www.fairprice-thailand.org

[vangough05]

You often see in Thailand newspapers Hotel deals that stipulate you must live in Thailand. It happens in Australia as well. Deals for locals, seems no big deal . Even theme parks in Australia have deals that clearly say 25% discount for driver licence holders of certain states only qualify for discounts. Restaurants are doing the same thing, trying to get back local trade and are offering discounts to locals who show a bill giving there local adresss.
As Stoogie says its economics and is not rasict and hey its there place not ours and is a few bucks really going to kill us.

[thaibound]

(stogie bear @ Apr. 27 2006,02:31)

You can check the internet rates easily  -  there are plenty of discount sites  -  Asia Travel - Asia Rooms - Latestays...

Not all hotels will tell you on the phone but most will.

Firstly - the above sites use the same high-quoting software to find these so called "exclusive" room prices. And none of them have the hotel phone number on their sites so you can't phone the hotels direct. These online booking agents are amongst some of the worst places to buy cheap rooms.

The internet rates that are actually set by the hotels on their own websites are usually significantly cheaper than these online reservation ripoffs. They often have promotional deals.

Calling direct usually manages to elicit the best price, but it works better when you are in Thailand of course and you don't have to plan your itinerary weeks ahead of time...

moving on...

Are you saying that there are hotels that will not tell you what they charge even if you call them directly on the phone? I think I may have misunderstood you here.

i'm about to hit los for the third time in 12 months. along the way i've scoured hundreds of online offers, made direct calls while in los, gone thru travel agents abroad and in los and on many occasions just walked up to the desk and asked how much.
i have detected no single manner of obtaining the 'best' rate, but generally speaking, i have found the internet to be a better deal than a walk-up (latestays.com is SOMETIMES 25% less than other internet sites - but sometimes no savings at all!) and if you get the right local travel agent, they will somehow manage to always match or beat whatever you find on the internet.
last fall in phuket i was staying at a place for a couple days while planning my next move. i'd stayed at the royal paradise before and thought i'd return. i got the online rate, but then went to a local travel agent and asked if they could match it. they said they could not, BUT they could get me an even better rate at a competing hotel. i said i'd think about it.
i walked down the street to another travel agent and asked about the competing hotel's rate. they said they couldn't match what i was offered BUT they could get me a really good deal at the Royal Paradise!
maybe it's a combination of who knows who and how much of the thai-rate savings they'll let the booker kick back to their customer.
it can be fun sometimes, but mostly it's frustrating and time-consuming.
that's why i like hearing what others hear pay and if i'm paying a similar rate, just book it and get on over to the bar!
now if i can just figure out if that pattaya bus is 10 thb or 200....

[Guest]

Who gives a shit?You're in the cheapest most wonderful playground in the fucking world!!! Can't afford Thailand,or hafta complain about how much you spend,stay home&spend nothing! My only complaint is maybe 1 in 10 taxi drivers knows where the hell he's going even w/instructions in Thai or a Thai person w/me!Drivers must all come from a neighboring country!!!

[PigDogg]

(Road Runner @ Apr. 26 2006,23:44)  The internet rate is 900  -  Herself books it for 800.

In Bangkok I know the Omni Tower gives about a 5% discount to Thai's.

Being an Ascott Club member (it's free to join) gets you about a 5% discount at Omni Tower.

I asked Mim, a travel agent who has done lots of good things for me over and above the call of duty, if I could save on a ko Samet hotel if I put it in teerak's name. She said, it would be *more* expensive. I don't know if I belive her, perhaps she didn't want to cause problems.

Anyway Mim books this hotel on Samet for me, basicly the same price as the internet, but I know if i have a problem I can call her on the cell.

After a couple days ,I tell the hotel, that I want to extend for two more nights (this is midweek), and they tell me I can but I'd have to pay the rack rate.
There was another hotel that intrigued me, so we changed hotels. but the booking included a free ferry back so I arranged for the free ferry to be on my new departure date.

Now you woukld think that someone from the hotel would have said, "Kuhn PigDogg, we very much appreciate the business of you and your girlfriend,;we have far too uch eurotrash and it's not everyday we have katoeys at our establishment, so of course just continue to pay the internet rate".

If this happened in the States I'd tell them, "do you think I'm a fucking retard? But, i'm kind of proud of myself cause i just smiled and didn't let it bother me. TIT.

[PigDogg]

(stogie bear @ Apr. 26 2006,19:47) I must admit I have no problems with dual pricing so long as it is transparent and obvious. It's no secret that a lot of places have two-tier pricing and the prices are usually clearly placed or labelled.

I'm not outraged by dual pricing. I just want to do what it takes to get the best deal possible without allienating the people that I have to deal with.

[Guest]

It's in most developing countries. I lived in China 2 years. Hotels and flights were half price for locals for economics reasons, as were all parks, museums, etc.

It's original intent is not meant to be racist, but it's reality is that it is.

So, imagine a rich Thai person (there are a lot!) goes to the Royal Palace, a poor foreigner goes at the same time. The rich Thai pays half the price the poor foreigner does? Tell me that makes economic sense.

If it wasn't racisit, then they should ask for a statement of your salary, but they look at your skin color and eye shape to make the judgement, and that is racist.

[Torurot]

Lots of tourist places around the world have local prices (often free if you live in that city). That's hardly racist as it's based on your residence.

[thaibound]

(mdavidsf @ Apr. 27 2006,12:52) Who gives a shit?You're in the cheapest most wonderful playground in the fucking world!!! Can't afford Thailand,or hafta complain about how much you spend,stay home&spend nothing!    My only complaint is maybe 1 in 10 taxi drivers knows where the hell he's going even w/instructions in Thai or a Thai person w/me!Drivers must all come from a neighboring country!!!  

i think they have the same rules that apply to taxi drivers in new york as well -
you can't actually LIVE in the city where you drive for more than two weeks before you start working. and once you know the city, you have to leave.
when you get in the cab at bkk ask the driver: "what do you think, the bridge or the tunnel?' and see if he doesn't say 'fuckinfuhgedaboutit'.

[allstar88]

i love Thailand because they are so non-p.c.       yes in principle it is wrong but its still a cheap country to visit and in London the taxi drivers rip off Jap tourists every day              

[dummy_plug]

Snick has actually informed me that in many cases it is more expensive for Thais to book hotel rooms than farang. He had several examples of this, so maybe when he gets his ass back from Krabi he can elaborate.

I think the dual-pricing system is bogus, especially when it is used in major establishments such as hotels and restaurants. That said, dual pricing exists almost anywhere in developing countries, the locals will always try to rip you off.