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Livingstones
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Little Big Man,
Thanks for your review of Livingstone’s Lodge. Below our comments on your Cons:
1.) Noisy Rooms
Yes, that is indeed a problem. We built 9 new rooms towards Soi 33, and of course we built them with double windows and isolated floors. But in the old building the rooms have still single windows, which makes them more noisy than those closer to the road. We will exchange those windows soon, and also install a curtain downstairs at the staircase up to the rooms, to avoid that the noise from groups walking through the Lobby reaches the rooms upstairs.
2.) Changing Rooms
Usually it is not a problem to move a more noise sensitive customer within the hotel. Whenever it is possible we do that – but obviously you stayed here in a period when we were fully booked. Sorry for the inconvenience.
3.) Room Rates
There will be no cheaper rooms in Livingstone’s. Having breakfast and internet included within the lowest room rate of THB 1,800.00 we are still cheap compared to all competitors within this area of Bangkok.
4.) Service Charge and VAT
We are strictly following Thai laws, and are requested to add this surcharges to the room rates, as basically everywhere in Asia.
5.) Laundry
You are right with the laundry, we use the laundry service of Novotel Lotus and charge the same prices as Novotel to our customers. No profit for us here, but still too expensive, in our POV. We are looking for other solutions, but to run an own laundry service is not possible for such a small hotel like ours, and other services must have the same reliability as Novotel’s service has.
6.) Lounge Chairs
The demand for that comes up from time to time, but not many of our guests stay at the pool during the day. They swim some rounds, and relax at the chairs close to the pool. Anyway – we ordered some lounge chairs which will be available at the pool during the daytime soon.
7.) Pricey
Things are relative. And in our opinion our prices are really relatively low. This is Bangkok, Sukhumvit Soi 33.
8.) Room Safes
Yikes! We will go through all rooms and check that again. This happens when we exchange safes against new ones, and forget to specifically mention that they have to be bolted.
Some more information:
Barfines
The barfines are in line with other bars of Soi 33. The target of our Sports Lounge is to provide a certain level entertainment for our customers. The bar fine business is the smallest profit center we have, and hopefully it stays like this. Livingstone’s Lodge is not neither a short time hotel nor a brothel.
Ambience and Prices
The Lodge provides a very special ambience, and we think it is not too easy to find that somewhere else in Bangkok. For that the Livingstone’s prices cannot simply be compared with those of hotels in the lower Sukhumvit area. To sell rooms with low room rates is easy, to sell them with good quality and ambience is more difficult. But it is our policy NOT to go for a discount sales strategy.
Thanks again for staying in our hotel.
The Management
Livingstone's Lodge Co., Ltd.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 10:49 pm on Jan. 21, 2007
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sai tai
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Quote: from Livingstones on 7:13 am on Jan. 22, 2007
6.) Lounge Chairs
The demand for that comes up from time to time, but not many of our guests stay at the pool during the day. They swim some rounds, and relax at the chairs close to the pool. Anyway – we ordered some lounge chairs which will be available at the pool during the daytime soon.
Good to hear. No lounge chairs at the pool was the only reason I did not stay here on my last trip.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 1:39 am on Jan. 22, 2007
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DaffyDuck
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Quote: from Livingstones on 1:13 pm on Jan. 22, 2007
We are strictly following Thai laws, and are requested to add this surcharges to the room rates, as basically everywhere in Asia.
I have a question about this, if I may.
I have noticed that when I book and check in to my regular place, I always get charged the service charge, and VAT in addition to the room rate - yet, when I use one of the legit online hotel reservation services, and pay in advance, the same (or, often lower) rate is all inclusive, and there are no service of VAT charges?
I have tried to argue this point, and if, as you say, this is a lawfull issue, I can understand -- but why do the discount brokers seem to be excluded from this (or is it just that they have enough span in their discount to simply include those fees in the same rate they offer?)
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 2:02 am on Jan. 22, 2007
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DrLove
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Simple, most hotels/restaurants add ++ to inflate the final price.
If the ++ was included the price would seem to be to high. That's why cheaper hotels quote inclusive when booked directly.
There is no Thai law that you have to add service and tax to the price of your hotel (or restaurant). You may quote including taxes, but of course you have to pay it back to the Revenue Department and keep it transparent in your bookkeeping.
So, it's nonsense that hotels and restaurant have to add ++....
Furthermore, if a hotel/restaurant charges service, don't tip. Some hotels/restaurants will share the service with the staff, some others don't.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 3:52 am on Jan. 22, 2007
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piper101
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Quote: from sai tai on 4:03 pm on Jan. 22, 2007
Good to hear. No lounge chairs at the pool was the only reason I did not stay here on my last trip
That's funny. Kidding, right?
("I flew to Bangkok to find a place with poolside chairs").
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 1:37 pm on Jan. 22, 2007
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Yurune
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There obviously is a law that you must add 7% VAT, but there is certainly no law saying that service charge must be added.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 3:44 pm on Jan. 22, 2007
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IBFarang
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P101 – I think his train of thought was more like “If I am going to fly half-way across the globe and stay at a place with a pool, at least I will pick a place with lounge chairs”.
I on the other hand am too cheap to even bother staying at a place that has a pool let alone lounge chairs.
As far as the VAT and service charge – no service charge necessary but VAT certainly is – but quoted rates can be all inclusive (including VAT and service charges (if any) ). Just something one has to be aware of when selecting their hotel and reviewing prices. Just an issue of marketing and how the individual web-site/hotel wishes to present their prices to the consumer.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 8:03 pm on Jan. 22, 2007
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Livingstones
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Yurune, DrLove,
Let us clarify the ++ issue, to avoid misunderstandings and generalizations.
VAT must be added by law, and Service Charge must be added based on the staff payment model we selected. The biggest part of the Service Charge is paid to the staff as a part of their salary, a payment model which most of the hotels in Thailand choose.
All the rest is same as in all other countries. We can either show prices including all those surcharges or net prices and add the ++. Usually hotels show net prices in their price lists.
Internet booking sites usually show the prices including the VAT and Service Charge.
The Management
Livingstone's Lodge Co., Ltd.
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Thai Girls : Meet Active Thai Girls
Posted on: 10:06 pm on Jan. 22, 2007
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expatchuck
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Quote: from Livingstones on 12:30 pm on Jan. 23, 2007
...."The biggest part of the service charge is paid to the staff as a part of their salary, a payment model which most of the hotels in Thailand choose."
I am now more confused than ever about this service charge.
Are you saying service charges are used to pay the regular salary an employee receives and are not in addition to the regular salary one receives? If that be the case, the only people benefitting from a service charge is the hotel, since they no longer have to pay salaries out of earned income.
What about the tip money? Does that get split among the employees or do hotels take a cut of that as well?
Please explain and thanks.
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 11:06 pm on Jan. 22, 2007
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DaffyDuck
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Quote: from Livingstones on 12:30 pm on Jan. 23, 2007
Internet booking sites usually show the prices including the VAT and Service Charge.
Which leads to my question regarding why the hotel won't provide the same price as the discounter - I have tried to negotiate getting the same price in the past, but they wouldn't budge -- when I would reason that a discounter pays the hotel even less, in order to give me the lower price.
In other words, if Livingstone's price is (and this is just illustrative) 1,800 THB, and an online discounter had the same room for 1,700 THB, including VAT and service fee, would Livingstone management give me the same price, if I were to book directly with them (especially considering that if I booked with the discounter, they would receive (let's say) 1,600, and still end up with me as a customer...)
Either way, it's generally not much of an issue, as I just book my entire stay with the online discounter, inform the management of my arrival, and still get what I want, at the price I prefer.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 11:29 pm on Jan. 22, 2007
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