The Thai Hotels Association is urging owners of about 1,000 small hotels, guest-houses and serviced apartments across the Kingdom to register their businesses as hotels by year-end to comply with the new Hotel Act.

Business operators who fail to comply with the new Hotel Act will face difficulties once it starts being enforced, the association warns. The Cabinet approved the law last year to replace a 71-year-old legislation and the Ministry of Interior is due to start enforcing it next year.

Under the new act different forms of accommodation are standardised to make them easier to control.

Hotel association vice president Prakit Shinmourphong said numerous guest-houses, small hotels and serviced apartments should be registered as hotels but had failed to do so in an attempt to avoid hotel taxes.

Some of these businesses did not offer a reliable level of service, he said.

"As a result, we have found many problems we deal with come from these operators and the association and the ministry are working to ease these difficulties," Prakit said.

He said all guest-houses and serviced apartments must register as hotels, not simply to follow the law but also to improve their services.

They will be required to display bilingual signs, a hotel licence, a refund sign and guest registration cards. They will also be required to keep guest records.

Two years ago the association launched a programme aimed at improving services nationwide.

Samphan Panphat, a legal adviser to the association, said upmarket hotels were already standardised.

Samphan urged other hotels to join the programme to improve their services.

The association held a seminar in Phuket recently to promote awareness of the new Act.

Vorapot Rathasima, Phuket caretaker deputy governor, said 372 of the 564 hotels and resorts operating in the province were operating legally.

He said tourism officials would only list legally operating hotels in their overseas promotions.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation