I've heard that term several times. What exactly is a Joiner Fee? and how do I ensure I'm not going to be charged one before I reserve a room?

It is a fee some hotels will charge if you have an additional guest (read girl) staying overnight.

While some hotels don't charge for the first guest (threesomes in tis case come at an additional cost) others don't charge you for any number of guests. What you pay is for the room and not the number of guests...

You could avoid a joiner fee by reserving a room for two (though you may be travelling alone) Again there are some rare pain-in-the-ass hotels that ask you for the name of the second guest...

Better to clarify on their policy before you pay any money to any hotel...

It's a fee that some hotels impose if one or more UNREGISTERD guests stay overnight in your room. Depending on the hotel, the fee can range from several hundred baht to 1,000 bahtor more. While you can enounter joiner-fee scams, a joiner fee isn't always a rip-off. It's a policy decision by the hotel to discourage guests who are likely to bring back P4P providers to their rooms.

To be considered "guest friendly," the hotel must allow your unregistered guests to stay overnight without extra charge. Moreover, you must be able to change guests every night or even several times in the same day. Lists of "guest friendly" hotels are frequently posted on the boards, but many punters misunderstand hotel regulations, local law and joiner's fees.

You do not have an absolute right to bring back an unregistered guest even if you have paid for a double room. Whether an UNREGISTERED guest can stay the night with you is always at the discretion of the hotel, no matter what country you are in. Some of the misunderstanding stems from experience with U.S. motels (motor hotels), where it's standard practice to charge the same price whether one or four guests occupy the room. That practice doesn't usually apply at hotels.

Just avoid those hotels that aren't guest-friendly, but don't worry too much about it. Some guys go to great lengths to try to get the hotel to commit in writing to never charging a joiner fee, but it is a useless exercise. All hotels retain the right to charge a joiner fee, even if they never do so in practice. That's to prevent extreme cases, in which someone - not necessarily a punter - allows five or six people to sleep in a room in which two or three are registered. More guests than allowed in a room is an everyday problem in hotels around the globe and doesn't always relate to P4P.

While joiner fees aren't a regular policy at many hotels, they are sometimes used as a dsiciplinary measure when punters get too carried away, i.e., four or five people are staying in a room for which two are registered, or too much rowdiness late at night. So while a hotel can be guest friendly, it doesn't mean it welcomes wild partying. If you know that you'll be taking several girls back to your room each day as well as drinking heavily, you want to make sure you get a monger-friendly as well well as guest-friendly hotel.

Evil

Bullshit.... it's a pure scam... I stayed in the Sygma resort using some RCI weeks... They tried the scam ... I asked them : Do you want I call the RCI and report your rip off ? The idea of the joiner fee - how funny - evaporated immediately... Instead they saluted me every single night when I took the girls...

You paid for double room, means you have the right to use it as a double room. I suggest, if you have any problems call the agent you bought the accomodation... they will solve your problem very soon or face to return your money...

Nothing I write is bullshit. I think you have had some very painful reminders of that by now. Demanding payment for an UNREGISTERED overnight guest is standard practice in most hotels around the world. Many hotels and guest houses in Pattaya choose to allow because they do more business by being guest friendly.



If both guests are REGISTERED at the hotel. But the hotel can always demand payment for an unregistered guest. Yelling and threatening the front desk personnel may work at a shabby budget hotel with mostly East European guests, but try insisting that you won't pay a joiner fee at a hotel like the Dusit or Royal Cliff and see what happens.

Evil

You ask what is a joiner fee ,then you go on to explain that you want to ensure you won't be charged one!

Robinc,what's happening?

Cheers

Aint hotels private property? They reserve ALL rights to kick anyone out if they please. Law suits and complaints can come later but they can do anything within the law at that particular moment.

I think Gabor is correct. I was in Phuket at the quite expensive (for me) Millennium Hotel. They tried to charge me 1500 baht for my 'guest'.

I argued that I had paid for 2 people in the room. They argued that I have an unregistered guest. I told them I would register her. They agreed that if I registered her it would be ok. So the next night I brought another girl and simply told them the first girl gone, register this one. No further argument and no fee charged. Still a pain though.

The hotel tried to equate 'registering' with 'charging fee'. Two different things.

Most hotels that charge a joiner fee are the high end hotels that try to be family friendly and think themselves a bit above the p4p scene.

When you need or require some handy work to your room, a joiner fee will became applicable

Yes my friend you write many bullshit, sometimes to singing out the money from the newbies pocket.... Tell me please... what if my farang mate visits me ? Of course no nice tries... so we can agree, bullshit... Maybe your american compatriots behave like the sheeps and swallows anything a so called authority tells him, but yeeezzz, we, from the wild east more educated, than yours...

OK... than again... the hotels me and my mates solved the joiner fee issue: Sygma, Pattaya Hill resort, Sheraton, Cliff Royal Wing.... yes... the shabby budget hotels...

You sounds right.... however if you paid and the money and it was received a contract was established contains mandatory acts from both parts... Following your logic, the hotel could collect the money and kicking out the guest, not serve the meals etc. Right, it would be a really economical way, but not works...

Like I said , the law suits and complains can follow but the cops will side the hotel owners and there's nothing you can do. A nite like this would ruin your entire trip so why bother.


Back to the original question - Why not just find a hotel that doesnt charge joiners fee that go thru the whole episode? Plenty of them that only requires ID card to be left with the security. Its a good practise as they'll call you ; before the girls collects her ID card , to leave to check if you're ok.

You have the ability to negotiate Gabor and you certainly are not afraid to do it.

I agree with you joiner fees are nothing but a scam and when less of the desirable family tourists visit Pattaya the scheming hotels will be damn glad to waiver joiner fees for customers that are Prudent Intelligent Savvy Spenders.

I sure that naive LDOPS will continue to fork out cash unnecessarily for joiner fees just like they do when they overpay the girls.

Thanks to all for the feedback. I've taken your advice and already contacted the short list of hotels with whom I'm thinking about reserving a room. Gladly, all the hotels have replied that they do not charge a joiner fee.

Gabor,

Your understanding of hotel contracts is, at best, naive.

There are two things to consider. Firstly, if you make your booking through an agent then your contract is with the agent, not the hotel - the agent then has a contract with the hotel and is limited to the people named on the agent's booking. No different from booking a flight ticket. Try turning up for a flight with someone who is not named on the booking and see how far you get. If you then have contractual issues, they should be directed to the agent, not the hotel. Secondly, if you make a booking direct with the hotel it is limited to the number of registered (named) guests that you agree at the time of booking. Should you then have additional guests in addition to the one registered (assuming you've made a booking for two persons), the hotel is entirely within its rights to charge you for those additional guests. If you wish to change your guest on a daily basis then it is entirely at the discretion of the hotel. The "no-joiner fee" is a bonus for the punter, not a right.



The so-called "scheming hotels" were doing business in Pattaya long before the PISSERS arrived on the scene and they'll no doubt be doing business long after they've gone. As it is, they've not felt the need to be damn glad and waive their charges for the last thirty years so I don't think they'll be doing so any time soon.

As it is, there are plenty of hotels in Pattaya catering specifically for PISSERS in Pattaya so I can't understand why anyone would be worried about what goes on in hotels that they wouldn't stay in anyway. You can be sure that the folk staying in those hotels aren't in the least bit worried what goes on in other hotels.

You are absoulute right.... however as I mentioned, we, the animals from the wild east are more educated... many years before I discovered Thailand I went for a holiday to Egypt / Sharm El Sheik... with a girl I tried to impress... as a miserable hungarian tourist ( travelling with a german tour operator ) of course I got the only one room in the hotel without balcony looking on the laundry... I tried my best with the local employees without any result, they only laughed on me... I called a few mates at home to visit the Budapest office of the german company ... and I called them... I offered them to burn down the office if they don't act... I lost 1 day, but on the second day I received a 2 bedroom apartment with a panoramic sea view and the hotel director brought me some complimentary biscuits... What I said is the same what you say.... deal with the local office you bought your room... If you are lucky - as I was to mention the RCI - you don't have to deal with the local office... but if your claim find deaf ears don't hesitate to contact your local office... ( who brings the business for the hotel )

Thank you, Gabor. I'm glad you see the light.

Evil

Perhaps, but there's only one of us who's having to threaten to burn down a travel agent's office and continually getting pulled up by hotel staff for joiner fees.