"Booking from February 1st 2016 - May 31st 2016 is now available via the New Booking Channel. (Announced on Jan 15, 2016)"
Ha, HA. TIT... I saw that text a few days ago but missed the word "new" and tried to book on the old site with no success. I wounder why they still have the old (useless?) booking system available. The new system is by the way extremely slow and "complicated"...
Anyway, big thanks! I have now at least booked the trip to HH. Need a coffee break before trying the return trip...
pitsch wrote:I just booked for March. The price has risen to 324 Baht and you cannot select a seat. I liked to know where I will be seated. Why they do this?
I think its because theyare tired to to ask all the single people who book a seat in the 2 seats row in advance, believe they can sit alone with 2 seat, and then start jabbing when they are ask to move when a couple wants to sit together.
Yeah, it looks like they added a B50 booking fee. Wonder if you pay that if you book in person at the window at the bus station. Also, I was checking dates, and didn't find any availability after 19-April, even though the notice said booking was available through 31-May.
I sent an e-mail to Bell Travel about (a) the addition of the B50 booking charge and (2) the removal of the seat reservation and got a reasoned explanation about both.
The current booking system was crashing and causing duplicate bookings, oversold buses and more, so they had to turn to a new system. The new system is a work in progress and the ability to choose a seat selection while booking online is to be added later. I guess it was urgent to get a working system in place, even before all the add-ons were in place.
The booking fee is a bit confusing. It apparently relates to the joint operation of the Hua Hin buses by Roong Reung Coach and Bell Travel Service. The buses are operated by Roong Rueng but the online booking service was an option offered by Bell Travel. Bell Travel is subject to 7% VAT whereas Roong Rueng is not, so in the past Bell Travel absorbed the 7% VAT, but have now decided to not absorb it. The math is sketchy, but apparently it works for Bell Travel.
You can avoid the B50 fee by booking in person in a bus station office. You can also currently make a seat assignment at time of payment in person at the office. While waiting for the Hua Hin to Pattaya bus yesterday in the bus terminal I observed a few people buying their tickets and getting seat assignments for February, so it is, in fact, working that way already.
If you book online and want a seat assignment, you can e-mail Bell Travel with the booking confirmation number and seat request and they will reply with a confirmation of the seat assignment.
So, that's the background. I was impressed with the tone and content of the reply I received from Bell Travel.
It still amazes me how well-run this outfit is..I believe they DO try to make their system run as smooth & efficient as possible, despite all the setbacks the road to/from the airport can throw at them without any warning.
Full marks to to all involved within this company..
Well.... yes. But they really need to put more busses on! Several times I've happened to need to get back from the airport at short notice and the wait for the next available bus has been 3, 4 and 6 hours. Obviously with the 6 hour wait I ended up going into town and chancing the minivan. The three and four hour waits I endured, but I suspect many others wouldn't.
I've also needed to book buses from HH to BKK, gone to the station the day before to be told that they're all fully booked or they only have one in the evening. I've even been there and they've been booked up for 2 or 3 days.
It's getting to the point that I probably won't consider using them for last minute bookings and just head straight for a minivan or train.
After being completely offline for a week or so, the Bell Travel site (with buses from Hua Hin to Suvarnabhumi and back) is now online again. But with a decided downgrade: it now costs 50 baht to book online (it was free before, you just paid the price of the ticket) and you can no longer select your seat.
Another reader posted the company's explanation that there had been computerized overbooking and other such problems, but I've been riding the bus for two years and never saw any evidence of this, either from or to Hua Hin. I suspect that's just a cover story to justify raising prices.
While the site was offline--I called when I was in Bangkok and was told I would have to go to the airport ticket counter to book a ticket for the following day! which was definitely not an option--I looked into train travel, and found that for those of us who used to use the airport bus to get from Bangkok to Hua Hin and vice versa (not actually flying into or out from the airport), the train, although slow, is a pleasant, cheap, and enjoyable alternative.
Sorry, Bell Travel, I was long a fan of yours--in fact, I posted an announcement of how great you were on the Thai Visa site a couple of years ago, and right after that the buses went from nearly empty to almost always full! don't know if there's a connection--but the fee for online booking is not rider-friendly. Please consider getting rid of this!
As to the trains, prices range from 152 baht (non-aircon but quite comfortable 2nd class seats) to over 600 baht for fancy air conditioned sleepers. There is also a super-bargain train (free to Thai citizens, about 44 baht for foreigners I think) that runs once a day between HH <—> BKK. Ask at the train station for details, as this one doesn't show up on the SRT web site (you can't book it until an hour ahead of time, which means there are always seats available--but it's a very slow train with hard 3rd-class benches, so bring a cushion and something to read)!
I've just taken it a long way through the booking process, and saw nothing to make me think it wouldn't work. I guess it must fail in the latter stages of the booking process.