Originally Posted by
Kacee
Yes, I'm not sure what the comparison point is, but Bangkok hotels are typically about a third the price of "comparable" properties in major North American or European cities (or Asian cities such as Hong Kong or Tokyo).
Cannot say anything about US/Europe, but as for Asia, this may not be actually correct. Of course, prices in HK or Tokyo are somewhat higher generally, but x3 difference is questionable.
I will take IC brand as example since I have monitored their prices for quite a while and they are similarly priced in points.
I have just now checked a random date for IC in Bangkok vs ICs in Tokyo and got comparable rates. I'd say that aside from sakura season Tokyo ICs are more or less comparably priced to IC Bangkok and at times could be cheaper. Same is true for at least one IC in Hong Kong (Grand Stanford). The insane pricing of the main IC Hong Kong is more due to its location.
You could say that IC Bangkok is a better IC and I would personally agree here, but still, I frequently see it being sold for 6000-7000 THB/night for non-Club room, and IMO that’s an extremely poor value.
Then, when in Tokyo Ibis, as an example of absolutely basic accommodation, costs 100 USD/night, having IC for 250-300 USD/night makes sense. But in Bangkok Ibis costs 30-40 USD/night, and IC is 200-250 USD/night.
P. S. Making unadjusted comparisons to US in itself is a strange approach. Thailand has lower average income and lower prices, of course hotels are supposed to be cheaper than in US. I am lazy to dig the data, but if we calculate hotel nightly price as a percentage of median salary, I am pretty sure Thailand will turn out to be more expensive than US.