What the baht?
 

Is it just me or does anyone else find it slightly alarming how much the exchange rate is increasing for the baht against the dollar?

I'm sure this says more about our economy than Thailand's...but when I went last November, the rate was 36 baht to the dollar and today (not but 8 months later) it's at 33!!!

If it keeps going like this, will Thailand no longer be the travel bargain it's come to be treasured for?

will,
That's one of the reasons I cut out the bkk section of our trip next year.

As I started checking around hotels like the Pen had gone from $185 two yrs ago to $275 per nite and the baht had gone from 40 to 34 baht per dollar so I just figured wait another year and see what happens with their new govt. Hope it all shakes out or only the rich people like rhkkmk will be able to go. :)

Aloha!

i can only afford it because linda sends me her extra coins...

its been going that way for the last two years....

plus hotel prices have shot up in thailand...

good thing you are from LA, where everyone is rich....and drives a lexus...haha

Yes, it's true that Bangkok isn't the bargain it once was... Hotel prices keep heading upward and the dollar continues to weaken.

Some of the old-timers on the board will remember that the baht used to be 20 to the dollar back before the devaluation years ago. Right after the devaluation, visiting Thailand and all of the Thai goods there were suddenly very inexpensive.

Bob, it's my better half with the fancy car. I don't get any of it. I get locked in the attic and eat crumbs for dinner...and have to pay for our vacations. So the exchange rate is of great concern to me :)

So that explains why you were scarfing all our food at the GTG!!!

:-)

I know it has been painful to find prices up by 25% since my December 04 trip.

BTW, filmwill...

I saw an ad for Burn Notice the other day!

My celebrity brush for the year!

Note that there are two exchange rates...onshore and offshore. The financial trading websites like bloomberg.com and oanda.com list offshore rates. The onshore rates are for exchange only within Thailand, and are better than the offshore rates. http://baht.thaivisa.com/ list average onshore rates. There have been reports of people gettiing both off and onshore rates when using their ATM card...you might want to check with your bank about which rate you will get if you plan on using ATM cards (as well as fees/costs associated with its use).

Kim, I'll be interested in your report of whether you get onshore/offshore rates at ATMs, with credit cards in Thailand in August. That will help me decide money management for our November trip...

I'll be able to tell you about credit cards, but not about ATM as our Japanese accounts charge too high a fee to make it worthwhile. We carry travelers checks, cash and credit cards. I bought tickets on Air Asia for domestic flights in Thailands with our Japanees postal savings visa card, and it was processed using onshore rates. I'm hoping we get onshore.

I'm a bit worried about hotel prices...they quote in dollars but charge in baht, which is then converted again to the card's currency...how much might we lose there? I've honestly never paid attention to that.

I see software offered in the US for about USD 129 which here costs around THB 10,000, about USD 294. Running a business is 'not easy'. I admit salaries for empoyees are low but it's getting hard to make a buck ( or earn a baht !! ).
I don't know the exact amount conversion( liters vs Gallons ) but fuel is well over USD 3 a gallon, a base pick-up around USD 20k +.
On the local market we are though invoicing out perhaps USD 30 for what would be hundreds in the US.
I 'really' must find a beach bar !!

...beach Bar....A bottle of gin costs about B 260, you get about 24 measures from that, so a gin costs about B 11, and B 1 for Ice/lemon, add B5 for the organge mix and it costs about B 17 to provide a drink that you charge B 70-90 for ! Nice marke-up !
Cola bought wholesale costs about B 4 a bottle, sell for B 30-50.
Coffee costs about B 5-7 sell for B 50 +.
Cocktails cost about B 25-30 to make and you sell for B 120-200.In the technical field no such luck !

Now where is that bar.......

JamesA,

To paraphrase an old saying

"Build it and they will come"

Or at least you'll have a load of fodorites in the place I guarantee you that! I always like a new watering hole :)

Aloha!

Re. the sinking US$....I work for a global investment firm, and I must confess that while sitting in boring currency forecast meetings, all I can think about is "what does this mean for the price of my next vacation?"

JamesA-
If I had any baht to invest, I'd love to be a part of your beach bar. Maybe I could just drop by and guest bartend every few months. 2 for 1 drink specials for any bar guests who could correctly answer questions such as "In which liberal, US city do pandas live?" and "what hotel does rhkkmk like"?

Bless your heart, Filmwil. Had I known that you're locked in the attic and fed only crumbs, I would have had my friends in the restaurant business make some in-the-attic home deliveries to you. You would have been fed so well until your better half would have been begging to move into the attic. Smiles. Happy Travels!

You might want to hold off a bit on the beach bar. The government is trying to finalize the alcohol control bill this month for publishing in the royal gazette in August. In the current version, alcohol sales could be banned completely for up to eight days a month, and no alcohol could be sold within 500 meters of a school.

film---i noticed that stripe across your forehead....now i understand where it comes from....the sun through the crack under the attic door....

It was 35 baht to the £ when I first went to Thailand (1986) and stayed around that for many years. I remember it going up to 79 baht to the £ in the crisis. Even at the present rate (due to a more trustworthy Government) it is still very cheap in Thailand.