Will prices in Hua Hin fall to encourage spending?

[crazy88]

Ozuncle

You are quite correct that a simple reduction of prices when overheads are constant is a recipe for disaster .So is reducing staff as it reduces quality of service .My 75% of something analogy did not refer to a straight drop in prices .Rather to investing a little more cash and effort into making the establishment more attractive to the target audience .Pay a bit more for lively go-getting staff,update the music collection,put on some promotions that don,t hit the pocket in the long run (quiz nights with prizes,spin the wheel ,toss the boss etc..etc..etc.) The drinks companies are usually only too happy to provide giveaways for promotional nights especially if you promise to take photos and have them published on line and in local publications .Of course you will have to support these publications but,if done right,its a win win situation all round .Make the place "FUN" people are on holiday,they want to enjoy themselves and spend money .Get together with a few other like-minded bar owners and put your heads together .Three legged pub crawls,pram races...etc..People love the opportunity to make a fool of themselves and have fun doing it .Get a bit of lively activity going and the locals will join in for sure ,giving you a bar full of people enjoying themselves which will bring repeat and new custom .In short,filling the place with bored girls ,devoid of enthusiasm until the next food cart comes past and sticking an A4 piece of paper on the toilet door with "VIP room available" written on it in felt-tip pen is not going to cut it this year .

I would guess there must be at least 2000 expats who like a drink and a laugh in Hua Hin at this time of year .If you can attract 1 in a 100 you have 20 people in your place before you even consider tourists .Not a bad start to the evening .

Good luck to you all

Crazy 88

[buksida]

Agree with the above, and not to blow its trumpet too much but HHAD would be the ideal venue to reach out to the expats - at a fraction of the cost of the print publications and with a much wider audience. Sensible, low cost, high impact marketing ... can't go wrong!

Back to the prices I think it will take well into next year before we see more competitive pricing from local businesses - 2009 will be a tough one for all that rely in some way on tourism.

[margaretcarnes]

Agred with your points Buksi and thank goodness for the sensible Thai perspective from The Understudy.

Just some recent observations price wise, not necessarily in HH. Lets not forget there are other destinations!

Friend in HH just booked a return to England for 2 weeks - 63,000 baht.
Its on my flight for which I paid 640 pounds the other way. (and many said THAT was expensive - work it out.)
Patpong market - not everyones cuppa I know - last night I just couldn't believe how few people wandering around. Usually you have to struggle through the crowds, but I would say shoppers there down by at least 80 percent. Similar thing on Sukhumvit. Some stall holders ARE coming down in price. Some being obstinately nasty. Many just very sad.
Bars in Patpong area extremely quiet (no doubt some of that due to the smoking laws) but no sign of cheap offers.
Siam Square quiet - small Heineken at Hard Rock a stunning 230 baht. Thai food stalls 150 to 250 baht. Only well heeled Thais can afford that!

Only bar in Bangkok so far that I've seen really busy is of course Cheap Charlies. Tourists don't go there and Thais don't, it's much too scruffy and cheap! Class divide will widen I think.

[norm]

I think you will find the reason it is hard to book a flight out of BKK is due to a big reduction in the number of flights. Thai alone has cut 1/3 of their flights from BKK.

[sandman67]

Crazy88

mate could you pop in Mrs S's bar and earole her...you try explaining bar promotion to her...Ive tried till my ears are bleeding. Common sense "farang" approaches like you suggest are just completely alien to Thais Im afraid....Ive all but given up trying.

Try: "This is a business not a social club for bar girls" as a starter....

Then move onto:

TV shows sport channels not thai soaps

Middle aged farangs dont listen to tinny thai pop music/pipe cracking gangsta rap

Bars need signs saying the name of the bar where you can see them...not 40 feet in the air

and

girls work in bar to get customers in and entertain them, not eat som tam and talk on phones all night while ignoring customers.

In return I promise to be on hand to administer medicinal beer whilst you bang your head against the wall.

[cookmanchef]

I'll tell you what Sandman you have got that so spot on. It's as if you were sat next to me reading my mind last time I was down there.

One place I have found that they make an effort though is Valentine. As soon as I walked in they changed the TV channel and took turns to come and have a chat. Think they thought I was a hotel inspector though as they each kept asking me if I wanted to go across the road.

[Toy]

ozuncle You're right,

What these businesses will have to do is reduce staff and try and cut down on costs.

But Crazy88 have a poient:

It will then be followed by sensible people realizing that 75% of something is better than 100% of nothing and making their pricing more attractive where they can.

I thought it probably should be a combination, because a half-empty place with poor cleaning attracts no customers

[Korkenzieher]

Sandman - bang on with every comment, but I think it is swimming against the current. One or two bars have started happy-hours, and they tend to be the farang owned ones. The Thais are, I'm afraid, likely to do what they always do which is hold the line, rather than lose face; or even increase price to try to maintain income. That has also happened in a few places - suddenly I find myself paying 80, 90 and in BKK as much as 120 for TIGER!

The flip side of this really, is that dropping prices isn't likely to increase total business - the golf courses are in the same bind. If you drop prices without (as mentioned above) cutting costs, then all you do is cannibalise your income. I really feel sorry for the northern girls in all this, because they stand to suffer the cut-backs, if they happen, and the reduced business levels more than anyone else.

[crazy88]

Sandman

Totally understand your comments as they reflect the facts of life here .You and many others are going to have to put your foot down methinks .Not a task I envy any of you .There is no more obstinate a creature on this planet than a Thai woman .

Good luck



Crazy 88

[huahinjim]

Been going to a local Thai resaturant once or twice a month for over a year now but at the weekend they gave a 10% discount for being 'regulars'. Nice surprise. We were the only customers the 2 hours we were there and most nights they are suffering due to slowdown in tourists.

Good to see some Thais are making an effort.

('Dee Dees' near Pak Nam Pran beach and I have no connections with them, other than as satisfied customer!)

[margaretcarnes]

Norm - there may well be less flights out of Bangkok at the moment but mine last week had loads of empty seats and still charged premium for new bookings. (Maybe adopting the Thai way - less customers, hike the prices.)

On the bar front though, Sandman and Crazy88 are both correct in their own ways. Those of us who have had Thai staff probably adopted Sandmans views but wished we had Crazy's aspirations! It would indeed make sense to get 1% of HuaHins expats into a place to 'jump start' any evening. (BTW some estimates put the HH expat population now at 3000.)
But the sad fact is that HuaHin has changed physically and demographically. Many expats live way out, are happy to stay home with their wives and families and buy tinnies from the 7. They don't want the hassle of getting taxis 2 ways, and won't drive into town at night themselves. Perhaps most importantly the old timers and family guys simply don't like the Binta Sois anymore. Or the prices. And I'm afraid it's easy to see why.

On the subject of the strong baht though - isn't it now more the case that the pound is weak? Rate in the UK the last couple of days has been under 47, and its the same story with pound/euro at about evens, with no sign that Darling and Brown intend to do anything about it.

[ozuncle]

Been going to a local Thai resaturant once or twice a month for over a year now but at the weekend they gave a 10% discount for being 'regulars'. Nice surprise. We were the only customers the 2 hours we were there and most nights they are suffering due to slowdown in tourists.

Good to see some Thais are making an effort.

('Dee Dees' near Pak Nam Pran beach and I have no connections with them, other than as satisfied customer!)

Hi Jim,
That's exactly my point in my above post.
It is nice of the owner to give a discount to regulars but why do it now?
Is he going to attract more customers? No.
Is he going to make less profit? Yes.
Maybe even to the point of folding.
Times are very tough and I stand by my belief in that staff and other costs should be reduced accordingly.
OK, try some gimmics to attract customers (and keep the staff busy.) as long as costs are not increased.
I hope you gave them a 10% tip.

[Spitfire]

Just not enough customers or too many establistments than want a slice of cake. Times like these see the 'trimming of the fat' so to speak. Only the resilient and innovative or perhaps the ruthless will survive.

Someone mentioned about the price of everything going up in accordance with the price of oil, then not receeding when it went down. Agree with what's been said above on this subject but this has not helped in the slightest, along with a few other glaring happenings.

It will test the business acumen of all in every business environment.

[buksida]

Just not enough customers or too many establistments than want a slice of cake.

This has been the case in Hua Hin specifically for the last 3-4 years now, the real estate sector has been the biggest example but it has happened with all businesses, including restaurants, bars, newspapers and magazines, radio stations, tour operators, retail outlets and even websites! As soon as someone starts something original in Hua Hin you can guarantee that someone else will copy it.

As you say the innovative and the well established will survive, the chancers probably won't (and that may not be such a bad thing).

[crazy88]

In my home town there were 11 pubs servicing a population of around 30,000 .What was the person who opened the 100th bar in Hua Hin thinking Especially when they copied the same formula as every other bar in the street It also amazes me that people will pay premium money for a prime location and then open the tenth tailor or optician on the strip .



Crazy 88