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Home » Reader question » Why should foreigners pay more for a hotel?
Why should foreigners pay more for a hotel?
Dear readers,
I want to go away with family for a few days and run into these hotel rules. I see this at more and more hotels and I feel more than sewn. I live in Thailand and my wife and children are Thai.
My wife tries to book but they immediately indicate that the discount does not apply to foreigners. So my wife has my last name and that is enough reason for them to charge more right away.
Amazing Thailand.
Regards,
Chose
Editors: Do you have a question for the readers of Thailandblog? Use it contact form..
Just let your wife book under her maiden name and also check whether the special prices are only for Thai or for Thai residents.
If she has nothing but a debit or credit card with a Dutch name, she could send a copy of her Thai card. (I assume she still has it)
Dear
There is only one solution : let your wife book everything let them say you are Thai
Once everything has been paid, you are welcome as a Thai tourist and much cheaper
Own people first
She must bring her ID.
Book a room with a double bed and a bed for a child.
Never forget : Money number one in Thailand and Buddha nr 2 !
In the story above I had placed a link to an example hotel, but that is of course not allowed.
but everyone can search for eg chiang mai and gate hotel.
Go to their own hotel site and enter a date when booking.
You will be surprised that there are 2 amounts listed per room.
eg 600 bath with text THAI CITIZENS ONLY and 2nd amount is 1000 bath for foreigners.
Simple math, so you always pay 40% more.
No Koos, you even pay almost ((฿ 1,000 ÷ ฿ 600 – 1) x 100% = ) 67%! more than Thai.
The Thai pays 40% less than the non-Thai.
I looked this up for fun. I don't find what you say, I could only find in Thai and in English, so only by language and not by nationality, and I see 1000 THB in both languages. Anyway, on Booking 25 EUR, but if you are going to book then it is THB 908,90 per night per room with 2 persons, including breakfast. If you do find differences, then it is about an additional cost of EUR 8,50 per night, so I don't really see the problem. Only those who go the principle way will see this as a problem.
Smile & be happy!
Me and my Thai wife have owned over 40 hotels in the past 200 years.
Having a Farang surname doesn't really matter that much to me.
My Thai wife books hotels under her Thai name and we often still have to pay a higher price, when we call from the Netherlands (they ask nicely if a Farang is coming along) or when we appear together at the desk, the higher price is also used.
Often a 30% higher price.
The Thai people find the double price system a just cause and see no problem with it.
As long as the hotel desk does not complain about it and it is accepted, nothing will change.
Often the woman is told that the Thai must help the Thai.
Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia have the same system.
In general, as a Farang you pay a higher price in many places, both in construction, land purchase, samlors, tuc tuc, taxis that do not turn on the meter, even at town hall higher prices are sometimes charged.
Thailand is simply not the Netherlands, with different laws, rules and customs.
why don't you always book the right price with hotels.com
Patrick,
i think a western bookings site will display the western prices, without the Thai discount.
Correct!
I always book with Agoda under my own name and then no difference in price!
You mean the price for non Thai
I usually let my girlfriend book and have never had to pay a higher price on arrival nor would I accept. I've had hotels from 300 to 10.000 bant per night and nowhere an increase.
When I was only in Thailand and enjoyed practicing my Thai with tuk tuk drivers, for example, I often got a price that was too high to my girlfriend's liking, who then told me in rapid Thai what she thought of those practices and whether Mr. just wanted to lower or we went to another.
She and many other thai I know thought it was indecent to charge farang a higher price. One tries the price differences with, for example, wet. often obscuring parks by using thai numbers for thai.
Even the minister of tourism has indicated several times that this double price system is outdated and should be abolished.
But apparently they are not ready for that yet.
They think they can get more money that way, but there will come a day when tourists will no longer accept it and then go to other countries, for example Bali.
yes, many people think that, but tourists do not act rationally at all, but above all emotionally.
If you think rationally, you don't go to Thailand on holiday, but just in Spain or Portugal: much cheaper, the sun also shines and there are probably also street stalls and Thai food (if you look carefully).
And the tourists do not know what can and will happen to them in the country of the holiday.
Which tourist who goes to Bali wonders what a beer in Bali costs (and then wonders whether he should go to Bali) and in which year that terrible bomb explosion took place that killed dozens of tourists?
A crooked reasoning because most tourists are completely unaware of this double price system.
Most of them book through a travel organization (travel agency) or through the well-known booking websites. How would they know about the extra cost?
I came to live here because I had my reasons, but certainly not to be a philanthropist. As long as the Thai elite exploits and oppresses the majority, I don't see a 'Thai must help Thai', but pure greed among themselves. Then the foreigner by name and appearance is easy prey. Cultural differences have nothing to do with this. The smile and friendliness towards foreign tourists is purely to make money. It disappears like snow in the sun as soon as you have a disagreement or don't give in financially. I refuse to pay a higher price; especially for business services such as hotel bookings which offer me nothing more than for a Thai. I am not sensitive to 'pathetic' and I am against development aid. That was one of the reasons to turn my back on NL…
I also live in Thailand and also pay taxes here. They try to stimulate domestic tourism, but apparently only for Thai. Stylish that two price system, I try to avoid those kinds of places as much as possible.
Dear,
There is only one effective remedy for that.
You let your wife explain that you are married and are a family together.
Then you make the hard decision whether all stay here or all leave for another hotel.
That usually works, especially now that the hotels want to book quite a bit of occupancy in post-corona times.
Good luck,
Guy
I find that outrageous too, but is this already official at the moment. i do have a thai ID in thai would you get away with that.
No, no longer works. Until about 5 years old you could still drive with a Thai driver's license or ID. parks, etc. for the same price as the Thai but that has been abolished.
My Thai wife always books online if possible in a hotel belonging to a hotel chain such as Accor group (Mercure, Novotel, Ibis) and we never pay 1 satang more than what was stated online.
I don't know if you are talking about the stimulus program of the Thai government to restart tourism, because in that case you don't pay more, but Thai less.
The provision that temporarily applies is that Thai hotels can book with a 40% discount. The government will supplement the amount paid to the hotel up to 100%. This is an incentive scheme to restart tourism after Covid. Conditions are that you book at least a week in advance, so it only applies to people with Thai nationality and it does not apply to all hotels (but it does apply to something like 80% of the hotels if I understood correctly, there is a app or a website for).
In this case you don't pay extra as Farang, but the normal price, while Thai get a discount. It is a nuance difference, but given the regulation it is easy to explain. Extra for the Thai population who suffered greatly during Covid by being able to go on holiday cheaper in their own country and thus restart tourism. And Farang who can go to Thailand are perfectly able to pay the normal prices, that is the underlying idea. For the hotels, the income is the same.
We were there ourselves in July, my Thai partner has booked the hotels under her name, but we usually book a day in advance with her parental home as a base, so the discount did not apply in most cases. But knowing the scheme, I also found it no problem at all to pay the 'full blow' and thus contribute. I think if you let your wife book with her Thai ID or passport you can simply claim the discount scheme.
A nuance difference, but not fair. That discount is partly financed by my tax money, so the burdens but not the benefits. Furthermore, many foreigners work here, for example as English teachers, and they receive the same salary as their Thai colleagues. They are also quite the victims of the two-price system.
If only a difference would be made between tourists or residents, I could still justify that, ultimately residents pay tax.
By no means all residents pay tax, and those who do try to avoid this as much as possible.
And that is of course unfair to the Thai, who pays tax on an income, where the farang with an often higher income (from abroad) does not pay tax, by only bringing that money into Thailand after a year.
And yes, before anyone asks, I pay taxes in Thailand according to the rules as they are actually intended.
The benefit from the pension insurer goes directly to Thailand, and so does the state pension.
I was taught that you pay what you owe, and I agree.
It is actually nothing new that a farang in Thailand often pays more than a Thai for many hotels.
The only difference is that this has been talked about a bit more lately, or at least has become visible with a booking.
When I first came to Bangkok 28 years ago, I and my then Thai girlfriend made it a sport to first ask her for a room rate in a hotel.
When I asked myself later, there was already a difference of 2 to 300 Baht per night at most hotels.
When I actually let her do the booking out of provocation, they were later very surprised that I was the 2nd person who occupied this room.
However, double prices, which in my opinion are discriminatory everywhere, are very understandable for many tourists, as long as it concerns Thailand.
If you have a residence permit here in Bali and show it, I pay the same as a local, so it is possible in Asia.
Has nothing to do with own people first. Foreigners become a cash cow.
Booking through a bookings site is not a good solution in my opinion.
I just checked what our regular hotel in bangkok charges per night through a booking site.
That is 300 baht more than we paid at the counter and 700 baht more than a Thai paid at the counter.
Not really surprising since the hotel also has to pay an amount to the booking site for the advertisement.
I do not know if this is always the case, since an acquaintance of mine saw the price on a booking site, did not book through the site, then went to the counter and still had to pay a higher price at the counter than the site indicated.
Perhaps the best solution is to let the Thai woman at the counter do her word,
My wife is good at haggling and sometimes we get the Thai price or even a discount on the Thai price.
Every Baht that the Farang pays too much does not go to her children and family, I think is a good argument.
Hello, what I do is ask the room rate, or read, then I ask for a discount, they give nx then I leave the hotel, usually they call you back and you get a discount…be sure to check the room first, if okay leave your luggage standing there…
In Asean now I read that it is a government stimulus. It's allowed .
There was a Dutchman there who filed a lawsuit against higher prices in hospital.
Court ruling: “That is allowed, it is good for Thailand”
With this all allegations simply throw in the trash.
If you ask a judge in Russia if Putin was allowed to start that war, he will probably say that he was allowed. Therefore it is not yet fair.
The price difference is due to a government tourism incentive program called 'เราเที่ยวด้วยกัน' ('Rauw Thiâuw Dwâi Kan', 'We Travel Together') which has been extended through 31-10-2022.
The Thai registered in the incentive program receive a 7% discount on a maximum of 40 hotel nights of a maximum of ฿ 10/night and a 3,000% refund on airline tickets to 40 provinces after check-out if they book at least 7 days in advance at affiliated hotels. In addition, they receive ฿ 600 in e-vouchers per night to spend at affiliated restaurants, spas and tourist attractions.
https://www.thaipbsworld.com/phase-4-of-we-travel-together-program-extended-until-end-of-october/
https://www.เราเที่ยวด้วยกัน.com
And for more info: https://www.เราเที่ยวด้วยกัน.com/how-to/users
Those pages can be translated well with the Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browser.
Example: https://www.centarahotelsresorts.com/we-travel-together