Fraud Alert: Fake Message Regarding Hotel Booking

[mauRICE]

14 hours ago, daydreamer said:

I agree that it's best to book directly with the hotel, but in Thailand, often it is not possible.  

I usually stay at Thai owned hotels, or smaller foreign owned hotels, such as East Suites or Copa Hotel in Pattaya.  For the small western owned hotels in Thailand, I book directly.  

I recently stayed in Thai hotels in Chiang Rai, Phrae, and in Chiang Mai two times.  In each of those hotels, booking directly was not an option.

Why couldn't you book directly with the smaller, Thai-owned hotels @daydreamer?

[mauRICE]

On 2/21/2026 at 11:35 AM, floridarob said:

This Gemini AI explanation is better than listening to me:

Not true. This is a topic you're clearly well-versed in and I've enjoyed reading your thoughtful explanations the few times you've bothered to make them. 😊

[ichigo]

I try to book direct when I can, even if slightly more expensive, but when there is this much of a price difference, it's really a no-brainer.

[Keithambrose]

9 hours ago, daydreamer said:

So you do check to see whether it is cheaper booking through an agency, or booking directly with the hotel. 

I suspect most people do the same, even though booking directly sometimes offers perks.

Yes, I usually check. I'm trying to build up points with Marriott and Accor! Also, I sometimes find a wider selection of rooms, if looking at hotel website.

[Keithambrose]

4 hours ago, mauRICE said:

Not true. This is a topic you're clearly well-versed in and I've enjoyed reading your thoughtful explanations the few times you've bothered to make them. 😊

Well, he is an insider!

[Keithambrose]

2 hours ago, ichigo said:

I try to book direct when I can, even if slightly more expensive, but when there is this much of a price difference, it's really a no-brainer.

Perhaps unusual?

[mauRICE]

1 hour ago, Keithambrose said:

Well, he is an insider!

His last name isn't Hilton, is it? ☺️

[daydreamer]

5 hours ago, mauRICE said:

Why couldn't you book directly with the smaller, Thai-owned hotels @daydreamer?

Either I couldn't find any direct website, or those hotels were not able to accept US credit card payments online. 

Some of the smaller hotels are not prepared to deal with accepting online payments from foreign customers.  I have found a number of times that many Thai travel related businesses are not able to accept credit card payments, for US credit cards (online).  Not only for hotels, but on my most recent trip, for a rental car booking, Bangkok dinner cruise tickets, and Nok Air tickets.

For the rental car from Drive Rental Car, a Thai company, I was able to book through Trip.com, a Chinese company.  For the Nok Air tickets, I booked through Traveloka, a Singapore based company. 

The week before I arrived in Thailand, I tried to book the boat tickets.  I gave up trying to book the boat trip from outside Thailand.  After explaining the payment issue, one Thai agency did offer to allow me to make payment at a Thai 7-Eleven, but that option was only available for 24 hours, before my arrival in Bangkok.

The problem is the Thai payment processor that the majority of Thai travel companies use does not take US cards for internet bookings.  I have run into this issue for years.  Not only me, but there are oodles of similar complaints on the web.  BTW, this affects not only Nok Air, but Thai Airways also, for internal flights, when attempting to book online from outside Thailand.

I have credit cards with three different banks, and I have contacted them all to ask if my cards were blocked for Thai transactions.  They always say no, it is on the Thai end - it is the payment processing company inside Thailand that is blocking the payments. 

The majority of Thai travel related companies use 2C2P, a Thai payment platform company for international credit card transactions.  It does not work for US credit cards (when outside Thailand), and has been that way for years.  Unfortunately, the Thai businesses either don't know or don't care to fix the issue, or switch to a different payment processing platform.  So I frequently use booking agencies outside of Thailand to make bookings.  I am speaking of credit cards, not debit cards. 

My credit cards work fine inside Thailand, the issue is internet payments from outside the country.  Inside Thailand, credit card receipts show a Thai bank, usually Bangkok Bank or Kasikorn Bank is the payment processor, not a third party platform such as 2C2P.  So in many cases for me, the only option is non-Thai booking agencies for making travel bookings of any kind, when outside Thailand.

A few years ago, I booked a hotel in Khao Lak, and they could only accept an international bank transfer, not the simplest or cheapest way to send money.  

Interestingly, I was recently checking hotels on Koh Samet.  I found a direct hotel website on Google, but when clicking the booking button, it opened up a Booking.com page to make the reservation. 

I don't know if this affects people in other countries, this issue is for US cards, when used outside of Thailand.

So until many Thai hotels, airlines, car rental companies, etc decide to accept online US card payments, they will have to pay a commission on each sale to foreign travel agencies that are clever enough to accept US credit card payments. 

[daydreamer]

7 hours ago, mauRICE said:

Not true. This is a topic you're clearly well-versed in and I've enjoyed reading your thoughtful explanations the few times you've bothered to make them. 😊

I agree.  I'd rather read your thoughts, @floridarob, than reading the output from an AI machine.

[mauRICE]

1 hour ago, daydreamer said:

Either I couldn't find any direct website, or those hotels were not able to accept US credit card payments online...

Thank you for your very clear and thorough explanation, @daydreamer. I wasn't aware of the difficulties US credit card holders faced when making bookings from outside Thailand. I can't use my home cards while shopping on some Thai online platforms for èg, Shopee Thailand. No problems with the big stores such as Central - my favourite. Thankfully I have a Thai bank account which I opened twenty years ago! Or I just get a Thai friend to shop on my behalf and reimburse them accordingly. I understand it is much harder - but not impossible - for foreigners to open a bank account in Thailand now. I imagine it would require some kind of long-term residency status.

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, mauRICE said:

His last name isn't Hilton, is it? ☺️

no ,it's  Holiday Inn