Hotels pull out of subsidy scheme

A number of hotels, including large groups such as Dusit, have decided to temporarily pause their sales in the government's domestic subsidy scheme due to back-end malfunctions in the system.

- NARUMON KASEMSUK

Prachoom Tantiprasertsuk, chair of marketing at the Thai Hotels Association, said many hotels decided to pull out of the programme until the system is more stable, as they still cannot log in to the Tourism Authority of Thailand's (TAT) system to manage bookings, forcing them to reject customers who called to make a reservation.

Based on an online discussion with the TAT this week, where more than 1,200 hotels joined the session, Ms Prachoom said there are at least four major issues for operators.

The primary concern is with the pricing method, as once their rates are submitted, they are locked and cannot be revised, even if the hotel wishes to adjust pricing based on the market.