Rip Off Hua Hin

[Dannie Boy]

Just one comment

[Big Boy]

Mrs BB came up with a rather quirky theory today. She reckons a lot of places in Market Village are putting their prices up to come in to line with Bluport. TIT - you know it makes sense

[oakdale160]

but youcant blame hua hin for your lost income

[HHTel]

but youcant blame hua hin for your lost income

I don't see anyone blaming HH for loss of income. That would be beyond stupid!!

[handdrummer]

Mrs BB came up with a rather quirky theory today. She reckons a lot of places in Market Village are putting their prices up to come in to line with Bluport. TIT - you know it makes sense

that's right inline with the new charges for parking and higher visa charges for tourists. impeccable logic.

[Khundon1975]

handdrummer Think yourself lucky you are in Hua Hin and paying cheap prices.
What does a year visa based on retirement cost? around Baht 1,900. Cheap at half the price. Food, well you can eat native for a couple of quid. House costs, a quarter of the UK, fuel costs, dirt cheap compared to the UK.

I have just bought for the Thai family, 4 visas to the UK, 2 x 10 year visas @ £1,926 and 2 x 2 year @ £1,536 and don't even get me started on the cost of parking in the UK. A pack of fags £11, beer, £3.50, fuel over £1 10p a Litre. I can go on and on, but I won't.

The point is, you are in Thailand because you chose to be and unless you have been hiding in a cave for the last 20 years with no internet, then you must have known what Asian countries are like when it comes to pricing. Less trade= higher prices. More trade= higher prices. Can you see a trend forming here?

As for prices going up in these new malls, well someone has to pay for the rent and that someone, is anyone who walks through the doors and spends money.

I mentioned on the Blueport thread, that someone had got their footfall projection figures wrong and no doubt prices will rocket there as well.

BB has already said that MV prices are going up to match those in BPM. Wanna bet that BPM prices don't go up soon. It is a vicious circle, but eventually the bubble bursts and you will start to see tumble-weed in the malls and not customers.

Prices for everything wherever you are, only ever go up and that happens in all countries, only a fool would believe otherwise.
As for the £ to Baht exchange rate being low, well, 15 years ago it was around double what it is now, but any sensible person thinking about retirement in Thailand would have factored that in. Wouldn't they?

Personally, I don't give a damn, if I want something, I buy it, if I think it is over priced, I walk away.
It's that simple, try it sometime.

[Big Boy]

BB has already said that MV prices are going up to match those in BPM. Wanna bet that BPM prices don't go up soon. It is a vicious circle, but eventually the bubble bursts and you will start to see tumble-weed in the malls and not customers.

Prices for everything wherever you are, only ever go up and that happens in all countries, only a fool would believe otherwise.
As for the £ to Baht exchange rate being low, well, 15 years ago it was around double what it is now, but any sensible person thinking about retirement in Thailand would have factored that in. Wouldn't they?

Personally, I don't give a damn, if I want something, I buy it, if I think it is over priced, I walk away.
It's that simple, try it sometime.

Firstly, I agree - Thailand is still a cheap place to live.

Prices are going up everywhere - no problem with that, but the price hikes are incredible. The item that prompted Mrs BB's comment yesterday was on sale a couple of weeks ago at 499 Baht, which was a fair price IMHO. The same item was on sale yesterday at 1500 Baht.

Now, that is a 200% increase. Of course, we walked away. However, where is the justification for a 200% rise? Wages - it was announced a couple of days ago that minimum wage was increasing by 5 to 10 Baht a day. Fuel prices are increasing at the moment, but they're still 7 Baht/litre less than they were a couple of years ago. I could go on, but I've done that already. The only variable is rents, but have they really gone up that much? Unlikely, so it's blatant profiteering.

The £/Baht situation is not a factor. It's been as low as 41 Baht while I've lived here. I've seen the £ drop to 31 Baht. This is what I factored my retirement on. The £ needs to drop to 22 Baht before I have to start worrying.

[malcolminthemiddle]

handdrummer Think yourself lucky you are in Hua Hin and paying cheap prices.

Handdrummer does think he is lucky to live in Hua Hin paying cheap prices and says so in his post.

to compare prices in hua hin with the u.s. I have to say that I can live here for 1/2 of what It cost me to live in Pensacola, fl.

[StevePIraq]

I really do not believe MV prices will match Blueport, both developments are aimed at different people. Plus only a few shops are in both developments.

[aragon]

A pack of fags £11, beer, £3.50, fuel over £1 10p a Litre. I can go on and on, but I won't.

Not in London it isn't, when I was back earlier this month I was paying anywhere from £4.25 to £5.50

[buksida]

So what its 4 quid a pint in Arseland, in a Hua Hin bar its 80/90 baht a small bottle - two of those is a pint, guess what, its the same price. Comparing anywhere in Asia to the west for prices is just futile and a complete waste of time, as is comparing currency fluctuations and fx rates - it is irrelevant.

Hua Hin is expensive in comparison with the rest of Thailand and its neighboring countries, it is a hi-so Thai beach resort and the hi-sos like to been seen to be spending, hence the price hikes. Most Thais in Hua Hin have money anyway and are just looking for a parking spot for their SUV so they dont care whether you buy their products or not - however you all choose to live there when there are so many good alternatives - so suck it up!

[StevePIraq]

here here well so old man, if someone doesn't like it then go and live in Isaan, but then again it's always good to gripe

[HHTel]

Agree with everything you say except:

as is comparing currency fluctuations and fx rates - it is irrelevant.

Very relevant if you income is in pounds sterling!

[StevePIraq]

I ag

Is that a Thai saying?

[buksida]

Agree with everything you say except:

as is comparing currency fluctuations and fx rates - it is irrelevant.

Very relevant if you income is in pounds sterling!

It is still irrelevant as it has no bearing whatsoever on the prices in Hua Hin, Thais are making up their own prices as the OP observed, they dont give a hoot what currency foreigners get their income from.