kywood1955

Have seen some excellent prices on hotels in Thailand over the web. Will these prices be the same if I book in Thailand over the phone ie wait until we get there? Thanks.

rhkkmk

i don't think so...when are you going?? look at www.huahin.20m.com for great inclusive pricing

kywood1955

We'll be going late September / early October. I think that's still considered wet season, so maybe the prices, as well as availability, will be reasonable. We'll book the hotel in Bangkok (first city), but wing it in Chaing Mai, Chaing Rai, and Hong Son Mae. Will not be doing beach destination. Will have 14 days in country, not counting international travel days, and one day of jet lag recooping.

rhkkmk

you are brave to book after arrival...why waste the time...do you think you will save money??

yinandyang

I have not used www.passionasia.com, but there rooms are priced quite well.

JamesA

Markets are different and some of the 'walk in' rates can be very very high. It seems to depend on the individual places. It it's a hotel that has a highly efficient computerised yelied system then you might be in luck if the 'systems' tells the check in clerk they can offer a lower price, the other angle is that in a hotel there simply isn't anyone on hand to 'authorise' a discount. If the hotel is reasonably full and they antici[ate a certain number of 'walk in guests' then you will be quoted the 'rack rate'.
If I know or have friends/ family who know the owner of a place and can make a friendly call that is one thing but overall most accommodations that are privately owned ( and a lot of the mid/lower priced ones are ), if the owner/manager is there they can make a decission, otherwise check in staff will not have the 'authority' to reduce a price.
We have been quoted within Thailand B 6,000 for a hotel that is available for B 3,000 on the internet!! I too have called localy for a place down south to be told B 2,800 for a room that I know is available through local booking service for B 1,200!
You 'could' get lucky but overall I doubt you will get any bargain deal, and arriving in a town the reality is that you probably are not going to walk from one door to another carrying your baggage trying to find out what you think might be a deal, more often or not you will be having to leave it up to your friendly tuk-tuk or taxi driver who will be in reality 'deciding' where you will stay. Add that you will not know the facilities ins/outs of any accommodation in advance. I would book to find the place and price that suits you. I also use www.huahin.20m within Thailand plus some other offshoots such as www.chiang-mai-hotels.itgo.com for North, www.beacsiam.com covers all Thailand too.

JamesA

You are right that it's not a busy time, perhaps booking 1st night in BKK and 1st night in Chiang Mai is fine and then once there you can decide. Note that some of the best places around mae Hong Son / Pai areas are not right in the town so it is still worth checking out what is available, Fern resort is very popular, again, remember some of the best places won't be right in the center of these places especially where Chiang Rai and mMae Hong Son are concerned. If you are a local service you can of course always head into an internet cafe and do the online booking even same day in most cases, those I mentioned are all local based so you can do localy.

rhkkmk

i guess i don't understand the idea about spending time on your vacation looking for a place...book in advance...if you find something cheaper by chance while there, move to this cheaper place...

kywood1955

Thanks for all replies. My idea is to book the first few nights in Bangkok; have info about hotels in other cities and book on-line at internet cafes. I would not spend time searching a multitude of accommodations; would have a list of many with me. Our idea behind this is flexibility; we might want to stay somewhere longer or shorter amount of time and don't want to be locked into a schedule. We've done this several times and it has worked well and is not time-consuming - perhaps 15-20 minutes is spent booking a hotel because I have a list of hotels with me.

JamesA

That's a fair idea, do remember though that smaller hotels and places you might not find it too easy over the phone. In Chiang Mai Rydges is still doing their excellent pay 2 nights stay 3, that's a pre pay price and works out like USD 35 a night which is good for the standard of Hotel, the Novotel Chiang mai is around USD 43 twin at the moment, all included, but again that is pre-pay.
I don't know if you plan any beach time but there are some real bargains to be had, although rainy season in Phuket USD 30-35 a night gets you a place normally around the USD50-70 range at the moment. In Patong you can get a high rise room ( 2 star ) but a/c etc at the Montana Hotel for about USD 15-18 a night!!

simpsonc510

Kywood1955
I can appreciate your travel flexibility. When I'm in BKK, I typically book my Chiang Mai or Phuket, Koh Samui or "where ever" trip the day before I want to leave! I use a travel agent/friend for most of my
in-country travel, and have not been disappointed (knock on wood) thus far.

Thailand travel is quite inexpensive, so the amount I save or don't save by booking the day before is relatively small!

MsWitty1

I would book in advance and then watch out for deals. Make sure your room is refundable. Try the website www.asiatravel.com. There are some decent rates available. Also, if you know anyone in the country they can often get a better rate than you can. Try calling a travel agent in the country you are going to and see if there are any "local" rates. Big savings.

mactheknife

Having been on our honeymoon to Thailand two years ago we used a site www.siam.net for some good deals especially the Sheraton in Krabi and the Penninsula in Bangkok.
We initially booked only two nights in Krabi not knowing what the hotel was going to be like. When asking reception to stay for another two nights they couldn't match the price on this site so we just used the hotel internet to book in. Ridiculous it seems but the prices still look good compared to sites mentioned. Also I like that they offer an "all-inclusive" price so you know straight up what you pay. Maybe our North American friends don't mind this being used to sales tax and tips but it bugs me (Irish). Happy holidays!

Lyndie

Also www.expedia.com can sometimes turn up a fabulous rate for you. We also like www.bookings-asia.com. I tend to wing it now as flexibility is nice once you stop being a control freak! It's difficult to get used to not booking everything but if you are not travelling in peak season, then wing it, I say!

Jed

Priceline and wotif may be worth a try.

JamesA

For choice I would go for local sites, they have lots more places that are popular, amazes me to see some sites with perhaps 6 or 10 places when there might be 40-50 or in some cases over 100 options.
Go for those that don't expect you to give credit card details purely to find out if a room is available, lots are happy to check availability and some will do it for different hotels no problem, tell you what is available, let you have a few days to think about it and then you decide, then and only then do they want any payment details.

JamesA

I would also use Yahoo to search ( also for restaurants, local information etc ) as they have a large number of local Thailand websites and Asia websites that never get listed on 'some other' search engines, a lot of local hotel's own websites that you will find easily on Yahoo seem buried far down on others, especially if they are a .co.th ( Thailand domain ) website for some reason.