Tarntawan Closing?

[readerc54]

Saddened to hear this. The TP website continues to show "under construction" notice. When checking Agoda, rear facing rooms available in mid October but when I checked mid November and December, no rooms shown as available.

I'll most miss the doormen and the elevator guard who always had a smile and personal greeting. The front desk staff was great to deal with, also.

I'm grateful to those members in BKK who have passed on current information. Once the management changes officially (which I understand is Oct. 1) I hope that Lucas will find a way to explain what happened. I'm sure a fair number of readers will receive this news with due caution and some will be making back-up arrangements, pending future updates.

[neddy3]

Saddened to hear this.I'll most miss the doormen and the elevator guard who always had a smile and personal greeting. The front desk staff was great to deal with, also.

I am greatly saddened to hear that these staff members are leaving. They have been so helpful and friendly over years.

I expect to stay at the hotel soon, and will be looking at whatever has changed.
Maybe it will be time to consider somewhere else.

[Oliver]

I'm sorry to say that my post referred specifically to the guys of whom Reader 54 mentions.

[TrickyRicky]

I have just returned to my home in Pattaya after three very depressing nights at the Tarntawan Place. When I arrived on Wednesday the doorman met me and immediately told me that the staff had been given only one week's notice that they would be leaving on 30th September. I have been going to this hotel for fifteen years or more, and I truly regret booking those three nights. It was supposed to be a treat to celebrate my birthday which was in September. It was awful to arrive and hear the news from the staff, and see piles of paper and stuff being stacked up and removed. The whole sale and handover was such a bizarre process, shrouded in secrecy, with no real communication with guests like myself who had been regular customers for so many years. Not a good ending. As to what happens next, who knows, and I am not sure that I shall make much of an effort to find out. We shall see if the new owners/management make any effort at all to let us know what is happening.

[Oliver]

. I agree. It's not just the fact that no longer can I expect such a warm welcome when I return after an arduous plane journey but that the manner in with which such people are being dispensed leaves a sour taste in the mouth. I do not believe that the new management will find such cheerful, accommodating staff to replace those they have willingly lost.
I fear that it speaks eloquently of one of the negatives that I've always felt about Thailand- and usually avoided confronting- about the way working people are treated by those with money, power and influence.

[Alex]

I have to agree. To any sane observer, that doesn't make any sense. Even if they want to make changes, it wouldn't have hurt to give these long-term employees a chance to adapt. The bad publicity from firing them right away will probably cost them more than keeping them employed, so even leaving ethics aside, it's probably a bad decision.

[readerc54]

Above comments reflect the value of on-scene reports. From Trongpai's initial alarm a few weeks ago to Oliver's and TrickyRicky's first-hand guest reports, we've learned a lot. I don't think I'm overreacting by saying that this marks a passing of an era. I'm not suggesting that you can't find gay-friendly accommodations in the Silom area; the vast majority are. But TP was unique because it was dedicated to making gays feel especially catered to. As welcoming as other hotels may be, that level of personal service is unduplicated in my experience. It was the place many old hands recommended to first-time visitors as the best place to stay to get their bearings.

What puzzles me most is that Lucas has been quoted as saying that this is a change of management and not ownership. The speed, however, with which all of this has occurred suggests some other issues. It doesn't seem reasonable that hotel owners, who have been using the same management for decades(?), would suddenly decide to make such rapid changes a month before high season.

According to the Bangkok Post and the Nation, the Park Nai Lert hotel will be closing Dec. 31, having been purchased by a hospital to expand services. Once a Hilton and, more recently, a Swiss-branded property, it's been a fixture on Wireless Rd. The Marriott, which now has numerous properties around town after gobbling up Starwood, will be opening a new property on Sukhumvit Soi 22 later this year.

[Gaybutton]

Has it occurred to anyone to simply talk to Lucas and ask him why they're doing this?

[TrickyRicky]

Lucas was there when I arrived, and I saw him sitting in meetings with what I presumed were the new managers, but where before he had always welcomed me, he actively avoided me. The lovely manager of Dick's Cafe in Jomtien, Pattaya was around on my first day too and did greet me, but also avoided any conversation.

Sad, disappointing, I might almost say hurtful (that does sound a little pathetic, sorry).

[Gaybutton]

where before he had always welcomed me, he actively avoided me.

It doesn't seem pathetic to me. Someone who knows you and had always welcomed you now avoids you? Why would he do that? To me that indicates something more is going on besides merely a change in management and replacement of employees with new staff.

Oh well, if anyone comes up with hard information rather than speculation, I'm curious.