Bars operating on a knife-edge

[Dark Diva]

What is the difference between a recession and a depression?

... If you loose your job it is a recession.

........ If I loose mine it is a depression.

 

[Doctor Watson]

Sorry to hear that crab man, a crap thing to happen especially at this time of the year.
I'm sure something will turn up and you'll make LOS next year.

How will soi croc pay for the changes if you don....i mean if your mate don't go next year? 55555

 

[Lisa]

Philnz no Thai landlord is prepared to meet the market and show any sense, not many takers all they will do is put the rent up for those that are there. Most do not owe anything on the businesses they have for let, so it costs them nothing to save face and lower their price and just keep face and hold out until some stupid new punter arrives and pays it anyway.

 

[KingRolfRocks]

Dodger, that's what I had heard too......but was hoping amongst hope that a "sensible" one could be found! However as you say where it comes to saving face, its a no go area for a Thai. But Soi Eric has a farang owner, so just maybe...but then he has about as much empathy as Attila the Hun (oops!).

 

[Kenji]

Not really, but you can certainly come down by the beach area and relax with a few cold ones. Nice fresh air, beautiful sunsets, and friendly people - and nobody coming up to you every few seconds and begging for a drink.


If history is a guide, this high season should be bad, next high season should be worse, and following that things should be well on their way to recovery. Of course, how many tourists pick Thailand as their destination will depend on how well the Thai's do at not shooting themselves in the foot over and over again.

As to bars on a "knife-edge", if there were fewer bars, that situation would improve. When it seems like there are more bars than people wanting to go to them, that knife-edge must be looking quite sharp! I suppose the expenses at a bar are "fixed", and don't go down when the economy takes a dump...

 

[Tamuna X]

I'm with you on that Gee! :yipi: (We can dream can't we??)

 

[thiny72]

Otherwise known as the 'pay up chubbly' channel

:rules:

 

[Dinah]

well spoken!! not much to add to that.
and good that you mention hotels, because it is not only the bars on knife-edge. i can imagine smaller hotels and guesthouses are having their problems, as the bookings are really down:rules: !! the next in line after them is restaurants and so on......uch:

 

[joanne342]

Well, it was in response to Vipers (Strongbow) idea to leave all of Thailand in niches as holiday destinations for certain groups....

...the travel agents world-wide are just not educated enough to know all the places in LOS by heart ... hence this agent has sold a family holiday package to Pats ;-)

Quite stupid really, as everyone knows that GOLF is the desired Niche for Pats ;-)

 

[Donna E]

Don't get hung up on the definitions of recession and depression, because not even the experts quite know how to define it.

Suffice it to say that in the late 1920s , had you invested one $ in the share market, you would not have made anything until around 1945.

Apart from that, recessions seem to be the order of the day, and seem to run in two or three-year time spans...... however this time the grand order is very different. In the old days there were no "sub prime mortgages", no "Collateralised Debt Obligations" (CDOs), and no "synthetic derivatives", which means that many large organisations and banks have investments in products they do not even understand and are based purely on mathematics wishful thinking rather than basic finance.

With trillions of dollars of paper being produced to overcome these problems, I do not believe you will see a quick return to anything resembling a normal situation in the finance and banking world, which will have flow on effects for all of us. That means retirement funds will take many years to recover and get back to where they were a few years ago, many retirees will struggle to survive, those looking forward to retirement will have to tighten their belts most significantly and may be on the breadline, investors in everyday finance companies, investment banks and hedge funds will have lost a fortune, and those poor folk who thought they had equity in their houses will find out that it has turned into negative equity and may well be forced out of their homes by the banks-- -- and so it goes on.

Money will be tight for many years to come, and places like Phuket will definitely struggle. As for the mass building of condominiums and apartments in Patong at the moment, many developers will go bust, unless they have significant financial backing. Be prepared to pick up some low-priced property over the next two years, and also be prepared for many small businesses and bar owners, who operate purely on cash flow, to go to the wall.

 

[Ren]

How dare you slag off my mate Attilla the Hun.He was a beacon of humanity compared to a bar street landlord.h:

Case in point of greedy landlords.The Valhalla complex is still empty since closing in April - the lease money is crazy.:erf:

 

[dancergirl]

ha ha.. I did read that earlier and thought.. Hmm discounts hey

 

[ramone35]

patong as it was in the old days???

dream is all we can do about the old days!!:

 

[DarkMagix]

Yep, very cheap. It's a good way to have a nice time in Patong if you're there on a budget and don't have the money to splurge on things that others do. It's also what many of the local people seem to prefer, but many of them eat at the local Thai restaurants where the prices are about the same as at the food carts.

 

[Quaker O]

just came back from Phuket last night. This year high season was even worst than any other low seasons. Some hotels I enquired before my trip were willing to offer low season price (and I don't need to ask). I stay in C&N Resort and they offered me 5% discount on their normal price. Bangla is still busy but there were more thai (girls and ladyboys) than tourists. I saw no Asians (except us and thai) around Patong until the Singaporean cruise arrived. Banana was completely empty at 11:30 on one day except the staff. About the bar, it was easy to get through any of the soi at midnight, which I could still remember that it was a bit hard to squeeze oneself between peoples. Just Tiger and Hollywood didn't seem to be affected in term of the numbers of people getting there, but may be just more girls went there to look for customers. We went to Hollywood for 4 continuous nights and we had no problem in getting a VIP table. Actually, there were some tables in the VIP areas were empty for the whole nights.

I think the businesses there need you all to go more often:

 

[*:]$un$hine[:*%]

many Farang owners in Bkk too and same same so Eric is not unique in his empathtic approach to his tenants..

Guess the Thai business mentality has rubbed off somewhat.

 

[Ima LittLe Teapot]

Hardly a discount IMHO!!! Then again, I'm just a Chubbly Cheapskate! Going back to bed...........Laters. :tuxout:

 

[English And Proud]

Many ways to look at things. I read what you just wrote, and think to myself that now you know WHY she "had more money than all of us put together".

 

[Jesse]

Thaicam the thread is entitled ' Bars - living on a knife edge', your advice will no doubt warm the cockles of their heart!!! 7-11 30 baht saved per beer, no atmosphere, no friends, no ladies but saved 30 baht, 'how did your holiday go?' great!!

 

[ManofViagra]

Being frugal with yourself is one thing.. Being frugal when splitting bills and haggling with our associates is simply passing your consumption onto another persons bill..