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Trends, post Covid


Butch

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As we all know the current news and progress, I won't dwell too much on that, but it would be interesting to read the thoughts of BM's regarding any trends we might see emerging from this event, concentrating on Pattaya and Thailand rather than our own Countries.

I'll throw a few randoms out for starters, that being Hotel prices, specifically in Pattaya and BKK. I'm sure a few of us have been subject to the Thai logic of putting the price up because of fewer customers to make the same daily profit. Hopefully we won't see the same apply to the Hotel / guest houses in town. Do you guys think up, downward or static?.

The next big one, Flight prices. I think we'll see an initial increase as demand picks up, then leveling out, but perhaps with slightly higher prices due to fuel costs and green initiatives. I admit not to having the slightest idea how airline prices work, apart from they get expensive during school hols.

Food and drink. Food has always been cheap in Thailand and Pattaya, relatively speaking, but will we see an increase in what we pay for our beers?. no more cheap draft? we might see the 100THB per glass soon. Same for bottled beers. I'd have thought there would have been a huge surplus, due to demand being so supressed, but who knows.

Other trends, such as mask wearing might continue for public transport possibly.

As always it is hard to predict these things, but I know my budget will have to be revised upwards a bit just in case. I'm adding an extra £500 over a 18 day holiday, keeping my normal Hotel etc. Hopefully it won't be needed.

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 Funny but for the first time in 18 months this week I have been checking out flights and hotels for mid November. Flight prices are variable but obviously not as plentiful early 2020.

Some good bargains to be had in hotels and usually at the top end...4 and 5 star hotels...for example the Dusit Thani at least half of what it was early 2020...but as you say,  once demand increases it's hard to see them remaining so.

Cracking thread 👌 

 

Edited by Starshine
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Think prices on the ground for entertainment e.t.c will rise.

Plenty of cashed up punters who've been unable to travel for 2 years, not enough staff to fill the bars, prices will spike up would be my guess.

More bars will go to the wall.  Seems madness to me all the extra bars that will come online with Treetown expanding- how are they going to fill them?

Good businesses  though will recommence thriving.

Feel bars like Le Pub who've vlogged/ used social media well over lockdown will do especially well. Some of these vlogs have subscribers in the 1000's and views in the 10's of 1,000s.  They've had a captive audience of bored followers, is only going to take a tiny% of that following to frequent the bars to make it very good advertising for the business.

Realise many subscribers might be existing customers but feel they will see an uptick in new customers off the back of their YouTube efforts

Then again I might be totally wrong😎

 

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Most prices in Pattaya are dependent on two things. The rent that building owners charge and the amount of tea money that is requested.

Neither of these two groups are interested in the welfare of transient punters and will at the very least return to last years pricing if not more. If they remain empty then the owners will just stay boarded up.

I am looking forward to seeing the blackboard outside Proms Guesthouse and see how they will be handling life after lockdown because there aint gonna be anywhere cheaper selling large beers so it will be a good indication.

Another "Pattaya Institution" are the bars at soi buakhao market (Buttsy's etc). Now that it has moved across the road I'm damn sure somebody will set up a bar inside or near the new complex.

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4 hours ago, Lemondropkid said:

Think prices on the ground for entertainment e.t.c will rise.

Plenty of cashed up punters who've been unable to travel for 2 years, not enough staff to fill the bars, prices will spike up would be my guess.

More bars will go to the wall.  Seems madness to me all the extra bars that will come online with Treetown expanding- how are they going to fill them?

Good businesses  though will recommence thriving.

Feel bars like Le Pub who've vlogged/ used social media well over lockdown will do especially well. Some of these vlogs have subscribers in the 1000's and views in the 10's of 1,000s.  They've had a captive audience of bored followers, is only going to take a tiny% of that following to frequent the bars to make it very good advertising for the business.

Realise many subscribers might be existing customers but feel they will see an uptick in new customers off the back of their YouTube efforts

Then again I might be totally wrong😎

 

Bang on about the social media side. Worked a dream for Secrets, would have had a fraction of the footfall without it due to location on a side Soi. Phil has shown his great marketing sense in that regard. 

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There was a topic on another board about what Pattaya would be like upon re-opening. This was my response:

Here are my guesses!

I think we have to define "re-opening". That's not easy as it will be a gradual process. Initially, it will be a case of an attempt to resurrect the previous model, but over a year or two a new model will emerge. So the following thoughts relate to that new model.

The global pressure to reduce the use of fossil fuels will cause the cost of flying to increase very considerably. The people visiting Pattaya will come mainly from countries nearer than Europe and the US. They will be from India, China, Korea and ASEAN countries. There will also be greater domestic tourism; the folk in BKK seem to have acquired a greater taste for Patts during the lockdown.

For most blokes, the cost of flying from the West will not be trumped by the availability of pussy. Nowadays, the under 40s have adequate supply amongst their peers. (Sadly, it wasn't like that for most of us at that age - despite the "swinging sixties"!)

The people who will still travel (from the West) for that reason are we older folk, although the numbers will fall.

In general terms, the people who will be visiting venues like gogos, beer bars, and GCs will be young Asians and older Westerners. The gogos will be the preserve of young Asians, and the GCs of older Westerners.

Where does that leave the beer bars? I don't see many Asians going to them, except for those in the the lower end of the Indian visitors. Older Westerners will probably provide some custom en route to or from the GCs. But I suspect the viability of a beer bar will be largely dependent on its popularity amongst the Western expat population. 

So I see:

WS mainly for young Asians and expat Asians;

Soi 6 carrying on, but probably with fewer bars. How many will likely depend on how successful the bars are at getting back the girls. I can see more tour groups gawking their way down there if it survives in a reasonably successful way.

Sois 7 and 8 finished;

Drinking Street much reduced in size, and relying on the Indian market;

The GCs mainly for older Westerners. But I fear it won't be too long before the word will spread amongst the more savvy Asians, particularly educated Indians who read things like Pattaya Addicts.

I've left Soi LKM, Soi Buakhao and Tree Town until last as, for me, they are more difficult to foresee. 

Perhaps the gogos of LKM will be frequented by a mixture of less-young Asians, and Westerners, and expats.

The beer bars which do survive will be situated mainly in that area. 

I'm not sure if the concentration of GCs in Soi Boomerang will stay there, or be required to relocate as they are too close to the areas that "regular" tourists inhabit.

I'm not as optimistic as most Pattaya vloggers seem to be about Tree Town. Maybe it will become an eclectic mix of eateries and nightclubs and market stalls; on the other hand, it might go back to being a big plot of wasteland.

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1 hour ago, galenkia said:

Bang on about the social media side. Worked a dream for Secrets, would have had a fraction of the footfall without it due to location on a side Soi. Phil has shown his great marketing sense in that regard. 

Yep, I used to be incredibly sceptical about social media, but it is an extremely effective marketing tool. Secrets would have nothing without the forum. Feel YouTube subscribers and those that pay a sub are their modern equivalent.

Enough of them will come to the bars they been following during lockdown, to provide a healthy boost to the bars revenue. And enough only requires a tiny % of followers to become customers.

Edited by Lemondropkid
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3 hours ago, Lemondropkid said:

Yep, I used to be incredibly sceptical about social media, but it is an extremely effective marketing tool. Secrets would have nothing without the forum. Feel YouTube subscribers and those that pay a sub are their modern equivalent.

Enough of them will come to the bars they been following during lockdown, to provide a healthy boost to the bars revenue. And enough only requires a tiny % of followers to become customers.

I like what the bloke in Dive Bar is doing with the exercise routines but if it doesn't open up early enough then I shan't be going in, which is a shame really.

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3 hours ago, Golfingboy said:

Interesting thread, good read. All I know is, if any BM here catches me sending donations for chatting online with a bargirl, this year or the next, feel free to get Anthony Joshua to knock some sense into me

Yep, it is quite sad that some poor bloke in Farangland is getting egged on by NWG shills to spend money that he hasn't got to see his "girlfriend" blowing kisses at him.

Some see it as the future, but it won't last long because within a year these blokes will turn up to discover the truth, and the saddest thing is that the shills will be asking for "mandrinks" for giving him advice.

 

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11 hours ago, Lemondropkid said:

Yep, I used to be incredibly sceptical about social media, but it is an extremely effective marketing tool. Secrets would have nothing without the forum.

Very true ... but like other marketing tools it can also be the tool that kills you.

It won't take long for social media to spread the news of establishments "misleading" punters.

A big shout out to Dive Bar and Le Pub for having new ideas rather than the dross that NWG puts out there .

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Makes me wonder how the bars and clubs did so well before computers, phones, social media etc got the spotlight.

Funny how most of the bars and clubs did so well back in the 80s and 90s, must have been something as boring as just offering good service with girls who didn't have a pre-booked dance card.

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40 minutes ago, Horizondave said:

Makes me wonder how the bars and clubs did so well before computers, phones, social media etc got the spotlight.

Funny how most of the bars and clubs did so well back in the 80s and 90s, must have been something as boring as just offering good service with girls who didn't have a pre-booked dance card.

:default_goodjob:

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