Guest TOQ Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 Having stayed at the Marriott in Pattaya for over 500 nights in the last 7 years, I was there on my last trip to LOS and content to stay there for months. I checked in and they did not upgrade me to a nicer room they always upgrade Platinum Members to. I complained and said my piece and was told that they can't upgrade someone who is staying so many nights as corporate office in Bangkok said it was wasting money. I asked how many of those room were taken and they said none. I went the next day and rented a great apartment. When I started to check out, the manager said, why are you leaving? I told him why and he said, "no problem, we will upgrade you now." Too late I said. There went my 100 nights with them this year and in 2011. However, I meet the same mentality in Brazil. I tried to book the Sheraton for a 3 month trip and all I asked for was free Internet. I went round and round with the hotel sales department about this. In the USA, it would have been an instant YES. No problem. I am not sure why some places don't see the bigger picture. That just boggles the mind , doesn't it Quote
Guest tdperhs Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 The manager answered: Oh my...NO..how can we do that ??? we do not have any customers now! Such is the mind of the Thai business...even those associated with major international hotel chains are found as foolish.... I believe it is what I refer to as the "Chinese-Thai" mentality... I set a price..you can have it at that price...no discount! The customer came on to Pattaya and found a hotel here willing to welcome him and grant him the 2,000 Thai baht discount...for an added 10 days of revenue for the hotel. Go figure! tj It seems to me, travelerjim, that you have two conflicting examples of Thai logic, the one in BKK and the one in Pattaya. I am assuming that BKK represents your appreciation of Thai logic. What kind of logic was applied by the hotel clerk in Pattaya? It’s one thing to point out the difference in the logic of different cultures, but it seems to me we should show examples of our superior western logic for comparison. Such as: UK: “I have here from Herr Hitler, a piece of paper…” USA: “As South Vietnam goes, so goes all of Asia…” USA: Foreign Aid. U.S. spends billions on food to aid poorer countries. However, since by law the food must be purchased in the U.S.A., 65%-75% of that money goes to shipping, corporate farm profits, spoilage, and pilferage. Vatican: Priests must remain chaste and celibate so they will not be distracted from advising their laity on their most pressing concerns, sexual and marital problems. Ireland and others: Priests found to be molesting boys get transferred to other parishes in close contact with a new crop of boys where they surely will never do it again. USA: In a desire to help India recover from food shortages, the U.S. Department of Agriculture shipped thousands of tons of surplus beef to India. Since Hindus revere the bovine and do not eat beef, it rotted on the docks. Only Untouchables would even haul it away. USSR: Not to be outdone by the Americans, the Soviets sent thousands of tons of cement to India in paper lined sand bags. The moisture from sea and rain got into the cement and after two days at India's hot and sunny dockside, the Indian government found itself with thousands of tons of bagged rock. USA: Nineteen men, all but one from Saudi Arabia, took down the Twin Towers and trashed the Pentagon. The USA retaliated with enthusiastic support of Amercan and UK voters by going to war against Iraq while claiming Iraq had nothing to do with the incidents. USA: April Glaspie, US Ambassador to Iraq, tells Saddam Hussein that, if he were to invade Kuwait, the US will fall back on the 1966 Geneva Accords and “have no interest in Arab to Arab problems.” Six months later her boss declared war on Iraq for invading Kuwait. USA: Ronald Reagan issued an amnesty to illegal aliens living in the USA allowing most to become citizens. The logic? It will reduce the number of illegal aliens in the U.S. It sure did… for 20 years. Now we have more than we did in the 80's. USA: If we stop using terms like crippled, handicapped, negro, colored, or black and substitute terms like physically challenged and African American, these people will have happier lives and be treated with respect. (A very close paraplegic friend once said to me of this logic, “If calling me an asshole would get me out of this wheelchair, I would say, ‘Scream it out at me.’”) Most of these are, of course, from the USA because that’s where I am from and we tend to hang out our dirty laundry more than most other countries. Not even touched were such brilliant logical acts and conclusions as the two elections of George W. Bush, the war on drugs and drug dealers, birthers, the abortion issue, political correctness of any kind, which, by its very nature, defies logic, all religions, with the possible exception of Confucianism, Bernard Madoff, stem cell research, just about any law that comes out of Washington, D.C. and any war we have been involved in since the War of 1812, among so many others. All right, Thai logic may seem strange to us, at times it certainly seems strange to me. But I definitely don’t feel entitled to wrap it in some veneer of inferiority. Quite frankly, the logic cited by tj could be sound practices. If most businesses follow that line of thinking, the across-the-board increase would only be noticed by people who are here at the change. The individual businesses have no control over the value of the baht, which is most effected by foreign investments and has a greater impact on the cost of coming here than hotel rates. If people stay away, it won’t be because they have to spend another 50 baht a night for a classy hotel room. There are cheaper hotels. It won’t be because they have to pay another 30 baht for a meal they could get at a real Thai restaurant for half the price. Few tourists will know it and most of them won’t care because Thailand is still one of the world’s best tourism bargains. It will be because the airline tickets will be too pricey and their home currency is 25% to 30% weaker. They probably won’t be going far from home for their next holiday. Let me conclude this litany of reason with one other bit of Thai inferiorlogic, to wit: it is perfectly okay to rent my body out cheaply to an unattractive and often arrogant foreigner contemptuous of our culture in order to help my friends and my family. That is the kind of faulty logic that brought us here. Quote
Guest tdperhs Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 BTW, tj, you're a businessman in Thailand. Have you raised or lowered your rates or commissions in the last two or three years? Quote
Bob Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 All right, Thai logic may seem strange to us, at times it certainly seems strange to me. But I definitely dont feel entitled to wrap it in some veneer of inferiority. Nor has anyone else suggested that. Some of your examples of so-called "logic" are just a bit weak in the "logic" department. For example, Reagan granted amnesty to illegal aliens so they wouldn't be "illegal" doesn't make it so. In fact, it isn't and that's not why it was done (I'm no fan of Reagan but the "amnesty" given for mainly long-term Mexican illegal immigrants was done on humanitarian grounds). Also, there's a difference between just plain negligence or stupidity (i.e., the Russians failing to protect the concrete bags from moisture) and logic. And the USA didn't retaliate for the downing of the twin towers by going to war against Iraq (remember Afghanistan?). Etc., etc... For many westerners, some Thai (or, better put, "asian") logic is befuddling and a bit contrary to how we were taught to think. I, for example, put on a seat belt or wear a helmet so I lower my chance of getting injured or killed - and I never don't wear a helmet because "it's not my day to die." I also don't avoid a place just because somebody accidentally died there as I don't believe in ghosts. The differences - some probably cultural and some related to the education methods or lack thereof - don't make falang necessarily right or the Thai necessarily wrong - but falang see some of the differences as just plain goofy (and I'm sure the Thai think the same about some falang patterns of thinking). Quote
Gaybutton Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 But I definitely don’t feel entitled to wrap it in some veneer of inferiority. I don't think anyone is trying to do that. Certainly lack of logic applies anywhere. My continual references to the great and sainted Dan Quayle ought to illustrate that. And, if I was applying my "I Don't Get It" list to the USA, it would be infinitely longer than my list as it applies to Thailand. A country that has people who actually support fine folks such as Jimmy Swaggart, Fred Phelps, and the Ku Klux Klan definitely merits an "I Don't Get It" list. I don't think anyone is trying to come across as superior. It's just fun to point out some of the curious things we observe and experience in Thailand and wonder where, or even if, logic applies. My most recent example is something that I noticed only yesterday. In the area at which I live there is a hell of a lot of new construction going on. About two years ago the Bank of Ayudhya opened a branch office in that area. Yesterday I was passing by and I noticed a bank branch office under construction, less than half a block up the street from the Bank of Ayudhya branch office. When it opens, you know what bank it will be? Bank of Ayudhya! Two branch offices of the same bank, virtually across the street from one another. That might actually make some sense if they were going to close the first office in favor of the new one going in, except for one little thing. From what I understand they're not planning to close that first office. They're simply going to have two of them. I'd say that no matter where you come from, that's just a wee bit difficult to figure out . . . And speaking of "I Don't Get It" -> "The USA was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free. And they're banning toy guns, but they're gonna keep the fuckin' real ones!" - George Carlin Quote
Guest beachlover Posted August 25, 2010 Posted August 25, 2010 The Peninsula in Bangkok has a rack rate of Bt. 13,000 (although I cannot believe many actually pay that). For more than a week it has been advertising a special package for Thais and resident expats of Bt. 3,000 valid till end-July. This includes breakfast for two and dinner in their excellent coffee shop or on the river terrace plus, I think, one or two additional extras. When you consider the base price of breakfast and the amazing terrace buffet, that is a great bargain. Yet there is another ad today for a package at the Sheraton Grand on Sukhumvit which is just a lousy deal. Shit... why didn't I hear about that? I could've used it (if valid for foreigners). Quote
Guest beachlover Posted August 25, 2010 Posted August 25, 2010 Having stayed at the Marriott in Pattaya for over 500 nights in the last 7 years, I was there on my last trip to LOS and content to stay there for months. I checked in and they did not upgrade me to a nicer room they always upgrade Platinum Members to. I complained and said my piece and was told that they can't upgrade someone who is staying so many nights as corporate office in Bangkok said it was wasting money. I asked how many of those room were taken and they said none. I went the next day and rented a great apartment. When I started to check out, the manager said, why are you leaving? I told him why and he said, "no problem, we will upgrade you now." Too late I said. There went my 100 nights with them this year and in 2011. Good on you! Sounds like that stupid decision has cost them $20k+ Personally, I've found you can often get a good deal or extras thrown in if you speak to the right person the right way, but not always. Usually someone with some commercial sense or commercial accountability (e.g. manager who is motivated to get/keep bookings) will reason and is someone you can negotiate with. Other staff are often just following rule books. Quote
