Getting space in Pattaya has seriously become a problem. When Pattaya was perceived as a sleazy town and the Thais preferred Hua Hin and other provinces to Pattaya, there was space aplenty and tour operators and DMC's would bargain with hotels for 50 Thai Baht. Up until the high season of 2011, there was space to be had as one natural or man made disaster in Thailand kept tourism from achieving its potential and hotel occupancies below the 100 percent mark. Indeed in 2011 and 2010 December, Pattaya hotel occupancies hovered around the 80% mark. Now in 2012/13, the hotels in South, Central and North Pattaya are at 95 -99 percent levels with only the upper category of rooms and suites being made available. Now the tables are turned and the issue during the high season (November - April) is no longer rate but space. Transportation infrastructure from Bangkok to Pattaya, the commissioning of Suvarnabhumi International airport in 2006 and the growth of the Thai middle class have all contributed towards Pattaya's growing popularity with its own people, the Thais. Today Thais account of 25% of Pattaya's total arrivals while Russia at 23% follows closely at the Thai's heels.
Chinese and Japanese markets have surged with the tensions between those two countries and both these nationalities wanting to visit a neutral country, Thailand and Pattaya in particular are benefiting.
The Indian market which always comes in large numbers, bargain like there is no tomorrow is finding that there is nobody to bargain with as hoteliers have shut their doors on them.
The pressure on space is more on lower category hotels as Russians are pre-buying the 2 and 3 star hotels and Thais tend to fill up the 3 to 5 star hotels on weekends. So space can be found at 4 and 5 star hotels from Sunday night to Thursday.
Here is a great post about Destination Management Company.
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