting empty by 10pm on a Saturday, craziness 

[Kurtsie]

Interesting to see if they start cracking down on Condo buildings in Bangkok and other areas that are now offering daily, weekly and monthly rentals to fill units. This also in violation of this same Hotel law. (Condo buildings must not take less than 6 months leases or be considered a hotel that would require separate entrances for the short term guests) 

 

My building started doing this around 6 months ago and some of the "new" short term residents cause lots of issues with loud parties with 8-10 people staying in a 1 bedroom unit and Ganja being smoked.  Brought it up to my unit owner (my company has rented this unit for me for the past 11 years) and he was not concerned.........  I know of at least 1 building where the coowners sued another coowner that had 12 units being rented out like this.  The Thai Tax bureau is now involved trying to collect back taxes for resort fees.

[outre99]

2 hours ago, IamNoone88 said:

Encroachment is a resounding no. However the outdated hotel laws and the processing of these licenses need review. There should should be consideration given to a simplified license for smaller guest houses and private short term accommodation, similar to an Inn Keepers Act. This would close the gap between major hotels and smaller businesses, stipulating basic regulations and once issued would mean tax revenue is collected. Doubt it would happen ......

 

I had a small guest house in Rayong for a few years.  The process of getting licenses was very simple and took less than an hour.  Unless rules are drastically different in Hua Hin following existing procedures is not much of a hardship.

[elgordo38]

2 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

It is good to see enforcement...however, the local authorities have a lot to answer for by allowing these establishments to actually get built, and then operate as a hotel.

They obviously have known of their existence, Hua Hin is not exactly a massive metropolis.....!

Yes your stating the obvious which no doubt will never be  answered. Guess they were to busy solving more serious crimes and have finally caught up. Its like cutting off a couple arms of an octopus. They will eventually grow back. 

[elgordo38]

2 hours ago, JohnnyBKK said:

The owner is french, I know him. He doesn't care about licenses or anything like that.

Or paying taxes. Looks like he is now Foie Gras. I wonder if they will give him the heave ho? 

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, JohnnyBKK said:

The owner is french, I know him. He doesn't care about licenses or anything like that.

I bet he's having a re-think now though !!!

 

[The Deerhunter]

2 hours ago, JustNo said:

Regarding Hua Hin I have been here 7 years now and this is the lowest high season I have ever seen. As much as I do like it to be quieter as it is now, it isn't good for the economy and the businesses that I use in and around town. Some of the restaurants and bars are dead on weekends, and the roads getting empty by 10pm on a Saturday, craziness 

Well, if it is a s bad as you say than it stands to reason that the legal an registered hostelries want a clamp down on the illegal and unregistered competition.   And as to why the army is involved as someone else asked, perhaps the legal hotel owners have been trying for some time to get action and the people who are meant to do the job, simply wouldn't do it.  This scenario is common now and various officials who might have had "compensation" for not enforcing various registrations and building safety requirements were reluctant to act and have the truth come out to their discomfort.  Well, it is coming ready or not, now!!

[Yann55]

I bet every person who reads this article will think : these guys simply cannot have opened places in such areas in the first place without handing out envelopes, which also explains how they could operate without a license, in broad daylight.

 

There is a deeply ingrained 'brown envelope culture' in Asia, which originally came from China (along with many good things too, let's be fair) and goes way back. China itself has been operating on that principle for hundreds of years, never mind who was at the helm, and 'communism' didn't change that in the least. As a matter of fact it is so deeply rooted in the Chinese mentality that they have a hard time finding it abnormal. Just like racism, they tend to practise it the way a fish swims in water : without realizing that there is another, non-water world.

 

Well, the Thais also originally came from China, 'only' a thousand years ago, and naturally brought with them the essentials of Chinese culture.

 

Nowadays, as Western culture is being force-fed to the entire planet under the name 'globalization', all of Asia (and Africa, and South America) find themselves doing the splits between the old conditioning and the new, hence the yo-yo impression given by Thai authorities, not just now but for a long time, as one hand takes the envelopes while the other 'fights corruption'.

 

It has more to do with shizophrenia than with hypocrisy.

 

As for many other concepts, the word corruption tends to put too many different behaviours under the same umbrella. A lot of what we Westerners would call 'corruption' in Asia or Africa, is actually nepotism, or a 'greasing of the wheels' that is seen as normal by most people. Just a way of expressing gratitude for a service rendered by someone in a higher place. In Asia it is the result of the Confucian approach which magnifies social harmony based on respect of elders, authorities, and prevalence of the clan over the individual. But there are other forms of corruption that are seen as unacceptable by Chinese authorities, both today and yesterday : those that defy and/or harm the powers in place.

 

In the West we tend to consider that brown envelopes always defy and harm the authorities, even though the authorities themselves (and the huge industrial conglomerates that they protect) have been using the trick for ever. It's pretty safe to say that not one fortune was made or maintained in the world without relying on corruption at some point or other, in one form or another, and repeatedly so. Sometimes the tycoon gets caught and is branded in public as an example/scapegoat, but most of the time they get away with it.

 

It has more to do with hypocrisy than with schizophrenia.

[Usual Suspect]

OK so many of us can now assume that these 6 hotel/Guest houses have been 'allowed' to be in business all these years without any relevant paperwork.. I just think many tourists have to be grateful that over the past years none of these wooden constructions never caught fire!.. Would it have been harder to get any compensation if the hostel had no paperwork on record.. ?

[F4UCorsair]

8 hours ago, JohnnyBKK said:

The owner is french, I know him. He doesn't care about licenses or anything like that.

 

He will now, and so he should.  Let's hope some 'go away' money doesn't hold sway.

[fish monger]

11 hours ago, JohnnyBKK said:

The owner is french, I know him. He doesn't care about licenses or anything like that.

I am willing to bet he does now.......10k a day is no joke.  Unless of course he's a complete fool.

[kiwikeith]

22 hours ago, tagalong said:

Lovely to see action in that area....

 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, I do like to be beside the seaside- da d a da   life goes on nothing here to worry about .

[Kan hua hin]

Good evenning everybody .

if you don t know what you re talking about , just don t say anything . The " french man " as you said as nothing to do with what happenned 2 days ago , as he gets all the licences required . 

The 6 gueshouses are from different owners .  About taxes i guess he pays more taxes than all of you together . 

If you bored or something , have a walk or a drink and stop put shitty posts on forums .

Have a nice evenning 

[JustNo]

3 hours ago, Kan hua hin said:

Good evenning everybody .

if you don t know what you re talking about , just don t say anything . The " french man " as you said as nothing to do with what happenned 2 days ago , as he gets all the licences required . 

The 6 gueshouses are from different owners .  About taxes i guess he pays more taxes than all of you together . 

If you bored or something , have a walk or a drink and stop put shitty posts on forums .

Have a nice evenning 

Good evening, sir. Care to share my baguette and vintage wine that I am sipping on, sir? 

[PETERTHEEATER]

On 14/12/2016 at 8:41 AM, JohnnyBKK said:

The owner is french, I know him. He doesn't care about licenses or anything like that.

If he has six hotels he must be doing well.

[PETERTHEEATER]

On 14/12/2016 at 8:02 AM, tagalong said:

Lovely to see action in that area....

Where is this Ratchadamri Road? The new report refers to inspection of hotels on Naresdamri Road.

[balo]

On 12/14/2016 at 9:43 AM, Sparkles said:

Why does the Army have to be involved.If its a breach of rules its a local admin responsibility or are they incapable of enforcing their own rules ?

 

No they can't , too much corruption in this country . You can open a hotel or restaurant without license , without paying taxes , just tea money to local police until someone do something about it. 

The army has been doing more to solve corruption and illegal activities , the local police don't care as long as someone is paying. .

 

[Sparkles]

14 hours ago, balo said:

 

No they can't , too much corruption in this country . You can open a hotel or restaurant without license , without paying taxes , just tea money to local police until someone do something about it. 

The army has been doing more to solve corruption and illegal activities , the local police don't care as long as someone is paying. .

 

Well in my circle of Thai business friends they deal with ,local Gov authorities and dont have problems and dont get harrassed..

We all know corruption is an ongoing cancer in this country,it will continue unabated until the tipping point comes and no one can predict that time.

If you believe the Army is the answer that is your opinion.Will that continue once the long awaited national election is held ?