Pattaya City temporarily suspends use of fire-hit hotel building

Following a severe fire on the rooftop, the seventh floor, of JA Plus Hotel on North Pattaya Road 3, Moo 6, Na Kluea subdistrict, Bang Lamung district, Chon Buri province, more than 200 people were staying at the hotel, occupying 120 of its 173 rooms.

The incident caused a chaotic evacuation.

Three people suffered smoke inhalation, two Thai women and one Indonesian boy.

Another injured person, a Thai man, suffered burns to more than 20% of his body and smoke inhalation after running through the fire.

He was seriously injured.

All were taken to nearby hospitals.

Marut Uthaiwattananon, acting head of Pattaya City’s building control section, and officers from the city engineering division inspected the fire scene on the seventh-floor rooftop on Friday (May 22, 2026) at 10am.

They found that the rooftop area had been completely damaged by fire.

The suspected cause was an electrical short circuit.

Regarding the fire as seen in news reports, officials found that the rooftop had been decorated with materials that could catch fire easily, including fabric drapes used to decorate the ceiling, decorative items and solar panels.

Marut said that after officials were notified of the incident last night, staff were sent to observe the situation initially.

Today, they inspected the site to assess the extent of damage to beams and structures and whether the area should be placed under fire-control restrictions.

The inspection found that the hotel had valid permits.

Based on the initial survey, Pattaya City will suspend use of the building until the hotel owner brings in engineers to check whether the fire affected the hotel’s structure.

The fire was found to have broken out on the rooftop, which housed the swimming pool zone and customer service area, including a rooftop bar.

It was considered unlikely to have affected the building structure.

However, use of the building must be suspended temporarily, and outsiders will be barred from the area for safety.

Athinut Wattanaprom, a hotel executive, told the news team that initial inquiries with staff suggested the fire was likely caused by an electrical short circuit at an unspecified point.

He confirmed that four people were injured.

One of them was an employee who tried to extinguish the fire, but the blaze spread intensely, forcing him to flee, and he suffered burn injuries.

The other three were customers who initially suffered injuries from falling while running out of the building, as well as smoke inhalation.

The hotel is closely monitoring their condition.

After the incident, the hotel tried to evacuate all customers from the building.

Initially, 120 rooms were occupied, with about 240 guests in total.

After the fire, customers were asked to rest at nearby hotels first. Officials will then inspect the building in line with legal procedures before coordinating with customers to return and check their belongings.

The hotel will fully facilitate the process.

The hotel sincerely apologised to customers for the unexpected incident.

After the fire, it said customer safety was its top priority and confirmed that it would provide full remedies to all customers.

The estimated damage was about THB25 million.

Supamas Isarabhakdi, Minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office, in her capacity as supervisor of the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB), ordered the OCPB to urgently open a special complaint centre in Pattaya to protect consumer rights following the fire at the Sunday JA Plus Hotel.

The special complaint centre in the area will receive complaints from all guests, establish the facts, gather details of damage to life, body and property, and coordinate with the operator to enter negotiations and mediation for remedies.

It will also assign officers to advise foreign tourists on consumer rights.

If negotiations fail and consumers do not receive appropriate remedies, the OCPB is ready to exercise its powers under Section 39 of the Consumer Protection Act 1979 to take legal action on behalf of consumers, at no cost to them.

Meanwhile, Ronnarong Phoolpipat, Secretary-General of the Consumer Protection Board, assigned the Division of Provincial and Local Consumer Protection, together with Consumer Protection Office Region 2, the Office of the Chon Buri Provincial Consumer Protection Subcommittee and the Chon Buri Damrongtham Centre, to inspect the facts on site and urgently seek consumer remedy measures.

Care will be divided into two groups:

• Injured people receiving treatment in a hospital, for whom the hotel is willing to take responsibility for medical expenses and provide compensation and remedies.
• People who booked rooms after the incident. If they are not confident about the building’s safety, the hotel is willing to provide a full refund.

Consumers affected by the incident can file a complaint at the special complaint centre in Pattaya or lodge a complaint through the OCPB hotline 1166, the OCPB Connect application, the website ocpb.go.th and Damrongtham centres nationwide.