Phuket operators seek more help for unlicensed hotels

Phuket tourism operators have urged the Interior Ministry to extend a consultation programme for unregistered accommodation businesses and revive an expired regulation that allowed some non-hotel buildings to seek hotel licences.

The call followed a visit to Phuket last week by Deputy Interior Minister Worasit Liangprasit, who met operators and pledged to regulate the hotel sector and crack down on businesses using nominees.

The ministry’s consultation and problem-solving clinic for hotel and entertainment venues was created to give unregistered businesses guidance on complying with the law. Its registration period ended on July 10.

Sarayuth Mallam, president of the Phuket Tourist Association, said operators should be given assurances that they would not face immediate prosecution. Instead, he said, authorities should provide consultations and a timeframe for businesses to bring their properties into compliance.

However, he said safety standards should not be compromised. Fire extinguishers and fire exits must be sufficient, while modified structures must comply with legal limits and engineering standards. Mr Sarayuth said roughly 70% of hotels in Phuket remained illegal and warned that fires caused by inadequate safety facilities had damaged the province’s tourism image in previous cases.

Some operators have already upgraded their properties but still face difficulties obtaining building certification under the Building Control Act, which is required to secure a hotel licence, he said. Small and medium-sized operators had also reported being asked for bribes to obtain certification, and the government should address such corruption, he added.

Mr Sarayuth called for strict prosecution of operators who deliberately refuse to register, particularly businesses run through nominees or properties offering daily rentals in condominiums or housing projects. He alleged that some foreigners had bought multiple units or houses in the same project and converted them into daily accommodation, competing with licensed hotels.

Chinnawat Udomniyom, president of the Phuket Boutique Accommodation Consortium, said the government should also extend an Interior Ministry regulation that expired in August. The measure temporarily allowed buildings that did not meet the Hotel Act’s definition of a hotel, but had opened before Aug 19, 2016, to register for hotel licences.

Mr Chinnawat said extending the regulation could address short-term obstacles while operators wait for a new law governing Thailand’s hotel businesses, which is under parliamentary consideration.