News Forum - Krabi hotel accused of favouring foreigners over Thais

[Thaiger]

Thai tourists condemned a hotel in Krabi for discriminatory service standards after the hotel provided better treatment to foreign guests and neglected domestic tourists. They claimed that the hotel prioritised foreign guests with higher purchasing power over them for financial gain. A Thai man posted three videos on his TikTok account, @thetharm, to share his …

The story Krabi hotel accused of favouring foreigners over Thais as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Freedomforlife]

Good! maybe thai people learn something, since the government and many Thais that are brainwashed always discriminate against us, now they can feel how that is and they whining about it.... it is your country as they always say  

Edited February 1, 2023 by Freedomforlife

[Grumpish]

Thai shocked at being charged (higher) foreigner price when with her foreign boyfriend. And Thai's shocked at foreigners who have probably paid an inflated foreigner price getting preferential treatment.

[palooka]

Another Thai woman who had a foreign boyfriend also complained on Facebook that she and her boyfriend spent nearly 100,000 baht to travel for two weeks.

That is a top-notch two-week holiday. 

I don't spend that much in a western country in 2 weeks.

[Soidog]

Hands up anyone who has sympathy? 

[Marc26]

2 hours ago, palooka said:

Another Thai woman who had a foreign boyfriend also complained on Facebook that she and her boyfriend spent nearly 100,000 baht to travel for two weeks.

That is a top-notch two-week holiday. 

I don't spend that much in a western country in 2 weeks.

Not really, at all........

 

It's about 220usd/day

 

Staying at a nice(not super high end) hotel can be $100-150usd/day 

So let's say $125usd for hotel leaves $100usd/day for spending money for 2 people

 

That's not that extravagent of a holiday

 

You can also have a decent holiday for half the price..........that's the positive of Thailand

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

4 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

So let's say $125usd for hotel leaves $100usd/day for spending money for 2 people

That’s 5 USD for the Foreigner boyfriend and 95 USD for the Thai Lady. 

[Marc26]

33 minutes ago, AdvocatusDiaboli said:

That’s 5 USD for the Foreigner boyfriend and 95 USD for the Thai Lady. 

Pretty much so

Or is my case 5usd for the foreign husband and 95usd for the Thai wife(and usually her Mom and her brother and other brother and aunt and niece and nephew)

 

And up that 95usd quite a bit!     :)

 

 

[EdwardV]

5 hours ago, Thaiger said:

They claimed that the hotel prioritised foreign guests with higher purchasing power over them for financial gain.

I get that's a bad thing in Thailand, but it's good thing just about anywhere else. If I have a product, why would I want to sell it at a cheaper price if with just a little extra effort I can sell it for more? 

[Marc26]

15 minutes ago, EdwardV said:

I get that's a bad thing in Thailand, but it's good thing just about anywhere else. If I have a product, why would I want to sell it at a cheaper price if with just a little extra effort I can sell it for more? 

If you pay to stay in a hotel, you should reasonably expect to be treated the same as all other guests

 

It's literally why you are paying to stay in the hotel.................

 

I would say I spend more than your average guest, at pool, lobby bar

I don't think other guests who don't spend the same amount should be treated any worse than myself

 

Yes, the person booking the penthouse suite will be treated a bit special, but there is a base level that every guest should receive, and it didn't appear that was given

[Soidog]

This guy seems to be getting all upset simply as one person forgot to tell them that the golf cart wasn’t available but there was a mini van. A mistake perhaps? 
 

I was also astonished to read the following:

A local boat driver who witnessed the incident gave an interview with Thairath yesterday. He said it was an issue with the hotel. He said the local tour boats and vendors in Krabi or Railay Beach provide the same level of service to all tourists at the same price whether they are Thai or foreign.

Last year I was on this very beach with a group of friends. We were sitting at a table near the beach and wanted to get a long tail boat to banana beach on a nearby island. I went and asked and was told it would be 1,000 baht return for two people. I came back to check with friend. One of the Thais then went and asked the very same person. He was offered 500 baht return for two people. Utter clap trap from this boat operator. 

[EdwardV]

1 hour ago, Marc26 said:

I don't think other guests who don't spend the same amount should be treated any worse than myself

Should those who spend more be allowed to be treated better? Yes, there should be a basic level of service, but every hotel also caters to those who spend more. If the people in question were treated below an expected basic level of service, then yes, they have a legitimate complaint. However, if the complaint is based on nothing more than they didn't get superior service because they are Thai. Then we can see the issue it puts the hotel into, right?  Any business should be able to target customers who will allow it to maximize its profits. Isn't that what the government was aiming for in the first place? High level tourists instead of all those dirty cheap backpackers? 

[Marc26]

23 minutes ago, EdwardV said:

Should those who spend more be allowed to be treated better? Yes, there should be a basic level of service, but every hotel also caters to those who spend more. If the people in question were treated below an expected basic level of service, then yes, they have a legitimate complaint. However, if the complaint is based on nothing more than they didn't get superior service because they are Thai. Then we can see the issue it puts the hotel into, right?  Any business should be able to target customers who will allow it to maximize its profits. Isn't that what the government was aiming for in the first place? High level tourists instead of all those dirty cheap backpackers? 

Yes it is good business practice to give a high paying customer extra care.......the key word "extra"

 

My wife is not much of a complainer and unless it's a proper 5 star resort when they always treat her, my MIL and my stepson exceptional

 

My wife will often say she isn't treated as well if she is not with me......

[Pinga]

3 hours ago, AdvocatusDiaboli said:

That’s 5 USD for the Foreigner boyfriend and 95 USD for the Thai Lady. 

Sad but so true... I live a pretty loose lifestyle when it comes to money, but occasionally I like to stop to recuperate financially. I could literally live on less than 10% of my usual daily spend if I want to, but the gf cannot and does not stop even when asked to. Useless Lazada orders, grab orders that go half in the trash, and various other "projects" that could easily be postponed to later, or never. She actually finally slowed down lately which I am very happy about.

[Skip]

Let's see... Thais want to charge the farang more for the same accommodations... BUT do not want the farang to receive better service... plus... if it is an American farang the tipping is better... unless he is with his Thai wife.

[HiuMak]

Morale of the story for Thais.

"Spend your money outside Thailand"

Jealousy is a disease. Don't compare.

[Grumpish]

10 hours ago, Marc26 said:

My wife will often say she isn't treated as well if she is not with me......

Surprised at this? Follow the money. Thais don't tip. 

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

12 hours ago, Pinga said:

She actually finally slowed down lately which I am very happy about.

Check she has not caught Covid or some other anti-shopping disease. For once she is cured, she will shop with double the intensity. All the best in the future.

[Marc26]

15 hours ago, Skip said:

Let's see... Thais want to charge the farang more for the same accommodations... BUT do not want the farang to receive better service... plus... if it is an American farang the tipping is better... unless he is with his Thai wife.

You must stay in some shitty hotels if they are charging you more than a Thai

[Marc26]

11 hours ago, Grumpish said:

Surprised at this? Follow the money. Thais don't tip. 

My wife certainly tips very well, but yes the perception may be they might not tip

 

By the way.............this is never an issue in any 5 star hotel in Thailand...........they treat everyone fantastic

And almost always in 4 star hotels as well

 

We just had some issues in smaller hotels.........

[Mamachigawa]

38 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

My wife certainly tips very well, but yes the perception may be they might not tip

By the way.............this is never an issue in any 5 star hotel in Thailand...........they treat everyone fantastic

And almost always in 4 star hotels as well

We just had some issues in smaller hotels.........

I usually stay at branded properties associated with international hotel chains. Some CEOs as I recall were shocked when the TAT said charge foreigners more it goes against their corporate policies no way they could participate in a nationalistic pricing regime. However, if there is a local travel promotion such as "Go To Travel"  there is no distinction between Japanese and foreign residents. In fact if Japanese live overseas they would be excluded.

[Marc26]

21 minutes ago, Mamachigawa said:

I usually stay at branded properties associated with international hotel chains. Some CEOs as I recall were shocked when the TAT said charge foreigners more it goes against their corporate policies no way they could participate in a nationalistic pricing regime. However, if there is a local travel promotion such as "Go To Travel"  there is no distinction between Japanese and foreign residents. In fact if Japanese live overseas they would be excluded.

This was a hot topic before and it was nothing more than offering Thais a discount, which resident discounts are done all over the world

They proposed keeping the resident/citizen discounts and having others pay the pre-covid prices

It was a resident discount, worded in an awful way

 

In British Columbia Canada

https://www.google.com/search?q=bc+resident+hotel+discount&rlz=1C1GCEJ_enCA874CA874&oq=bc+resident+hotel+discount&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l2j0i390.9328j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Those international chain hoteliers also offer resident discounts

Sheraton was one of the chains that criticized the TAT plan, yet they offer plenty of resident discounts

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=sheraton+resident+discount&rlz=1C1GCEJ_enCA874CA874&oq=sheraton+resident+discount&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160l2.8232j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

 

 

 

On the same subject, I used TAT's We Travel Together, as well as other Thai discounts when travelling with my son and wife for over 25 nights this summer

And they were accepting anyone who had a Thai ID, not just Thais

[Skip]

This isn't about paying more as a farang... or about Thais being given TAT supported discounts.  The subject is that a Thai is complaining that they did not receive the same service as farangs... but do we really know that they did not or is it a perceived discrepancy that could have happened to anyone.  That said... my premise remains that service industry personell tend to render above and beyond service to the clientele that part with the baht as opposed to clientele who do not... Want to test the theory???  Try tipping up front when you patronize a vacation destination... you rarely have to look twice for assistance after that.