TotallyOz Posted January 6, 2009 Posted January 6, 2009 The prices most charge for all the events in Phuket are ridiculously high. They are outrageous at times. A day trip to Phi Phi Island on a speed boat the hotel offers for 3200 baht per head. I met a few people on my bike trip that are tour operators and they said they would get me the same trip for 1300 or less. I started asking around at all the little shops in town and they were all going for less than the hotel price and they ARE all the same trips. The boyfriend and I took his family for an entire day trip to Phi Phi Island, snorkeling in Maya Bay, lunch on the Island and drinks on the boat and a quick tour of Monkey Island. The cost from the hotel was 2800. We paid 900 baht a head for the same door to door service. Be careful where you book and do NOT pay the regular rate anywhere. As with everything in Thailand, it is negotiable. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 The prices most charge for all the events in Phuket are ridiculously high I think this is true of most tour organisers with hotel desks. But there are dangers in fixing your own trip. In Phuket a couple of years ago, I arranged a 3 hour snorkeling trip from a shop that was half the price of the hotel's. Having rented the snorkeling gear, the boat arrived on time and we sailed for all of 10 minutes to a neighbouring bay. It was then going to leave us and return 3 hours later because it was part of a regular boat run around various bays. This was not what the brochure claimed and not what we had specifically been told. So I turned round, returned to the store, insisted on a full refund but was told I could not get anything because we had actually used the boat both ways! A couple of heavies appeared - the owner's brother and friend, I was told. They finally offered 50% refund. It took a call to the local tourist police to get all the money back. Quote
Guest Astrrro Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 Booking with hotels just add an extra middleman which drives up the price. I won't leave my laundry with the hotel when I can walk a few feet down a soi and pay a cheaper price. It also gives me more control of the process as far as timing and I'm less likely to have a lost item with less parties involved. I will book a flight to the airport with a hotel cause i can't afford to be late and want the desk staff to quickly provide alternate transport if there's a problem. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 I won't leave my laundry with the hotel when I can walk a few feet down a soi and pay a cheaper price. Nor will I. Hotel laundry prices are a total rip-off. I only once 'had' to use the service in a 5-star hotel in New York (my client was paying!). Arriving late evening from Las Vegas, my suitcase had disappeared en route, so I checked-in looking rather like a tramp. Tired, pissed off and with no change of clothes, I had my socks and underwear laundered overnight. It would have been cheaper to have bought new ones! Quote
Gaybutton Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 I'll give you a piece of advice regarding laundry. Yes, it certainly is much less expensive to have your laundry done via a local service rather than from your hotel. But make damned sure the laundry will be open when you need to pick up your clothes. A friend of mine was going to have his laundry done the day before he was due to leave Thailand. He thought this would be a great way to have everything done and folded. All he would need to do would be to pack it up and have clean, fresh laundry upon arrival back in his home country. Next day he went to pick up his laundry only to find the place was closed. Nobody had told him the place would be closed. He had no choice. He had to leave Thailand and ended up leaving nearly all of his clothing behind. Needless to say, he was furious. Make sure you check little things like that if you're going to need your belongings back the next day. I don't know if he ever got his clothing back, but if he did at least it was clean . . . Quote
Guest lvdkeyes Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 A good lesson that saving a few baht sometimes costs you a great deal more in the end. Quote
atri1666 Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 In this situation it is bad not to have friends around - would not be any problem for me - boyfriend would take care. 2 days before return is the last day i give clothing to laundry and boyfriend has to ask 3 times if it is open next day but never have had problems. Quote
Guest Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 1 Phuket Trips I had a very nice "5 in 1" day trip from Phuket for 1200 bht -advertised price 1900 & it seemed to be a similar spec to some with 3200 bht optimistically printed on the brochure. 2 Laundry Take the clothes to the laundry yourself, as you will recognise the clothes when it comes to collection time. Quote
Guest Astrrro Posted January 8, 2009 Posted January 8, 2009 2 Laundry Take the clothes to the laundry yourself, as you will recognise the clothes when it comes to collection time. That's right! When I gave laundry to the old Somara (now 1/3 of it is 2Guys) my favorite cargo shorts were lost. And it was not something I could replace cause the fabric was unique. They offered to compensate me and I just said forgedddaboouudit since they'd have a coronary if I told them I paid the equiv of 2000 baht. Quote
