Thai government 40% tourist discount

[ChipButty]

I think it's a good move to look at both options online or offline i do know of people have got better deals calling the hotel direct and dont forget the commission rates that BDC and Agoda charge, also look at Airbnb

[Keith5588]

My gf just tried to book via the Agoda app Novotel Kamala Beach hotel for one night of the 10th Sept. 

It all went exactly the same as the hotel we booked for the 9th, we again selected to pay at a 7/11 but this time at the very end it stated we have 6 hours to pay (as before) then nothing, no bar code, no email, basically it did not work. I tried 3 times. Another small point is that it listed correctly the cost of 627 baht then after adding tax and service it arrived at 811 baht but it should be 746 baht.

 

I telephoned Novotel Kamala Hotel direct as some recommend. I explained. The best she could offer to a Thai citizen for one night for the same Superior King Room is 1,199 baht which includes the add on's.

 

So in this case they do not offer a good dealt when phoning direct, maybe other hotels would.

 

I will look for a different hotel later today.

 

Cheers

Keith

 

[Orton Rd]

3 hours ago, Saraburi121 said:

Started looking at a Pattaya weekday trip and there seems to be some good deals, wife is phoning some motels now. Before we were looking at smaller towns for example Korat.   Your comment on the 40% off booze prompted us to take another look.  Haven't been to Pattaya in ages so will be interesting to see how it looks now plus its getting a little boring here on the farm. 

We could not find any restaurants outside of the hotel participating in the 40% off food and drink but it's a great deal we paid under 7k for 4 nights at a 5 star inc breakfast and evening meal with wine, too good not to take up, and the Mrs does all the donkey work for a change!

[CNXexpat]

My wife said, that it´s necessary to have a bank account at the Krungthai bank to use it. Is that true?

[sandyf]

10 hours ago, Keith5588 said:

Under the TTogether scheme I have seen more than one descent hotel for 400 baht per night including breakfast.

 

I value the several comments that recommend telephoning the hotels direct, I will definitely do that in the future but for now with this discount scheme and vouchers I don’t think I can be bothered to telephone.

 

Also the comments about the hotel may be closed. My thoughts are that this can happen but I think more through laziness / forgetting / can’t be bothered. Concerning the hotels under the TTogether scheme a representative for the hotel would have to give their ID and recently positively register while knowing that the hotel is closed which I think is unlikely.

 

I know the scheme is only for Thai Citizens while travelling outside of their home province.

 

Anyone know if my gf would be eligible for the forthcoming flight back to Khon Kaen where we live?

 

Anyone know if the maximum number of hotel nights is still 5?

 

Assuming we receive 600 baht in vouchers on 9 Sept (I realise it may be 900)  does this mean that if we take a trip with a registered company and the trip costs 1,500 baht, then we actually pay 900baht?  Or would we be limited to buying a trip up to a maximum of 600 baht and only pay 360 baht?

And can we take this trip at any time in the 2 weeks we are in Phuket?

 

I’m now going to plan a bit more, I wasn’t going to pre book hotels but now I think I will, at least for the first 5 nights.

 

Cheers

Keith

Do not concern yourself about hotels being closed, that is coming from people that have no idea of how the scheme is operated.

It is my understanding that to get the flight discount you a to have booked room(s) under the scheme and have occupied them. You have to check in using the government app and I assume you also have to check out the same way as I know you cannot claim the flight discount until you have checked out. As far as I am aware the discount is 40% up to 1000 baht per person per leg per room, in other word max discount per leg is 400 baht. I don't think there is any restriction on the regarding the price of the ticket but the registered person needs to have booked the flight.

At this point in time only about 20% of the available rooms have been taken up and I did see something that the scheme may be extended to the end of the year. That being the case it is quite possible the number of nights could be increased to 10.

Regarding the vouchers, you need to have money in what they call the G wallet and when you pay a bill the system will automatically take 40% from your voucher account and 60% from your G wallet account. You need to make sure there is enough in each account to meet the bill or the transaction will fail and you will have to pay the full amount. A voucher will be credited at 5pm after you check in, and at the same time each day. The voucher balance can be carried forward but only for as long as you stay at the same hotel. If you change hotels your voucher account will be zeroed and you start again, a problem we will face tomorrow, have to pay full price for lunch as we will lose the balance on check out and not get any more till 5pm.

When we enquired about a boat trip the tour agent said that my wife could use the voucher system for her ticket but a foreigner couldn't, I don't know if that was just one being awkward or not but be warned, certainly not been a problem in restaurants. We decided against the boat trip, far too hot to be out for that length of time.

[sandyf]

23 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

My wife said, that it´s necessary to have a bank account at the Krungthai bank to use it. Is that true?

I think so. We had a problem today topping up the G wallet because the Krungthai system was down and my wife said she couldn't use another account. Fortunately the system was back up before we went to lunch.

[sandyf]

6 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

We could not find any restaurants outside of the hotel participating in the 40% off food and drink but it's a great deal we paid under 7k for 4 nights at a 5 star inc breakfast and evening meal with wine, too good not to take up, and the Mrs does all the donkey work for a change!

If you go to the TT website you can search for participating restaurants in the area, that is what I have been doing and found some crackers.

[sandyf]

12 hours ago, Keith5588 said:

My gf just tried to book via the Agoda app Novotel Kamala Beach hotel for one night of the 10th Sept. 

It all went exactly the same as the hotel we booked for the 9th, we again selected to pay at a 7/11 but this time at the very end it stated we have 6 hours to pay (as before) then nothing, no bar code, no email, basically it did not work. I tried 3 times. Another small point is that it listed correctly the cost of 627 baht then after adding tax and service it arrived at 811 baht but it should be 746 baht.

 

I telephoned Novotel Kamala Hotel direct as some recommend. I explained. The best she could offer to a Thai citizen for one night for the same Superior King Room is 1,199 baht which includes the add on's.

 

So in this case they do not offer a good dealt when phoning direct, maybe other hotels would.

 

I will look for a different hotel later today.

 

Cheers

Keith

 

Just to clarify on what I posted previously, I got it wrong and misunderstood what my wife had meant when she said the vouchers expired at 12 on the day of check out. They expire at midnight, not midday, this is to allow people to use the voucher as they travel home.

Apologies for the incorrect information.

[sandyf]

3 hours ago, sandyf said:

I think so. We had a problem today topping up the G wallet because the Krungthai system was down and my wife said she couldn't use another account. Fortunately the system was back up before we went to lunch.

3 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

My wife said, that it´s necessary to have a bank account at the Krungthai bank to use it. Is that true?

Again apologies for what may have been a misleading post. When my wife said no other account could be used she meant none of her other accounts, as they do not allow transactions in this way.

The answer to your question lies with the bank concerned, although Krungthai is the preferred bank it may not be the only bank, but the bank would have to allow transactions through the app.

[Keith5588]

I have now booked a hotel for the first night, a bit upmarket, the room is 55 sqm, but it cost me just 795 baht, I paid cash at 7/11.

 

I am glad that I am selecting to pay cash at 7/11 because as I wrote earlier I tried 3 times to book Novotel Kamala Beach and it never sent confirmation or a bar code, if I used a credit card then I would be wondering if it deducted the money.

 

I have now also booked a hotel at Patong for my second night stay. It looks good, Agoda rating 8.1.   I paid 361 baht and it includes breakfast, if I use the vouchers it will be almost free.

 

I just spoke to my gf and she has already deposited 1,000 baht into her GWallet using Bangkok Bank.

 

She also said that the vouchers can be used up to midnight of the day that you check out. I then noticed that Sandyf has already corrected himself.

So Sandy it looks like you can use the vouchers to help pay for your lunch.

 

Cheers

Keith

[GregTN]

After your travels are completed and you are finished with the government program how is the remaining balance in the G wallet transferred back to you?  Say you put 10000 in your G wallet at first but only use 9000 of it how do you recover the 1000 balance?

[Keith5588]

We haven't travelled yet but my gf had transferred 1,000 baht into her G-Wallet.

 

She just opened her G-Wallet, selected "transfer" and she said she can select to transfer money from her G-Wallet to her bank.

 

I think a lot of people would be angry if it was a government scam in that they kept your money.

 

[GregTN]

15 minutes ago, Keith5588 said:

We haven't travelled yet but my gf had transferred 1,000 baht into her G-Wallet.

 

She just opened her G-Wallet, selected "transfer" and she said she can select to transfer money from her G-Wallet to her bank.

 

I think a lot of people would be angry if it was a government scam in that they kept your money.

 

That sounds like what my wife just learned and attempted to explain to me.  

[CNXexpat]

I am confused. My wife tells me, that the stay with the 40% vouchers is limited to 5 or 10 days (she got different information). But is this per stay in one hotel or is the voucher generally limited to 5 or 10 nights? We want to fly from Chiang Mai to Phuket and use the 40% scheme for 4 hotels and stay in every day 4 nights. 

How long or short in advance I can book? 

Edited August 28, 2020 by CNXexpat

[Keith5588]

I haven't put it to the test yet but I am fairly sure that for you and your wife you can only claim 5 nights under the scheme, either 5 nights in the same hotel or one night in 5 different hotels.

I have a friend who has said it may be changed to 10 nights and I hope it does but for me I selected a couple of very expensive hotels so the max discounted amount would need to increase also.

[sandyf]

19 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

I am confused. My wife tells me, that the stay with the 40% vouchers is limited to 5 or 10 days (she got different information). But is this per stay in one hotel or is the voucher generally limited to 5 or 10 nights? We want to fly from Chiang Mai to Phuket and use the 40% scheme for 4 hotels and stay in every day 4 nights. 

How long or short in advance I can book? 

It is 10 nights, we woke up Thursday morning to find allowance on my wife's app had been increased from 5 to 10 nights.

There are 3 different arrangements although interrelated, the hotel bookings which can be a different one each night and are paid for on booking. When checking in you have to present the QR code on the app to reception staff who will scan it. First time for us it failed and neither knew why, both rebooted phones and it worked, something to bear in mind.

The voucher is credited to the account at 5 pm following check-in and can be 600 or 900 depending on the day of the week. When you change hotel your voucher balance will expire at midnight following check-out. If you do not change hotels the voucher balance will accumulate. When paying a bill with a voucher involved both parties have to have some experience or can become messy, quite quick if both know what to do, system takes 60% from G wallet and 40% from voucher. App maintains a history of the transactions.

The flight discount is done separately and retrospectively, you have to have checked out to make the claim. You have to be registered before booking the flights but can book the flights before the hotels. Word of warning, when booking flights everyone should be on the same booking, for some reason and I can't remember why our flights were on different booking refs and the app only allows one which has caused a problem. Wife has emailed but still waiting on an answer.

The fight subsidy was 40% up to 1000 baht of the ticket price per leg per person or room. That was supposed to be increased to 2000 baht but not sure if that has happened, hadn't shown up at the same time as the increase to 10 nights.

[sandyf]

On 8/27/2020 at 8:39 AM, Keith5588 said:

So Sandy it looks like you can use the vouchers to help pay for your lunch. 

Yes, we landed back at BKK about 11 am yesterday and I thought we would go somewhere near the airport but my brother in law had to go somewhere so we went home.

Had a look for somewhere over the border and found a place about 20 minutes away. Wife phoned up to check and they said ok.

Nice Korean BBQ, but when we came to pay the woman didn't know what to do, turned out we were first customer. My wife tried to show her what to do but couldn't get it to work, it may not have been set up right, ended up paying as normal.

Always something to be gained as we will probably go back.

[CNXexpat]

7 hours ago, sandyf said:

It is 10 nights, we woke up Thursday morning to find allowance on my wife's app had been increased from 5 to 10 nights.

Unfortunately we can´t book 10 nights right now. It´s only possible from September 1st.

[sandyf]

5 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

Unfortunately we can´t book 10 nights right now. It´s only possible from September 1st.

Seems a bit strange but that would be par for the course.

How does that work then, can you only book up to 5 before Sept 1st? We had already used the initial 5 so what I meant was balance went from nothing to 5. Won't be looking to use the extra for a few weeks anyway.

I wonder if that is why there was no increase showing on the flight subsidy. Thanks for the info.

[CNXexpat]

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

How does that work then, can you only book up to 5 before Sept 1st?

Yes. And another 5 from September 1st.

[Keith5588]

On 8/26/2020 at 7:23 PM, sandyf said:

If you go to the TT website you can search for participating restaurants in the area, that is what I have been doing and found some crackers.

Hi @sandyf can you please post the URL / link  of the TT website, is it in English?

 

We have booked 3 hotel nights. I just asked my gf to show me her GWallet and it still shows 5 nights allowed and 3 nights used. Also a total discount of 3,000 baht allowed.

 

My 5 hotel nights will equate very closely to a total discount of 3,000 baht.

 

For those that have had their nights increased to 10 has the total discount value increased from 3000 baht to 6,000 baht? 

 

[sandyf]

13 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

Yes. And another 5 from September 1st.

Cheers, probably means we have dipped out on the flight discount coming back before the 1st. Still not heard anything back on the booking refs so probable have to settle for half the discount, 800 baht is better than nothing.

[sandyf]

11 hours ago, Keith5588 said:

Hi @sandyf can you please post the URL / link  of the TT website, is it in English?

 

We have booked 3 hotel nights. I just asked my gf to show me her GWallet and it still shows 5 nights allowed and 3 nights used. Also a total discount of 3,000 baht allowed.

 

My 5 hotel nights will equate very closely to a total discount of 3,000 baht.

 

For those that have had their nights increased to 10 has the total discount value increased from 3000 baht to 6,000 baht? 

 

I think you have misunderstood the 3000 baht, I think that is to do with the room price. As far as I am aware you can only get 40% on the first 3000 Baht of the cost of the room per night. If someone was in a room 2500/night discount would be 1000/night, your interpretation would limit the room price to about 1500/night and that is not the case.

 

This is the government website  https://www.xn--12c1bik6bbd8ab6hd1b5jc6jta.com/

Right click and select "translate to English"

Follow the link at the top to search for businesses.

If you click in the box for Province, 2nd option is near you.

[CNXexpat]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

I think you have misunderstood the 3000 baht, I think that is to do with the room price. As far as I am aware you can only get 40% on the first 3000 Baht of the cost of the room per night. If someone was in a room 2500/night discount would be 1000/night, your interpretation would limit the room price to about 1500/night and that is not the case.

 

This is the government website  https://www.xn--12c1bik6bbd8ab6hd1b5jc6jta.com/

Right click and select "translate to English"

Follow the link at the top to search for businesses.

If you click in the box for Province, 2nd option is near you.

That's what my wife sent me:

"Right to receive 40% accommodation allowance" not exceeding 3,000 baht per right and not more than 5 rights per person, the system will show the rights used. Able to view details / check remaining rights

[Fex Bluse]

Problem with phoning direct is usually that for farang, you will almost never get anyone who can speak more than 3 or 4 words of English. If your Thai partner calls, maybe you'll have luck. 

[Keith5588]

5 hours ago, sandyf said:

I think you have misunderstood the 3000 baht, I think that is to do with the room price. As far as I am aware you can only get 40% on the first 3000 Baht of the cost of the room per night. If someone was in a room 2500/night discount would be 1000/night, your interpretation would limit the room price to about 1500/night and that is not the case.

 

This is the government website  https://www.xn--12c1bik6bbd8ab6hd1b5jc6jta.com/

Right click and select "translate to English"

Follow the link at the top to search for businesses.

If you click in the box for Province, 2nd option is near you.

@sandyf I have read the terms in Agoda TTogether again and you are correct, I am wrong.

 

Here is what is written  

“When you open the Agoda app, click on hotels. A banner at the bottom of the hotels search page will indicate if you are looking at the TTogether campaign properties. If so, the prices you see already reflect the TTogether campaign discount of up to 40% (maximum 3000 baht per room per night). Please note that this discounted price is only valid if you are successfully registered as eligible for the campaign, and have remaining room night validity.”

 

Still a bit ambiguous in my mind whether 3,000 is the full price or the discount but that doesn’t matter.  It is per night which is important and I got that wrong   Thank you Sandy.

 

Your link is very good, up until now I have just used the Agoda phone app and used my gf log in number, I could select Hotels or Flights but not Restaurants ………… I left the rest to my gf as I read somewhere that there is not much information in English as the discounts are only for Thai Nationals.  With your link, it does just as you say and I can search for Restaurants, plus I can see some of the other terms like “Limit the right to a maximum of 10 rooms or 10 nights (effective from 1 September 2020 onwards).”

So thanks again Sandy.

[connda]

On 8/24/2020 at 10:14 AM, Saraburi121 said:

If you go to the TT web https://search-merchant.เราเที่ยวด้วยกัน.com/shop/70a0b1aa0313b5ae0886339888eb441a   hotel can be selected, click on Agoda link once and will direct to hotel info, click Agoda link on hotel page and it will redirect to Agoda site asking for login. (Above link from the hotel info page)  Thai citizens will need to create an account for the TT program in Agoda to be eligible.  You may come out ahead if food voucher is used but not a great selection of restaurants in some places.  Base prices listed are a lot more expensive than regular Agoda prices in the areas we searched.  We called a motel direct who had registered for the program and were told you can’t book direct and only Agoda 3 days in advance.  May call another hotel and get a different answer. Wife finally tired of the time spent and said “no more” lol!  

My Thai wife just flat said the Thai equivalent of, "Don't bother!"

[connda]

3 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

Problem with phoning direct is usually that for farang, you will almost never get anyone who can speak more than 3 or 4 words of English. If your Thai partner calls, maybe you'll have luck. 

The Mrs and I always worked as a team on trip planning.  I'll look up hotels, and the specifics including a base price, location, amenities, then let the Thai wife call and hammer out a price package.  We almost always are able to find a deal better than what is listed online.  And if they don't want to deal we just go on to the next hotel. 
This is now a solid buyers market.  Deal with hotels that will give you a good deal; forget about those who won't. 
Those that have signed up for the government plan?  Instead of being call a 40% Scheme it more aptly should be call a 40% Scam.  The government and hotels working together to rip-off Thai consumers?  Can't do it to foreigners so turn that con-game right back onto your own people.  That's sad.  But oh so Thai, isn't it?  <head-shake>
 

[sandyf]

41 minutes ago, connda said:

Those that have signed up for the government plan?  Instead of being call a 40% Scheme it more aptly should be call a 40% Scam.  The government and hotels working together to rip-off Thai consumers?  Can't do it to foreigners so turn that con-game right back onto your own people.  That's sad.  But oh so Thai, isn't it?  <head-shake>
 

We just had 4 nights in Ao Nang, 3 nights at the Bluesotel @ 670 baht a night and one night at the Bluesotel SMART @ 860 baht/night, all with buffet breakfast included. If you think that is being ripped off then you must have a sad existence.

 

On top of that we had 40% off all lunches and dinners, including the beer. At Tanya's Cafe beer Chang was normally 60 baht a bottle, which became 35 baht with the discount, but feel free to think that is a rip off.

On Wednesday night after dinner we had a walk over the road and sat down for a bottle of wine in the Dusit bistro. What was a rip off was the Dusit price of 950 baht but I could live with what we paid after the discount, it was a very nice Chile red.

Then there is the flight subsidy to consider, but you carry on shaking your head as you con yourself into thinking you have it all sussed.

[petermik]

9 hours ago, sandyf said:

We just had 4 nights in Ao Nang, 3 nights at the Bluesotel @ 670 baht a night and one night at the Bluesotel SMART @ 860 baht/night, all with buffet breakfast included. If you think that is being ripped off then you must have a sad existence.

 

On top of that we had 40% off all lunches and dinners, including the beer. At Tanya's Cafe beer Chang was normally 60 baht a bottle, which became 35 baht with the discount, but feel free to think that is a rip off.

On Wednesday night after dinner we had a walk over the road and sat down for a bottle of wine in the Dusit bistro. What was a rip off was the Dusit price of 950 baht but I could live with what we paid after the discount, it was a very nice Chile red.

Then there is the flight subsidy to consider, but you carry on shaking your head as you con yourself into thinking you have it all sussed.

I booked the BlueSotel Smart through Agoda early in July 3 nights B&B 3150 August 21st/24th...which was cheap...when the GF registered with the scheme the price quoted for exactly the same was 2480 baht...Agoda was cancelled and we also took advantage of the 600 baht/day food vouchers.

We will be back in Ao Nang for 3 nights B&B at the 4* Seaseeker 22nd to 25th next month...cost 2515 baht and as it,s midweek 900 baht/night food voucher.....waiting till 1st September when we can get another 5 nights and looking at either Phu Pi Maan or Panan Resort...many thanks to the Thai government