Over the last few weeks Tik and I have stumbled on some interesting ways of saving money if you are a tourist here…

When Lisa & I took an elephant treck in Pattaya Tik got a 600 baht kickback by explaining to the staff that she was taking us sightseeing and intended to do the same again.  Considering the Elephant trek cost 600 baht each we effectively got it at half price.

In places where double-pricing is charged (i.e. where there is a low price for a Thai and a higher one for a farang) I have saved money by presenting my AIGS student card to show that I’m not just a tourist here.  This has worked a few times now although I don’t really believe that my AIGS card was that important.  I am sure that anybody with average Thai language skills might be able to demonstrate that they are in Thailand for the long-term, not just passing through.

We got a significant discount on a hotel here by booking under the name of a business which holds an account there.  The hotel did not require proof of employment, merely the mention of the company name.  This also worked in Khon Kaen where we were staying at the hotel of the wedding party.  We again got a great price on the room without having to prove we’d been invited to the party.

Hope it’s of value to you.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 5th, 2006 at 7:40 am and is filed under Thailand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.