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Thai Hospitality: Its Reputation and Culture

The reputation of hospitality in Thailand

When people think about “Thai Hospitality”, they may think: lots of cheap, luxury hotels, and a thriving tourist culture. There is a wide-spread perception that the luxury experience—i.e. good service, fine dining, fine accommodations—can be bought and experienced during a traveler’s stay at an affordable price. This serves as a strong attraction for many middle-class travelers.

Another frequent reputation of the industry is that of the prostitution activity, and its link to hospitality. Because of the high activity of prostitution in Thailand, it is often a topic in hospitality, whether hotels allow for “women of the night” to accompany men back to their rooms. This in turn has some effect on the reputation of the hotel industry in general, as well as each and every hotel with its individual policies. Whether these policies have a positive effect or negative effect on the hotel’s reputation is debatable: for example, many businessmen and travelers may see some hotels as unattractive because of their strict policies against putting up prostitutes; and on the other hand, conservative travelers may be put off by hotels that allow for prostitutes, seeing it as a “dirty” business practice.

 

The service mentality of the people in Thailand

The core of any hospitality industry is the “software”, i.e. the people.  And regardless of the will of the international hotels that come into each country to implement a standard “service level” for their guests, the hotels in each country will often reflect the inherent service mentality of the culture it stands in. It may be difficult for an international hotel to quickly find local resources in China that can operate with acceptable service quality for a standard, three-star hotel. On the other hand, an international hotel would have to be aware that it has to offer a much higher service than its standard hotel elsewhere to operate the same hotel in Japan. This is all due to the inherent differences that make up the service mindset of the local people across different cultures.

For Thailand, the reputation for its service has appeared to be fairly reasonable and positive. Based on the reviews and feedback provided on blogs and travel sites, it appears that the quality of service at the high-end hotels and restaurants is relatively consistent and well-received; however, the quality of service at the mid- to lower end has received mixed reviews. On the other hand, because many things in Thailand are still much more affordably priced than things in other developed countries, this has left tourists/people with much better access to the high-end experiences the hospitality industry has to offer. Hence, it appears that people are able to have much more exposure to good quality service than not when traveling through the urban parts of Thailand.

At an overall level, when people that have traveled to Thailand use words to describe the people they encounter while there, they use words such as “friendly” and “helpful”. So, generally speaking, it seems that we are dealing with a culture that has a foundation for hospitality and service that is capable of meeting the demands of the international travelers. This presents good grounds for continued growth in the hospitality industry both in the present and in the future, as the overall positive reputation of the country is expected to continue to attract the interest of both businesses and travelers alike.

2,362 thoughts on “Thai Hospitality: Its Reputation and Culture”

  1. Very interesting points Maria. I remember from my sales and marketing days that Thailand would be the number one choice for travelers from Hong Kong. The reputation is definitely low rate, beach, and weather. The main driving factor would be affordable luxury, no matter in downtown 5-star hotels or in private villas.

  2. Maria, I agree. This is my second time visiting Thailand, and I think this country has a foundation for hospitality and service. I heard that it is the one of reasons that Okura Hotel group decided to built a new hotel in Thailand. Probably this is also helping Thailand to maintain its reputation well despite the natural disasters.

  3. Although this is my first time in Thailand, my first impression about Thai for the past 18 hours is friendly and helpful as well. I think their natural personality and interesting culture will be an advantage for Thai Hospitality. The travelers will not need to speak the language, but could still sense the pleasant service and kindness.

  4. Maria, your post let me remind one of my friends’ experience. She said that luxurious hotel in Thailand is affordable and people there are more friendly. It seems that Thailand is the country born to be a hospitality industry leader in Asia!

  5. After spending nearly 2 months in Shanghai, China and plus my last 2 experiences on holding conferences in China, I agree with your observation on the under-performed service quality. As Lali said Thailand is “the country of smile”, I think this is part of the Thai people’s nature, helping them to cultivating such a environment for hospitality. However, it is also true that the prostitution industry in Thailand is thriving, and honestly this is not doing good on national reputation. I think Thai government should come up with policies regulating the prostitution industry more effectively, so the image of Thailand won’t be that extreme.

  6. Maria,

    This is very interesting topic to me as well. I have been to many of other cities in Asia, and among them Bangkok brings very unique sense to me. I don’t know much about Thais and their mentality, but I’m sure this is a perfect place for tourism and people are ready to deliver hospitality to tourists.
    Thanks.

  7. Going back to what we learned in OB, Thai culture is very “high context” . Working here has demonstrated the importance of “saving face” in the Thai hospitality industry. Thats why prostitution won’t be stamped out. The front desk agent isn’t going to be announcing to the entire lobby when a dirty old man brings in a lady of the night. The prostitute surcharge is usually discretely tacked onto the guest’s folio and it is understood (in fine print) between both the hotel and the guest (who usually is a repeat guest and has been doing this sort of thing before). Thus even a lady of the night will be welcomed and receive the same quality of service (i.e. when hitting the breakfast buffet the next morning) as other hotel guests as long as she is with her companion. However, being that Thais are very “high context” that means that gossipping also goes on discretely in the back of house.

    Thais are famous for their service because they are very good at putting on their game face. They know that once they cross from BOH to FOH public area, they must be professional and offer the highest service possible. Thais are very patient and seek compromise rather than direct confrontation. Raising one’s voice and causing a scene is a very Western way of voicing dissatisfaction. It causes the establishment to lose face because it draws attention. Therefore a Thai service professional will do everything possible to quickly diffuse and placate the irrate guest. It works to their advantage to resolve the issue quickly and discretely because oftentimes their English language skills aren’t strong enough to win a shouting match with a Farang.

    While you may think that Thais are immune to customer abuse, this is not the case. They just are better at holding their dissatisfaction in and saving face in front of the guest. If you understand Thai (especially Isan dialect) you’ll hear the full rant about a terrible guest once they cross back to the BOH part of the hotel!

  8. Bangkok is really a nice city with all kind of tourist attractions. I have been to Bangkok many times before and I am feeling so happy after reading your post because you have written much informative content about Thai Hospitality in Bangkok. You just remind my memories of trip to Bangkok. Thanks for the post.

  9. I am confident that Bangkok is a tourist city. Because I live in Bangkok today. I have a car rental business and pickup truck of the general. Please visit my website at. https://www.winpickup.com We have a team of specialists across Bangkok and throughout Thailand.

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