What's On This Page?

• Overview [more]
• Do you need to pre-book in advance? [more]
• Will I get a better deal booking on-line? [more]
• Is it best to book through a local agent or go direct to the hotel? [more]
• Hotel security [more]
• Long stays [more]
• Accommodation options [more]
• Bangkok long-term rental accommodation [more]

Thailand - Accommodation

Overview

Along with cheap and easy travel within Thailand, cheap and abundant accommodation is another thing that makes the country such an easy destination for independent travellers. There is a range of accommodation to suit almost everyone from backpacker dormitories to some of the finest hotels in the world and rarely is it difficult to find a place.

I haven't included specific recommendations for accommodation here. For details of some places I have stayed at in Thailand you can try my VirtualTourist pages and the best way to find those is to go to the My Travels section of this site and use the links there.

Do you need to pre-book in advance?

It depends. Upon arriving at Bangkok's new airport after a 13 hour (or longer) international flight it can be quite reassuring to know that you have a room booked and the last thing you'll want to do when you arrive is trawl around the streets looking for a room. However, if you are travelling from town to town in Thailand it is a different matter.

Not booking in advance gives you the option to look at a few places before committing to somewhere, provided you have the time. Timing plays a big part. If you turn up at Koh Pha-Ngan at the same time as 20,000 backpackers for a full-moon party you might have difficulty finding a room. Certain locations in Thailand also get busy at festival times, for example, Loy Gratong and Songkran. Try to find out if there are any big events going on at the time you plan to visit.

Will I get a better deal booking on-line?

Again, it depends. This is a question that is impossible to answer because sometimes you will get a better deal and sometimes you won't. Hotels in Thailand keep a list of published prices but rarely charge those prices for a room. Compared to the published price, the Internet offer may look good but it is possible that you can negotiate a better deal directly with the hotel. After all, if an Internet company is selling rooms for the hotel they must be taking their cut and still allowing the hotel to make a profit.

Market forces apply as much in Thailand as they do elsewhere. The Thais are not stupid and will naturally attempt to get as much as possible for a room. Booking a room on-line at least gives you the reassurance of a confirmed booking even if it is more expensive.

Is it best to book through a local agent or go direct to the hotel?

Another impossible to answer question. Probably the best thing to do here is find out yourself. In some places, if you walk into a hotel in Thailand you will be charged one price but if you go to a travel agent 50 meters round the corner (or next door even) you can book the same room through them for a lot cheaper.

While in Bangkok for a few days I stayed at the Bangkok City Inn. I met an Austrian girl in the lobby who didn't look at all happy. We got chatting and she revealed the source of her discontent. She'd walked into the hotel and been given a rate of Bt1,200 but after checking in and wandering around, she discovered a travel agent next door who was offering a rate of Bt900 for exactly the same room in the same hotel.

However, it was now too late. She couldn't do anything because she'd already paid the hotel and she felt angry at being ripped off. I didn't have the heart to tell her what I was paying. A Thai friend of mine who works for a large travel company in Bangkok booked the room for me. I paid the contract rate which is what the travel company pay the hotel before they add on any profit for themselves. My rate was Bt600, half of what she was paying.

If you book through a local travel agent you pay them and they will give you a voucher to take to the hotel. Sometimes though this won't include breakfast whereas the rate quoted directly by the hotel will. Just make sure first.

Hotel security

I wish more hotels in Thailand had personal safe boxes in the rooms. I've stayed at a few that do and for me this is the ideal way of keeping valuable items secure. I try to avoid leaving anything of value in the room but sometimes it is unavoidable. It is not really practical to leave lots of camera equipment or laptop computers in the hotel safe. I am not too worried about my room being broken into; the worry for me is when the cleaners visit.

I have often returned to my own room in a hotel when it is being cleaned to find the door wide open and when I go inside the cleaners don't say a word - they just smile. I could be anyone walking into the room and taking what I want. If I have to leave documents, credit cards or money in a common hotel safe, to which other people have access, I put them in a sealed envelope.

My personal experience in Thailand has been good regarding security but it is best to take basic precautions to reduce the risk.

Long stays

If you are planning to stay anywhere in Thailand for a month or more it will probably be better to rent a room on a monthly basis rather than to pay a daily rate in a hotel or guest house. Monthly rates work out a lot cheaper than daily or weekly ones. It's also really nice having a familiar base to call home rather than moving from room to room every couple of days. It only makes sense to do this though if you are staying for at least one month and of course this won't suit people who want to travel constantly.

With monthly rentals there are some things to be aware of. The rent is normally just for the room and doesn't include electricity which is a separate charge and usually costs about Bt6 a unit. Most places also make a nominal charge for water which is around Bt100 a month.

The room will have a bed but there will probably be no bedding or towels provided. The good news is that these items are very cheap in Thailand. Cleaning will not be included although some places offer a cleaning service which isn't very expensive. It might be easier just to buy a brush and a few other cleaning items so that you can do it yourself.

Facilities in rented rooms vary from building to building. Some places provide a TV and a fridge. Other places don't but these items can be rented. I don't bother with a TV but I need a fridge which costs me Bt400 a month to rent.

Many places designed for long stays have a minimum three month stay but other's don't. A deposit is normally required which can be anything up to three months rental.

If you intend staying in Thailand for a while try to think what you might want to buy for the room very early on. I know that when I leave eventually I won't take anything with me so the cost to me per month of these items is the total cost divided by the number of months I stay here. At first I tried not to buy things but if I had bought them straight away the monthly cost would have been lower.

There is lots of choice in Thailand for room rental. At the bottom of the market are the old rooms above shops, many Chinese owned. I've been in a few of these places and was amazed at how many rooms there are. From the street there is no indication as to how far the buildings go back and how many people they can accommodate. These places are often in serious need of renovation. Thai squat toilets are the norm and there won't be any hot water. There may or may not be air conditioning but if there is the unit will probably be very old and has never been serviced. It is unlikely that there will be mosquito screens on the windows. Prices can be as low as Bt2,500 per month and it is not unusual to find three or more Thais sharing one of these rooms.

At the top end of the market are newly-built luxury apartments in Bangkok that cost anything up to a quarter of a million Baht per month. There is lots in between though and something between the two extremes, comfortable, clean but not too expensive with a Western toilet and a hot shower, is what I normally look for.

Accommodation options

As I said above, there is normally no shortage of choice. At the bottom of the scale are the backpacker guest houses and hostels. These are normally close to train and bus stations. For some reason backpackers don't seem to like venturing more than 300 meters from the station to find a place to stay. I actually find many of these places quite depressing. My idea of having a good time in Thailand doesn't involve continuous road and rail journeys interspersed with stays at grotty guest houses.

Expect to pay between Bt80 for a dorm bed and a couple of hundred Baht for a room. Toilet facilities may or may not be shared and the toilet could be one of the Asian squat variety. Air-conditioning is unlikely but a fan will be provided. The windows may or may not have mosquito screens and if they do there may be big holes in the screens. No problem though - you wouldn't be a proper backpacker without a good selection of infected mosquito bites.

Slightly up the scale are budget hotels, normally run by Chinese - as are most businesses in Thailand. It will get you away from the backpacker scene but some of these places are really quite seedy. Don't be surprised if some of the rooms are booked out for two hours at a time and when 'guests' book one of these rooms they are given a condom along with their room key.

Tourist class hotels are the next step up the scale and typically cost between Bt400 and Bt700 depending where you are (Bangkok and Phuket hotels are more expensive than anywhere else in the country). Some of these can be OK but others are decidedly seedy. One thing I hate about this region of the world is that non-smoking rooms are almost unheard of apart from in the very top hotels. Many Asians are fanatical smokers and as a result there is always that stale tobacco smell in rooms and burn marks on the furniture.

At the top end of the scale are the big international chain hotels which provide accommodation to match the best hotels anywhere in the world. For Thailand the prices are relatively high but compared to other major cities you can get a top hotel room for a bargain price. Hotels such as the Oriental, which regularly features in the list of the top 10 hotels in the world, the Shangri-La and the Peninsula, all in Bangkok spring to mind.

Rooms and apartments in Bangkok

I have found that hotels for short visits are well advertised on-line but it has been more difficult finding out about places to stay for long term visits. The following link may help:

Bangkok long-term rental accommodation