Thai hotels to offer 1,000 baht discounts for expats

To stimulate domestic tourism and help revive the economy after the pandemic, hotels plan to offer expats a 1,000 baht discount on rooms until the end of the year. A debt moratorium, put in place to help businesses hurt by the pandemic, is ending this month and hotels need a boost.

The Thai Hotels Association, or THA, says they will offer the discount on 5,000 room nights. Expats will need to show their passport. The discount is valid until December 31. THA president Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi says the new campaign supports the hotel industry during the tough economic situation. With a ban on international tourists over the past 7 months, many hotel rooms have been empty.

Even though Thailand is reopening borders to foreign visitors on the new Special Tourist Visa, the amount of international tourists expected to come in over the next month or so is a tiny fraction of the number of tourists arriving this time last year.

To reach out to foreigners who are already in the country, Thai hotels partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand for the Expat Travel Bonus program, offering travel, accommodation and other deals at events in Bangkok.

With the debt moratorium ending this month, Marisa says most hotels have restructured their debt with creditors. She says banks are trying to avoid nonperforming loans, which are loans more than 90 days overdue.

Since the coronavirus outbreak, occupancy rates have fallen drastically and many hotels temporarily closed. Marisa says it’s still necessary to continue with the stimulus campaign. She adds that the association is urging hotels not to raise the room rates or quote unfair prices to expats.

Thaiger Tip: Check whatever room rate you’re being offered under this new program with one of the online travel websites – bookings.com, aged.co, hotels.com, etc. Many of the hotels are already offering big discounts through the online booking portals.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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