From Pattaya Mail

Locanation.com, a new hotel reservation platform backed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), made its debut on 1 October 2021 to help boost country reopening.

This newly-launched platform is an alternative to other online travel agencies like Agoda and Traveloka. It is part of the TAT Travel Tech Startup Season 2.

TAT Deputy Governor of Domestic Marketing Thapanee Kiatpaiboon said the agency is keen to support startups, specifically Thai-bound TravelTechs, helping to maneuver them through international competition.

What makes this platform different from the rest is that it does not collect any commission fees from participating hotels, as well as allows businesses to communicate directly with actual users on the platform through posts and direct messages. Proceeds from the revenue spared can then translate to privileges or extra benefits provided to hotel guests, such as airport shuttles or free minibars.

The platform also supports the government’s Phase 3 of the ‘We Travel Together’ or ‘Rao Tiew Duay Gun’ scheme with 2 million eligible accounts. It began accepting reservations from 1 October 2021. Here is the link to the platform: https://locanation.com/

https://www.pattayamail.com/thailandnews/thailand-launches-new-hotel-reservation-platform-as-cities-reopen-to-foreigners-374284

TAT tat.

Seems more like TIT 😉

Not much hotel featured yet, but to be fair, it does says beta. Another error when pressing booking shows that it will be available October 15th.

Had me until  "It is part of the TAT"

Don't these tits at TAT realize that the launch is free publicity and people will go to the site when they read about it ?

So it ought to be working when announced, otherwise the opportunity is squandered.

 

1 hour ago, z909 said:

Don't these tits at TAT realize that the launch is free publicity and people will go to the site when they read about it ?

So it ought to be working when announced, otherwise the opportunity is squandered.

 

Bad publicity also publicity lol at least they did call me awesome traveller!

8 hours ago, Patanawet said:

Had me until  "It is part of the TAT"

Same with me. I have no doubt that a percentage of booking fees will be directed to TAT coffers. Given that there are already so many booking sites offering several perks, I cannot see what any new one will achieve. Also if one wants to cancel a booking, presumably the alternatives offered will only be in Thailand whereas on agoda etc. you can often transfer the funds to a hotel booking in another country.

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Same with me. I have no doubt that a percentage of booking fees will be directed to TAT coffers. Given that there are already so many booking sites offering several perks, I cannot see what any new one will achieve. Also if one wants to cancel a booking, presumably the alternatives offered will only be in Thailand whereas on agoda etc. you can often transfer the funds to a hotel booking in another country.

I prefer the current set up where there are competing private booking sites.    Competition ought to moderate fees and if not the competition authorities will step in in some countries.   State run organizations tend to escape such scrutiny, to the detriment of the customer. 

Thankfully, this TAT scheme is likely to fail.

I think hotel prices in thailand has been very competitive enough without TAT intervention. Unless this website can make the price even cheaper, then yes, it might be worth checking out.

I wonder what the reaction would be to a feature request asking to search hotels based on whether they are guest friendly 🤔

It is a little bit hilarious that they announce the launch of a site for searching for hotels, but the search functionality isn't implemented yet, very on brand for TAT.

Actually, that is what i expected from TIT. Lets fix whats not broken and say we fix it.

I’d be wary of data security as well if card and other info are needed to be passed on. 

2 hours ago, spoon said:

I think hotel prices in thailand has been very competitive enough without TAT intervention.

That's a good point.   Go to Myanmar, Laos or Cambodia and the hotel quality for a given price is usually worse than Thailand.   

The first room they advertise is the Horizon Room at the Banyan Tree Hotel in Bangkok, at 4500 Bt.

So I went direct to the Banyan website and there it is at 2500 Bt.

Site goes straight to the Recycle Bin

I always book directly with the hotel and get better rates than any of these dodgy sites. 

More ridiculous comparisons (first price is Agoda - and so 17% for tax and service has to be added, but we do not know yet if these have to be added to the TAT prices - second price TAT site)

The Landmark Bangkok: Baht 2,147 / 3,531

The Okura Presitge Bangkok: Baht 3,494 / 7,062

The Aiyapura, Koh Chang: Baht 1,347 / 2,000

Oakwood Hotel & Residence: Baht 784 / 1,199

With a 5-star hotel being almost 100% more expensive on the TAT site, that's another site for the trash bin.

I will pass ... With all these restrictions and bureaucracy Thailand is not really ready to welcome tourism .