No assurance and no insurance

The piling begins for another luxury hotel. People feel secure because an international brand name is on the hoardings. However, the EIA process is corrupted from the start. The local community is treated like dirt. The adjoining building and a soi are illicitly used in the FAR calculations. The new structure is too high and might not be earthquake-proof. 

The law is broken throughout the construction period, not least because of the lack of a building permit. (On paper the hotel is constructed and opened in less than a year!) 

Illegal and dangerous alterations to the original design are to emerge later. The hotel opens incomplete and without appropriate fire certification. Guests and local residents are endangered on a daily basis resulting from design and operational violations. Accidents or near accidents increase in regularity, as do attempts to cover them up. Rights transgressions are rife.

Insurance cover during the building process is fraudulent because of the lack of a permit. Insurance cover after the opening of the hotel is fraudulent because the building has been rendered uninsurable.

The international hotel chain has totally failed in its duty to follow due process and to uphold other SEC regulations. They know this, and, barring the company rhetoric, keep mum for a period of six years. Get the general picture?

There is a virus circulating in certain segments of the hospitality industry that is very much at the expense of customer care and safety. This is partly due to increased corporate demand for rapid growth and quarterly profits, causing some corporations to lose control of their brand and ethical codes.

The Tourism Ministry should consider an investigation into Thailand’s entire hotel industry. It might begin by examining how some international corporations, in league with unscrupulous local hotel owners, are cunningly and surreptitiously taking advantage of administrative indolence and corrupt practice.

John Shepherd

Bangkok