Thread: Desperate Chiang Mai Hotels Slash Room Rates By Up To 90%

Chiang Mai hoteliers have slashed their room rates by up to 90% during the off-peak season to attract more guests.


La-Iad Bungsrithong, president of the Thai Hotels Association’s northern chapter, said tourists mostly flock to beach destinations in the South in March, prompting operators in the province to prepare for the upcoming low season.


After another virus outbreak rippled through Thailand in December, only 1,000 hotels in Chiang Mai offering 20,000-30,000 rooms remained open for business.


The occupancy rate in March dropped to less than 3% and that trend will continue in April, which is expected to see 3-5% of occupancy despite the Songkran celebration, she said.


Mrs Bungsrithong, who is also the general manager of Ratilanna Riverside Spa Resort, said her hotel is offering a special price of only 1,500 baht per night, down from 13,000 baht during the pre-COVID period, to generate more cash flow.


In addition, hoteliers have to find new revenue channels as more than 30 four-star and five-star hotels in downtown Chiang Mai opted to provide drive-thru food service after the new viral wave.


She said affordable food prices and convenience earned positive feedback, compared with delivery services that charge a commission fee.


“Even though vaccine distribution has started globally, the target markets for Chiang Mai such as China still cannot take outbound trips,” Mrs Bungsrithong said. “Operators have to rely on the domestic market for the whole year.”


Apart from a continuation of the government’s hotel subsidy, operators asked the Tourism Authority of Thailand Chiang Mai office to offer tourists a 500-baht coupon for use in hotel restaurants, while encouraging more inter-regional travel, particularly from the South and the Northeast.


The province welcomed 11 million travellers in 2019, of which 70% were Thais. Last year it recorded only 1 million tourists.


Mrs Bungsrithong said the number of tourists this year is projected to rise to 25% of 2019 level.


Operators should focus on Mice (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) events involving wellness, beverages such as coffee, hemp and cultural festivals to lure visitors, without relying on seasonality, said Punlop Saejew, president of the Tourism Council of Chiang Mai.


The province is well-known as a cafe-hopping destination, with 700 bakery and coffee shops. Those places were popular with millennials and almost 40,000 foreign digital nomads before the outbreak, but that figure has dipped to 10,000 at the moment.


Mr Saejew said there is tourism demand to visit Chiang Mai via chartered flights from Sichuan and Chongqing in China, South Korea and Taiwan, but those governments must loosen their outbound policies.

Desperate Chiang Mai Hotels Slash Room Rates By Up To 90% | Chiang Mai One

Looks lovely!

Originally Posted by misskit

special price of only 1,500 baht per night, down from 13,000 bah

Are rooms in Chang Mai really that expensive?

Originally Posted by TheRealKW

Are rooms in Chang Mai really that expensive?

At the very posh resorts, definitely.

Originally Posted by Wakey

Looks lovely!

It is amazing that they managed to write 436 words and none of them are "pollution". Do these hoteliers think the Thais don't know?

They even posted this the same day.

Chiang Mai World's Most Polluted City – Over 30,000 Need Hospital Treatment | Chiang Mai One

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

At the very posh resorts, definitely.

And lots of the most expensive places are resorts out of town, where people go for fresh air.

Originally Posted by cyrille

And lots of the most expensive places are resorts out of town, where people go for fresh air.

Like the Bangkokians that go to Pattaya and Cha Am for fresh air.

And yet.........quarantine hotels corralling expats returning home in Bkk are charging on average 65,000-120,000 for 14 nights room and board.

On a recent trip to BKK I spotted the Adelphi suites in Soi 8 Sukhumvit offering rooms at 999 baht-1,800 ++. This is a popular hotel for many and usually pitches a room rate at circa 2000-3500.

They just can't help themslves when the opportunity to fuck over a farang comes along.

I went downtown 3 days ago, I just rode one side of the moat (Tapae gate, on the inside) and there were at best 2 shops out of five still open...it looks like a ghost town with all these steel curtains...Add the pollution on top of that, I don't see why Thai tourists would go there. Good side was close to no traffic at midday on a working day.
Things were a bit more lively in parts of town less geared toward tourism (more people, more traffic).