A number of Thai hotels, including large groups such as Dusit, have decided to temporarily pause sales linked to the government’s domestic tourism subsidy scheme because of back-end malfunctions in the system.
Prachoom Tantiprasertsuk, chair of marketing at the Thai Hotels Association, said many hotels had pulled out of the programme until the system is more stable, as they cannot log into the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) system to manage bookings, forcing them to reject customers who called to make reservations.
Public registration for the subsidy scheme was shut down for maintenance for a second time on Friday, following widespread criticism about lack of preparedness.
Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong said he was discussing the issue with the TAT to determine how long it will take to stabilise the system.
Based on an online discussion with the TAT this week, joined by representatives of more than 1,200 hotels, Ms Prachoom said there are at least four major issues for operators.
The primary concern is with the pricing method, as once hotels submit their rates, they are locked and cannot be revised, even if the hotel wishes to adjust pricing based on the market.
This static pricing method is impractical as properties are limited to only three types of rooms, she said.
Meanwhile, the back-end technology is outdated as there’s no automatic slip verification, prompting hotels to manually check the authenticity of payment slips uploaded by guests.
Without slip verification, it increases the risk of fraud and creates an extra workload for hotel staff, said Ms Prachoom, who is also vice-president of operations for central and southern Thailand at Dusit International.
She said Dusit hotels in Thailand temporarily paused their room sales as they encountered technical problems.
Dusit Thani in Pattaya and Hua Hin announced on their Facebook pages that they had stopped accepting new bookings for the scheme, but would proceed with bookings that are already paid and confirmed.
Ms Prachoom said many hotels of all sizes willing to enrol in the scheme encountered a long approval process, resulting in a limited number of accommodation choices.
The TAT informed hotel operators the bank accounts used to receive payments under the programme must be with Krungthai Bank and verified by the bank before being listed on the website.
This means it takes 3-4 days for hotels to complete the registration, she said.
Minor Hotels said all 26 of its hotels in Thailand have registered for the programme, but only eight have been approved.
According to the TAT, 2,292 hotels have published their rates on the website, while 3,047 properties are awaiting verification by the bank.
Despite the temporary closure of user registration, the TAT said hotels can still apply to join the programme, while verified users can continue to make bookings.