Surapong Techaruvichit, president of Thai Hotels Association
THE Thai Hotels Association (THA) is urging the government of Thailand to clamp down on businesses that provide alternative accommodation to travellers in Thailand, such as Airbnb, crying foul over unfair competition and the lack of enforcement of safety regulations.
This comes on the back of rising short-stay boarding at residential properties in Thailand, with unlicensed operators buying apartments and converting them into accommodations without being held to the same standards and costs that hotel owners are subject to.
Surapong Techaruvichit, president of THA, said: “We cannot keep up with the pricing these alternative accommodations are offering, since they require less investment to operate and do not have to comply with the same safety standards hotels are held accountable to.”
Hotels have to adhere to “many, many laws on security and safety”, including the size of corridors, size of fire escapes and having the necessary fire-fighting equipment, he explained.
In addition, Techaruvichit pointed out that the informal hotel sector allows for lapses in national security, saying that suspects in last year’s Erawan Shrine bombing managed to evade detection by putting up at an alternative accommodation.
“Article 38 makes it necessary for hotels to report guests (who contravene immigration laws), but (hotels in the informal sector) will never report these offenders as they themselves are illegal,” he elaborated.
Techaruvichit said THA will lobby against these “illegal hotel operators”.
He added: “We are trying to push for the government to enforce the Building Control Law and close illegal hotels down for contravening the Hotel Act.”
Enacted in 2004, after some consultation between the THA and the Ministry of Interior, the Hotel Act makes it illegal for apartments to be rented out on a daily basis, while allowing for monthly rentals.
He also proposed imposing taxes on these unlawful operators to level out the playing field.
Exact figures on the scale of hotels operating under these technical illegalities are not readily available, but the government estimates there are 8,000 hotels in Thailand’s formal tourism sector with some 380,000 rooms, which dwarves in comparison to the 800,000 rooms being sold by alternative accommodation sites.
Airbnb is only a small part of this, Techaruvichit said, putting its share of the market between five and 10 per cent.
Airbnb was approached for comment but did not respond as of press time.
