Cheap Airfare

[Snick]

The discounts are starting to appear, I recently booked a luxury Phuket hotel for some friends at less than 1/2 the normal high season rates.

You can see big discounts in Samui also.

Expect even more in the next few weeks

...Those who are willing to travel to Thailand should have no problem finding a bargain, said Chris Lee, of the long-haul specialist Travelmood. €œThe offers are flying in, no doubt about it,€ he said. €œWithin the next week, both Thai Airways and EVA Air will be offering significant fare reductions to complement the great hotel deals coming up.€

[Stogie]

I wouldn't hold your breath. The luxury sellers will offer discounts (like they always do) but the mid range carriers and hotels will stubbornly stick it out convinced that if they play hardball the profits are right around the corner!

The girls may be cheaper in Bangkok but they are already dirt cheap in Pattaya...

Drinks and food won't sink any lower unless you are prepared to snip coupons for the higher end eateries...

So a hotel that previously cost 8,000 baht will be a giveaway at 4,000 baht! Hmmm.

But having said all that it's pretty cheap here still for most things so once you've got your air fare sorted the rest is pretty easy!

[Stogie]

But don't listen to me...

As long as I've known Snick, whenever we have a conversation that declares opposite views ~ he always ends up being right!

 

[Snick]

LOL
I was writing a reply agreeing with you (mostly), the discounts involved are aimed at tourists (and high end ones especially). But I am seeing 30,000 Baht Suites in Samui going for 8,000 ; and I got a 5000 room in Phuket for 2200. Starting in 2nd week January Hard Rock Pattaya is offering pay for one night, get one free. However the hotels in the under 2000 Baht range do not seem to be offering any big discounts.

Thai Air will almost certainly have some huge discounts in a week or two, but they need to ask the new government's permission first (!!!)

Food prices will mostly stay the same, but I did see some big hotels selling discount buffet coupons - not sure how to get those.

And the other bright side.....I can actually walk down Sukhemvit road without being blocked by 1000 dumbass tourists.

[Stogie]

(Snick @ Dec. 22 2008,12:54) And the other bright side.....I can actually walk down Sukhemvit road without being blocked by 1000 dumbass tourists...

Amen to that, brother!

[mardhi]

(Snick @ Dec. 22 2008,11:54) LOL
I was writing a reply agreeing with you (mostly), the discounts involved are aimed at tourists (and high end ones especially). But I am seeing 30,000 Baht Suites  in Samui going for 8,000 ; and I got a 5000 room in Phuket for 2200. Starting in 2nd week January Hard Rock Pattaya is offering pay for one night, get one free. However the hotels in the under 2000 Baht range do not seem to be offering any big discounts.

Thai Air will almost certainly have some huge discounts in a week or two, but they need to ask the new government's permission first (!!!)

Food prices will mostly stay the same, but I did see some big hotels selling discount buffet coupons - not sure how to get those.

And the other bright side.....I can actually walk down Sukhemvit road without being blocked by 1000 dumbass tourists.

Generally, the larger "resorts" have understood and fully comprehend that the touirst market they are aiming for also spends heaps of money in F&B outlets within the hotel. So by dropping a reduced room rate, the hotel anticipate they will at least receover a fair share of that through F&B sales. No guests also means little F&B sales. This is not so much an issue at smaller hotels as they have less F&B outlets and are not so attuned to the opportunity.

To put this into perspective - the Landmark make more money out of their F&B outlets than they do out of their rooms. The rooms feed the F&B venues - it will be the same or similar in almost any large scale hotel.

Cheers
Mardhi

[sev7en]

(Snick @ Dec. 22 2008,12:54) And the other bright side.....I can actually walk down Sukhemvit road without being blocked by 1000 dumbass tourists.

That´s good. Bkk this highseason must be better than ever for a sextourist.

[SamplerDoc]

(Stogie @ Dec. 22 2008,12:20) ..... won't sink any lower unless you are prepared to snip coupons for the higher end eateries...

Now that excludes the Ladyboys, right

[elburro]

Great news Snick! every bit helps. Great to meet you in sept.Hopefully will see you between Xmas and new year. Steve from calif.

[seamus]

I think your right with the air fairs, or at leats I hope you are. Eva asking around £790 mid March at the Mo & Thai about £100 less, but that is with Air miles, still not sure about the air miles thing, if it's worth paying a little extra, just for the air miles ?

[Snick]

There HERE

http://www.tourismthailand.org/thailandsuperdeal/

This doesn't look like a bad idea, surprisingly since it comes from the Tourist Authority. The website allows hotels and travel agents to submit their own discount packages. I did a quick look at whats being offered and there are some good deals....and some complete crap.

[bigmick22]

(sev7en @ Dec. 22 2008,13:46)

(Snick @ Dec. 22 2008,12:54) And the other bright side.....I can actually walk down Sukhemvit road without being blocked by 1000 dumbass tourists.

That´s good. Bkk this highseason must be better than ever for a sextourist.

are you here yet? I checked in about an hour ago!!!

[deepthroat]

I'm booked into high-end hotels for the first few weeks in February ie: Presidential Suite at the Pattaya Bay Resort and a deluxe seaview room at the Safari Beach Hotel in Phuket. Anyone got any insight into how I go about negotiating better rates even though I've had the reservations in place for 4 months? I don't want to give up the rooms and am ok with paying the high rates (easily over $100 per night) as I love the luxury which I couldn't anywhere else other than Thailand. But I hate the idea of missing an opportunity to save something if an extra discount might be offered if I were to negotiate properly!

Any ideas?

[daveduke007]

(seamus @ Dec. 23 2008,05:37) I think your right with the air fairs, or at leats I hope you are. Eva asking around £790 mid March at the Mo & Thai about £100 less, but that is with Air miles, still not sure about the air miles thing, if it's worth paying a little extra, just for the air miles ?

Etihad Airways prices have dropped from £581 to £446 from Manchester to BKK for May in the last couple of Days

[ciobha]

Thai airways from Heathrow has dropped about £200 in the last few days.