Traveling in Thailand

The first post in an occasional series on how hotel websites can give you an impression that doesn’t quite match up with reality.

Since this is my first post on the topic, I’ll spend a little time explaining what I’m doing here. Savvy travelers spend lots of time on the internet researching destinations, accommodations, food and activities and we often trust whatever we read as truth. We look at the pictures on hotel websites and think – This must be accurate, it’s a picture afterall. But the real truth is that a lot of stuff on the internet, especially when it comes to hotel websites, is meant to be persuasive, to get you to book. It’s more like the advertising pages in a newspaper than the news itself, though it’s never marked “advertorial.” read more »

beautiful, eh?

Here’s a link to an interesting story about how locals are attempting to control growing tourism in Satun, a province on the Gulf of Siam.

This influx of tourists created more jobs for the villagers who are mostly fishermen, but the downside was that it brought with it some nasty elements whose behaviour was not in keeping with the values and beliefs of this Muslim community, according to Yunha Longsaman, the committee chief.

Satun is one of my favorite off-the-beaten-path places in Thailand (you can read more about it in Moon Thailand) and it’s great to read that the community is doing something to try to control tourism without discouraging people from visiting.

I don’t want to be a hater and, besides, there are plenty of places I can recommend, so why indulge in negativity? Well, once in a while something so good comes along it’s not fair to ignore it. TripAdvisor put together a list of the dirtiest hotels in the world according to their reviewers. Here are the Thailand hotels that made the top 10 list in Asia (yikes, those stats aren’t good for Thailand). read more »

As a follow up to my debut post, here’s a link to the list of travel bargains the Tourism Authority of Thailand has put together.

A couple of notable deals:

Twinpalms in Phuket (a personal favorite) let’s you buy now and stay later. Four nights is 12,000B (about $350 US). A great deal for a very nice property, but the catch is you have to buy by now and stay between May and September. Lots can change in a few months so though it is a great deal,  it’s tough to commit with cash that far in advance, even if staying there will make you look this fabulous.

Citadines in Bangkok is offering rooms as low as 1,625B (less than $50 US). These are mini-suites, well located and all their properties in the city are less than 2 years old. They lack the big common spaces of typical hotels (i.e., no spacious lobby), and they aren’t full-fledged service apartments but rooms have sitting areas and kitchenettes.

We have a lot of ground to cover, and if you’re planning a vacation or researching Thailand I’m sure you’re pressed for time, so I won’t bore you with too many details about me. I will say that I’m a journalist living in Bangkok and I’ve just written a travel guide to Thailand for Moon. We got to visit it at US bookstores when we were back home over the holidays and were happy to see it in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Orange County.

I’ll be using this blog as a platform to share information and advice about taking a vacation in Thailand and, occasionally, other parts of the world. I’m really excited to get started and already have a list of topics to share with everyone.

Fishing boat on the Gulf of Siam

Travel and the economy

The first topic on the list is the economy and how it may impact your vacation. Globally, the downturn in travel has been swift and severe. Thailand has been hurt even more than most popular tourist destinations because of the ongoing political unrest and November’s airport closure. The political situation is stable but, for now, none of the economic news is good. Airport arrivals are declining; occupancy rates are at historic lows. There is some good news though — if you happen to be fortunate enough to be traveling, you’re doubly lucky, as prices are low and still moving down.

How low?

The prices published in Moon Thailand, as is typical of most travel publications, reflect the cost of a double room during high season.  Many mid- to high-end hotels in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and on the islands are discounting those prices by more than half. So if you see a listing for a hotel that will run you 4,000B, expect to pay less than 2,000B. That’s a little under $60 US per night, and that’s probably what you’ll pay at many four star properties in popular tourist destinations.

Getting the best hotel deals

Often hoteliers negotiate deals with travel websites well in advance, so pricing on these websites may not reflect the latest discounts. I was just reminded of this fact by a hotel manager a few days ago when I was looking at a hotel for potential inclusion in Moon Bangkok. In other cases the opposite can be true. Sometimes larger, established brands don’t want to publicize that they’re cutting prices so dramatically, so they do it through middlemen such as agoda.com or asiarooms.com but keep prices on their websites high.

The bottom line — make sure to check hotel booking websites and call the hotel or check on their website to compare prices. It’s a little inconvenient if you’re calling from the other side of the world, but the potential savings can be significant, especially if you’re staying for a week. Once you’ve got the hotel on the phone, it’s a good time to ask for extras, such as a room upgrade, free breakfast or an airport transfer. Remember that many great hotels in Thailand are part of small and medium sized businesses so managers are much more likely to offer deals than they would at large international chains.

Airfares

Airlines can’t slash prices as dramatically as hotels since fixed costs are too high, but we are seeing some really good promotions from Thai Airways and Air Asia as well as other regional airlines. Air Asia prices are easy to find on their website, but for some reason I never get the best pricing on Thai Airways’ website. Prices are almost always cheaper when I check through a travel agent.