Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Minor International pleads with Thai PM for a full lockdown

“I believe that under your strong leadership, the message to stay home, limit personal movement and avoid interaction with others will be taken to heart and will help us overcome this crisis.”
Thai hotel chain Minor International has sent a frank letter pleading with the Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha and Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang to curb public movement and activities amid the rising number of new Covid-19 infections.
Their letter warns that the country is at the “tipping point”.
Minor International is a multi-national company based in Bangkok. The three core businesses of Minor are hospitality, restaurants and lifestyle brands distribution, operated under subsidiary companies Minor Hotels, Minor Food, and Minor Lifestyle respectively.
Minor Hotels is a hotel owner, operator and investor with a portfolio of 520 hotels and serviced suites[1] under the Anantara, AVANI, Oaks, Tivoli, Elewana, NH Hotels, NH Collection, nhow Hotels, Marriott, Four Seasons, St. Regis and Radisson Blu brands in 52 countries across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe and South America.
Dear Prime Minister, Dear Governor,
Subject: Support for further strong measures in response to Covid-19 crisis
The rapid spread of Covid-19 is becoming the greatest threat to the global economy that we have seen in our lifetime. We applaud the strong actions that have been taken by the Thai government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to date, including restrictions on inbound travel to Thailand and the March 21 announcement by the BMA ordering the closure of malls and other businesses across Bangkok. We have seen similar action in Chiang Mai and other provinces across Thailand. We further applaud the important steps that the government has announced to support wage-earners and companies throughout Thailand during this period.
We are now starting to see an exponential increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in Thailand and it seems (based on trends in other countries) that we now are at a critical point to intervene and stop the situation from getting much worse. We are at the tipping point!
Despite this, there is still a large portion of our country that does not seem to understand the gravity of our situation and is not taking the threat seriously enough. Boxing matches continue, weddings are taking place, pubs are still serving customers and parties/social gatherings are still happening. Moreover, following the Bangkok closure announcement, we saw a large movement of people upcountry, posing further transmission risks to the country at large.
I am writing to express my full support for any further strong actions that the government may now consider to ensure that Thailand not only stems the spread of the Covid-19 virus but emerges with a healthy and intact society and economy. I strongly support clear messaging from the government urging all Thais to stay home and restrict their personal movements for the good of the country, as well as any actions that the government may take to enforce any such order.
Other countries have banned all gatherings of more than 20 or 30 people, which has proven to be an effective step. I believe that under your strong leadership, the message to stay home, limit personal movement and avoid interaction with others will be taken to heart and will help us overcome this crisis.
We at Minor International believe that the risk to hotels guests, our staff and the public remains very high despite the steps already taken by the Thai government and the BMA. This is because the virus has proven to be so highly infectious and because there is simply not sufficient testing capability at present to effectively stop its spread.
As such, as of today we are closing our hotels in Bangkok, with a view to extending this to other high-risk areas in Thailand. We are urging our staff to stay home and to limit any travel or indeed any out-of-home activities at all.
While this will be painful in the short term, we believe that strong short-terms measures are the best way to address this and avoid large-scale job losses and disruption. We consider this to be first and foremost a health and medical crisis and we are being guided by what the health experts are recommending, despite the short-term cost to our business.
We believe that others in the private sector support and are taking a similar approach and are willing to absorb short-term economic pain in order to best emerge from this crisis in a position to get the economy back to full speed and preserve jobs and livelihoods.
We are acting, in this regard, in the best interest of our more than 37,000 employees in Thailand and our other stakeholders. Thank you again for your strong leadership in these challenging times.
Yours sincerely,
William E Heinecke
Chairman
Minor International Pcl.
Get more from The Thaiger
Join the conversation and have your say on Thailand news published on The Thaiger.
Thaiger Talk is our new Thaiger Community where you can join the discussion on everything happening in Thailand right now.
Please note that articles are not posted to the forum instantly and can take up to 20 min before being visible. Click for more information and the Thaiger Talk Guidelines.

-
Patong2 days ago
UPDATE: 19 year old Australian falls to his death at a Phuket hotel
-
Patong3 days ago
19 year old Australian falls to his death at a Phuket hotel
-
Expats3 days ago
Norwegian man stabs himself in Pattaya hotel
-
Economy1 day ago
Price of made-to-order food surge in Thailand
-
360 Reviews3 days ago
The best honeymoon resorts in Phuket for 2022
-
Thailand2 days ago
Storm ‘Chaba’ to impact Thailand, meteorologists say
-
Bank Accounts2 days ago
Thai bank apps crash on payday causes customer outrage
-
Thailand3 days ago
PayPal Thailand back this year for those with Thai ID Cards
Wint
Sunday, May 24, 2020 at 9:52 pm
Dear William E Heinecke
Chairman
Minor International Pcl.
Just want to let you know that. The promotion of middle size pizza 149 baht has been a scam to me at The Pizza Company at Maxvalu Pattanakan.
The photos were so deceptive. The amount of the topping The Pizza Company gave was way way less then that shown in the photos. That was not acceptable and I felt like being cheated.
The Pizza Company, please be honest to your customers.
Please have your photos showing the realistic amount of the toppings you offer. You may do the touch up of the photos the way you want. Just have to be honeset with the quantities of food.
Why does The Pizza Company have to make the photos way so much different to the real product?
A bit different would normally be acceptable, but The Pizza Company take it to the level that can be called cheating.
Your kind action on this matter would be appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Wint Yonnik