Thailand hotels deceive travellers with incomplete Thailand Pass packages

Tourists are being caught out by hotel packages that miss key components for entry into Thailand. Photo / 123rf

Thailand hotels are capitalising on tourist confusion by offering travellers room packages that don't include government-regulated components such as airport transport and RT-PCR Covid-19 tests.

An official investigation found that hotels were "intentionally" deceiving visitors in order to re-sell them packages, or face being deported.

Currently, Thailand welcomes air travellers under three schemes; Test and Go, which does not require quarantine; Blue Zones, which are part of sandbox programmes; and 'Happy Quarantine', which is an alternative quarantine for unvaccinated travellers.

In order to enter within the Test and Go scheme, visitors must have a direct shuttle service from the airport to their hotel, where they must be immediately tested for Covid-19 by staff from specified hospitals.

Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration spokesperson Apisamai Srirangson said hotels had been misleading visitors; taking room reservations without offering transport or testing.

"Some hotels had the packages that included limousine and Covid-19 testing but also allowed visitors to reserve only rooms and seek RT-PCR testing themselves. This shows that such hotels intentionally deceived visitors," Sirirangson said.

Hotels then provided misleading details that allowed applicants to get QR approval for a Thailand Pass through the foreign ministry web portal.

Thailand Pass requirements include a full vaccination status, US$50,000 health insurance and a negative RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours of boarding the flight.

However, once visitors arrived, they were forced to purchase a new package that included airport transport and testing or be turned away.

Following the tourism restart in March, airport authorities blocked 73 travellers from entering the country. These travellers were deported for not complying with Thai covid-19 immigration measures, reported the Bangkok Post.

Srirangson said some hotels had refused to provide refunds to customers who had to cancel their reservations and buy a package somewhere else.

Hotels had been warned in advance that passengers flying into Thailand would need to purchase a limousine service and Covid-19 test or be rejected at the border.

One possible explanation for the deceit is desperation.

Like most countries, Thailand's travel and tourism industry was devastated by the sudden halt in tourists. A recent survey from the Bank of Thailand and the Thai Hotels Association (THA) found 9 per cent of hotel operators wanted to permanently close while 52 per cent were considering a temporary shutdown.

On 1 November Thailand reopened to fully vaccinated tourists arriving by air from 63 different countries, making it one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to welcome tourists without quarantine.