Hotels in Chonburi, Phuket unfazed by wage increase
Association says hotels in East and South will not be affected by the 400-baht wage rate because they are already paying staff a lot more
The Thai Hotels Association (THA) said raising the daily minimum wage rate for unskilled workers next year will not affect hotels in Chonburi and Phuket because most already pay more than usual.
The heads of THA’s Eastern and Southern chapters made the comment on Thursday in reference to the new 400 baht daily wage rate for Phuket, Chachoengsao, Chonburi and Rayong provinces as well as for Surat Thani’s Koh Samui district. The new rate will go into effect on January 1.
Morakot Kuldirok, president of the THA Eastern Chapter, reckoned that the new rate may affect hotels below the 4-star level, but not that much.
He explained that 4- and 5-star hotels were already paying more than 400 baht daily to their staff and most were ready to deal with the rising cost due to the increase in daily minimum wage.
Unskilled workers account for about 10-20% of the total workforce in hotels.
“All hotel operators in Chonburi are prepared for the higher cost and they must be able to deal with it,” Morakot said.
He added that the government could help hotel operators deal with rising costs by encouraging agencies to hold more seminars and extending the Easy e-Receipt project to cover hotel spending.
They also advised the government to make the Easy e-Receipt project available all year instead of setting it to expire on February 28.
The Easy e-Receipt project, which runs from January 15 to February 28, will give people a tax rebate on their shopping.
Morakot said if the project is extended to cover hotel spending, then the government should also encourage small hotels to join and issue e-receipts.
Meanwhile, Saksit Suwandisthakul, president of THA Southern Chapter, said hotels in Phuket were already paying more than 400 per day to their staff.
In fact, he said, there is a shortage of staff in Phuket and most hotels, both big and small, were sharing the money collected as service charges with staff.
He said hotels earning less in service charge have to pay higher salaries or they may lose their staff.
