Thread: Building a mini resort business in Thailand

Very interesting project.

Best of luck to you, Simon.

Originally Posted by Simon43

when a cobra snake

Thanks for making that clear, for amount I thought it was a helicopter gun ship

Now that would have had me screaming as well........Well so would have the snake

Originally Posted by Simon43

[at]livinlos, you seem to forget that I have operated a similar resort in a similar location for the past 6 years. I'm fully aware of published, average room occupancy rates in Phuket for the different months of the year, which are hideously lower than what I have achieved.

ya when i read livinlos' post i tended to agree with him about tourism being a crapshoot. but it seems Simon knows enough about the web to steer a small portion of the millions of Phuket visitors to his property.

it wouldn't be hard to fill 10 rooms a night if you have the right web links. most visitors stay more than one night. if the average is 5 nights, you are talking 60 sales a month. thats peanuts for a good web marketer. if i only made 60 web sales a month i would be at a desk job back in the states instead of getting drunk on laow cao in my Isaan world headquarters (lol).

now if he was building a 50-room hotel, then he better pre-book the ticket back to wherever he came from haha

most visitors stay more than one night

Well, not really - unless they want to miss their plane the next day!!

This type of 'transit' hotel/resort also has a plus point in that no guests stay long enough to notice any minus points of their accommodation, (eg such as the same breakfast menu every day). Even if there is some minor issue with their accommodation, very few guests will kick up a fuss about it because it's just a one-night stay.

FYI, there are SOME guests who will kick up a fuss about some issue which is either totally trivial or does not exist at all. I can tell you that in every single incident like this over the past 6 years (very few incidents BTW), the complainant has been female, American, and probably from New York.

I'm back to Phuket tomorrow - hope to get the well digging started at the City Resort.

Simon

^
Easy solution. Don't rent to any American females from New York by telling them you are full.

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

Easy solution. Don't rent to any American females from New York by telling them you are full.

That's not the way to do business in Thailand though. Those are the ones you charge double.

Monsoon rain again today, so we'll just order some building materials. The rain should stop by the end of this month....

Simon

Really like this thread, look forward to reading how you get on. Thanks for posting and I wish you the best of luck.

I did actually manage to make some small progress on the City Resort this afternoon. In spite of the driving rain, one supplier came out to measure up the land for the installation of a 12 meter antenna mast.

This item is not typically at the top of the shopping list for a new hotel, but is on my list and needs to be installed prior to other building works.

The mast will support my various radio antennas, (yes I'm one off those dah dit dit dah radio hams). This means that it needs to be strong enough to support my weight when I go monkey-climbing up it.

Since there is not an ounce of fat on my young body, the mast supplier has specified a non-guyed, 3-sided mast with about 1 meter of concrete base foundations.

I'd like to make the mast more than 12 meters in height, but am forbidden to do so, due to my proximity to the airport - the pilots are likely to complain if they have to fly around the antennas...

Tomorrow I'm at school (learning Mandarin and Russian), and then over to the Land Office in the late afternoon to register one of the land leases onto the Chanote document - it will probably still be raining.

Simon

Originally Posted by Simon43

Since there is not an ounce of fat on my young body,

Originally Posted by Simon43

Tomorrow I'm at school

interesting building thread

Finally the rain has stopped (for a few days), and the guys can start the initial building work at the Nature Resort.



No, this is not the first guest room - it's a temporary cover where the cement can be stored, to keep it out of the rain. The workers are excavating holes for the supporting posts for the boundary wall for the land, and there are 5,000 it-boks sitting out of view which will be used for the wall and building construction.

In the background you can see the 1.5 meter concrete rings that are used to line the well, (which is to the right of those rings). The well diggers have already installed 7 concrete rings, and will dig deeper so that at least another 2 rings can be installed below the ground level.

I haven't taken any photos yet of the City Resort project, because there is no building activity yet on that land. On 2 days ago I completed the registration of the land lease at the local land office, and this morning I marked out the positions on that land for the well diggers, who will probably start work next Monday after they finish at the Nature Resort.

Simon

Originally Posted by Simon43

In the background you can see the 1.5 meter concrete rings that are used to line the well, (which is to the right of those rings). The well diggers have already installed 7 concrete rings, and will dig deeper so that at least another 2 rings can be installed below the ground level.

Dumb question but if they have dug the hole and fitted 7 rings how do they dig it deeper to fit another 2 ?

Originally Posted by Fondles

how do they dig it deeper to fit another 2

They dig out underneath the fitted rings so that they drop down.
It would be too dangerous to stand at the bottom of a well with no rings to prevent a cave in

Believe you me they do mate I,ve seen it with me own eyes and its amazing how quick and accurate they dig this all by hand and passin it up by a bucket ,bloody hard work !

Good to see it underway Simon at last

Originally Posted by Fondles

Interesting, surely it would still be dangerous to perform this with the weight of 7 rings in there, how do you dig evenly around so that they fall squarely ?

No, wouldn't be dangerous at all. The rings have got nowhere to go, they are surrounded by earth all around. The only place they can go is down once the earth has been cleared from underneath them. The workers can't get crushed by a cave-in because the rings are protecting them from the surrounding earth, they are working inside the lined shaft.

Originally Posted by Simon43

I haven't taken any photos yet of the City Resort project, because there is no building activity yet on that land.

Simon

Looks like your ex is winning here... You should get your resort completed first and then tell her the money has run out.

Originally Posted by Simon43

I haven't taken any photos yet of the City Resort project

It may be a good idea to have two seperate threads rather than mixing up the two projects

less confusing for the readers

Originally Posted by palexxxx

No, wouldn't be dangerous at all. The rings have got nowhere to go, they are surrounded by earth all around. The only place they can go is down once the earth has been cleared from underneath them. The workers can't get crushed by a cave-in because the rings are protecting them from the surrounding earth, they are working inside the lined shaft

it seems to work! the digging out of the earth needs to be fairly even all around, and the rings slip down by gravity

at least the workers wear safety flipflops

Originally Posted by DrAndy

It may be a good idea to have two seperate threads

Yes, good idea

Good suggestion re separate threads. Let me see if I can create 2 new threads with the previous content, except without all the facetious comments...

Yes, my ex is winning the 'race' right now because I had to wait to get my land lease signed off. I'll leave her with bare walls and no roof and then switch to my resort.

The current plan is to finish the boundary walls at her resort and then do the same at mine. Wait - I'm mixing threads again!

Simon

Originally Posted by Simon43

Let me see if I can create 2 new threads with the previous content, except without all the facetious comments...

no need, just start a different one when you start the new building of your ex-wife's

Originally Posted by Thetyim

Originally Posted by DrAndy

It may be a good idea to have two seperate threads

Yes, good idea

Excellent idea!

Originally Posted by hillbilly

Originally Posted by Thetyim

Originally Posted by DrAndy

It may be a good idea to have two seperate threads

Yes, good idea

Excellent idea!

Superb idea !!

Originally Posted by Fondles

Originally Posted by hillbilly

Originally Posted by Thetyim

Originally Posted by DrAndy

It may be a good idea to have two seperate threads

Yes, good idea

Excellent idea!

Superb idea !!

Brilliant idea !!!