Guest TonyC Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 Hello all, I am trying to find out how many gay men live in the Krabi area. The reason is I want to know if it will be profitable to open a gay sauna there. Unfortunately I do not speak Thai, so any help from native Thais would be of a great help. The sauna will not be exclusively for tourists but for everyone over the age of 18. I will be in the area after Songkran to look for a suitable place. If anyone knows of a building with garden and swimming pool for sale please leave a message. Hope to get a lot of information from here. thanks. Quote
Gaybutton Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 The reason is I want to know if it will be profitable to open a gay sauna there. I have no idea about how popular Krabi is as a gay scene, but I would suggest making sure to talk to Punya. He's the owner of the Sansuk Sauna in Pattaya. I'll bet he would be willing to offer a great deal of excellent advice and he does speak English. I hope you go for it. I think it's an excellent idea if the clientele is there. Many people thought the Sansuk Sauna in Pattaya would never have a chance of making it, but Punya has made a great, profitable success of it. Quote
Guest TonyC Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 Thanks GB I do know Sansuk sauna and whilst I was there I did meet the guy who did the interior design. I know that most gay saunas in Bangkok area are usually busy with local men. I also know that there is nothing in Krabi area for gays except one small bar. I will try to get to Pattaya again soon and contact Punya Krub. Quote
Gaybutton Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 I also know that there is nothing in Krabi area for gays except one small bar. I will try to get to Pattaya again soon and contact Punya Krub. If there are enough gays in Krabi to support your idea, then I think you have really latched onto something. I can't imagine anyone better than Punya to advise you. Knowing him, he will help you in any way he can. I hope you decide to do it and I hope you succeed. You'll certainly be welcome to advertise on this board and I believe you will have plenty of support here. Let us know if and when you will open for business. I've never been to Krabi and coming there to support your efforts and try your sauna would certainly be incentive enough for me! Quote
Guest Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 Good luck. Some factors to consider: 1 Pattaya will attract lots of gays, for obvious reasons. Are there any successful saunas other than Sansuk? 2 BKK sustains quite a few saunas, but it would be interesting to compare with Krabi on a saunas per capita basis. 3 Most places I visit in Europe & Asia sustain more gay bars than saunas -in fact several times more bars than saunas. How many gay bars are there in Krabi ? If none, then I figure a basic tart up job on a bar should cost a lot less than a sauna & might be a good way to test the market. Mind you, successful saunas must be comparatively good revenue earners for basements or backstreet buildings. Quote
Gaybutton Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 1 Pattaya will attract lots of gays, for obvious reasons. Are there any successful saunas other than Sansuk? I'm not following the logic of that question. Considering the fact that Sansuk is the first and only gay sauna in Pattaya, how could there be other successful saunas? Do you mean successful saunas other than in Pattaya and Bangkok? If that's what you mean, then you can find listings on both the Dreaded Ned and Utopia web sites. The listed saunas have been there for years and as far as I know are doing just fine. Quote
Guest Posted April 1, 2009 Posted April 1, 2009 I'm not following the logic of that question. Considering the fact that Sansuk is the first and only gay sauna in Pattaya, how could there be other successful saunas? Do you mean successful saunas other than in Pattaya and Bangkok? If that's what you mean, then you can find listings on both the Dreaded Ned and Utopia web sites. The listed saunas have been there for years and as far as I know are doing just fine. Pattaya will attract gay visitors because of all the gogo bars & so on. At present it's only sustaining one sauna, as you have kindly pointed out. As far as I know, Krabi does not have gay gogo bars, so I figure there would be less gay customers in the town - certainly fewer than Pattaya, which sustains just one sauna. Sansuk was fairly quiet when I visited it. Quote
Rogie Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 Unfortunately I do not speak Thai, so any help from native Thais would be of a great help. Tony In that case, assuming you did decide to go ahead, would you be envisaging entering into a business partnership with a Thai person? Converting an existing building into a sauna complex will involve an enormous amount of planning and organisation, not to mention the quite substantial expense. It would be essential I would have thought to have a (local) Thai person to help with liaising with officialdom in Krabi. How do you find somebody you know you can trust? If you have a Thai boyfriend of long standing that has proved his worth, that would seem to me a preferable option. I could be wrong but I believe Punya at the Sansuk is or was the bf of the guy who presumably funded the enterprise. Quote
Guest TonyC Posted April 5, 2009 Posted April 5, 2009 If there are enough gays in Krabi to support your idea, then I think you have really latched onto something. I can't imagine anyone better than Punya to advise you. Knowing him, he will help you in any way he can. I hope you decide to do it and I hope you succeed. You'll certainly be welcome to advertise on this board and I believe you will have plenty of support here. Let us know if and when you will open for business. I've never been to Krabi and coming there to support your efforts and try your sauna would certainly be incentive enough for me! Thanks again GB for your support. The idea of me writing here in the first place was to try to find out how many gays are in Krabi, up to now I am still none the wiser. Sure I will keep you up to date. I will need as many customers as possible to get it off to a good start and I will definitely use this site for advertising if it is allowed. Quote
Guest TonyC Posted April 5, 2009 Posted April 5, 2009 Good luck. Some factors to consider: 1 Pattaya will attract lots of gays, for obvious reasons. Are there any successful saunas other than Sansuk? 2 BKK sustains quite a few saunas, but it would be interesting to compare with Krabi on a saunas per capita basis. 3 Most places I visit in Europe & Asia sustain more gay bars than saunas -in fact several times more bars than saunas. How many gay bars are there in Krabi ? If none, then I figure a basic tart up job on a bar should cost a lot less than a sauna & might be a good way to test the market. Mind you, successful saunas must be comparatively good revenue earners for basements or backstreet buildings. Thanks for your comment z909, The idea of me writing here in the first place was to find out if there are enough gays to support my idea. The response is not exactly what I expected, however I am still set in my ways at the moment and am working hard on the idea. Basement or backstreet buildings sound so "dirty" My idea is a meeting place for nice gays to get together, relax, workout and make new friends not some backstreet cruising area. Go-go bars and your gay bars are more for "farang". That is not exactly what I want. I want a serious place for health and relaxation. Quote
Guest TonyC Posted April 5, 2009 Posted April 5, 2009 Tony In that case, assuming you did decide to go ahead, would you be envisaging entering into a business partnership with a Thai person? Converting an existing building into a sauna complex will involve an enormous amount of planning and organisation, not to mention the quite substantial expense. It would be essential I would have thought to have a (local) Thai person to help with liaising with officialdom in Krabi. How do you find somebody you know you can trust? If you have a Thai boyfriend of long standing that has proved his worth, that would seem to me a preferable option. I could be wrong but I believe Punya at the Sansuk is or was the bf of the guy who presumably funded the enterprise. Rogie, thanks for your reply. You hit the 1.000.000 $ question. Doing my homework and visualising the place I would like it looks very much like I will need a Thai partner. I think being alone I would only be able to get something off the ground, like z909 mentioned, a back-street or basement sauna. Sound very sleezy, doesn't it? I don't think the planning or remodelling of a place will be such huge expense. The biggest problems will be working with the authorities and staff needed. How do I find someone I can trust? Again I am not sure. These are the big problems I face at the moment. But one step at a time. First will I get enough customers? Quote
Guest TonyC Posted April 5, 2009 Posted April 5, 2009 I have been looking through the list of businesses a "farang" can have in Thailand. I have come across my first obstacle, under what category does "gay sauna" come? Does anyone know? Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted April 5, 2009 Posted April 5, 2009 I hate to put a damper on anyone's ambitions, but Krabi really is nothing like Pattaya, Phuket ror Chiang Mai. It is not a recognised gay destination (yet!) and there are few, if any, gay business organisations. I have only visited Krabi once. Admittedly it was in the low season and only for 3 days, but I saw absolutely no evidence of gay couples. Also, the biggest problem I foresee is that most of the resorts are very spread out over a large area - and all are well away from Krabi town (which, according to Utopia, only has around 25,000 inhabitants). So I wonder where you plan to locate your sauna? Most farangs will want to meet Thais - and probably vice-versa. You therefore have to be in a part of Krabi where it will be easy for both farangs and Thais to visit it. If I were considering opening any gay establishment in Krabi, I would first commission some form of detailed research to make sure there would be sufficient customers to justify a major investment. How you do that, I'm sorry I have no idea, other than checking with gay sites and travel agencies. I'd also want to know more about public transport and how my customers can get not just to the sauna but back to their hotels afterwards. If late in the evening, when does public transport cease operating? Just opening up a sauna in a place which presently has none and which, more importantly, has no real focal point, might end up being a recipe for financial disaster. But I wish you all possible success. Quote
Guest Posted April 5, 2009 Posted April 5, 2009 Most of the saunas I've seen are backstreet or in basements, but they are still fitted out extremely tastefully & well maintained. The point is they generally don't need to rely on passing trade or a prime location, as people will often take the trouble to search for them. Quote
Guest TonyC Posted April 6, 2009 Posted April 6, 2009 Most of the saunas I've seen are backstreet or in basements, but they are still fitted out extremely tastefully & well maintained. The point is they generally don't need to rely on passing trade or a prime location, as people will often take the trouble to search for them. I see, sorry I misunderstood. I agree that these places do not have to be in the limelight. The don't rely on passing trade and usually have regular customers, if the place has a nice atmosphere. Quote
Guest fredinbangkok Posted April 6, 2009 Posted April 6, 2009 I have been looking through the list of businesses a "farang" can have in Thailand. I have come across my first obstacle, under what category does "gay sauna" come? Does anyone know? Tony - a sauna would fall into the category of "service business" which falls under Annex 3 to the Foreign Business Act (previously known as the Alien Business Law). As such, the operating company has to be majority Thai owned. Quote
