Eastiny Hotel Deposit?

[abcb 0]

I received an email from the Eastiny Place group requesting that I depost 5,000 baht to guarantee the hotel room. Has anyone received a similar email? Also, is there a cheap way to wire the money? My bank charges $50 for a foreign outgoing wire transfer

 

The text of the email I received from them is below. Thanks!

 

...During high season period, the hotel will require deposit amount of

BAHT

5000.-please transfer to our account as follows :- Eastiny Inn Co,Ltd.

Bangkok Bank, Pattaya Branch,account no.

484-0-719852 and pleased sent a pay in slip to fax no.66-38-361101 for

our

reference within 15 December,2004

 

Looking forward to hear for your confirmation as soon as possible

 

Yours sincerely,

Mark Nookham

[soi6 0]

Hmmmm... Never had this happen. I've had to email a credit card # to a

hotel before, but never at Eastinny... When last I stayed at Eastinny (2 yrs ago) this was not the practice.

[Wardog 0]

A wire transfer sounds very odd. A CC# maybe and even then i wouldnt do it.

Hi season or not. Id just drop in and you will probalby get a better rate on a drop in.

 

Never heard of any hotel wanting a money transfer.

 

 

Dog out.

[ting_tong 63]

Hey Wardog,

if I remember correctly, its eastiny and flipper group that have the credit card cloning/scams?

 

kinda pricey if they want a wire transfer?

 

Maybe other members can verify this?

 

your pal ting_tong

[laffnliv 78]

I would NOT make an up-front payment. If you get there and are unhappy they will not refund to you. Yes, many of the better known hotels in the more convenient locations are pretty much booked, but get your self to Pattaya and just walk in one of these places and I bet you can get a room. If you have to spend a night or two in a comparatively inconvenient location...so what. It's far bette than taking a chance with your credit card or cash-up-front.

Roy

[Hub 203]

abcb:

 

I would wary as well, but in dealing with EP over 3-4 years have not run into a problem including using my cc.

 

Requiring a deposit during high season is not unusual. Last month while staying at EP Nov 8-16 they did not ask for one, but when I booked another 5 days for Nov 21-26 (probably into high season then), they asked for a 3K deposit, which I paid and had no problems and they even reserved the exact room I wanted, which is my favorite in the hotel.

 

One other thing on EP, I had reserved suite 508 at the Bella Vista for 1400 baht during my November stay, which they inadvertantly had filled the day of my arrival. I had reception call Mark at home and presented them with my confirmation email. They offered me several options, which I finally decided to take suite b705 at Eastinny for 1400/night and which usually sell for much higher (I and a friend paid 1750/night for same room during april/may 2003) which I thought was a very fair gesture. They also bent over backwards carrying my bags and later checking if I was satisfie.

 

I can understand you being leery on wiring o using a cc, though. Do you have a friend in town that could make the deposit in person? I woud be willing to bet there will be no rooms available, as I had a friend come in Nov 23-28 and could only get him the first few nights as they had nothing open. Whatever you do, keep the documentation and have ready at check in, as TIT after all.

 

Hub

[abcb 0]

Thanks everyone for the quick response. I emailed them back and asked them if there was another way to make the deposit. I'd be much more willing to make a deposit using a credit card versus wiring the payment, something that I wouldn't do.

 

I stayed at Eastiny Place last time I was in Pattaya and enjoyed my stay. Hopefully they'll email me back soon. It took them over a week to respond to my initial email asking for a room. Since it is the high season, I wouldn't mind making a deposit to stay there.

 

If anyone knows Mark's email address, please PM me with it. Hopefully if I email him directly I'll get a quicker response. Thanks!

[OnMyWay 0]

Sounds VERY strange & if it were me, i wouldn't go for it.

 

Consider yourself lucky though that you even got a response from Eastiny and Mark Nookham. My last two emails for reservations at his hotel were never even responded to.

 

Cheers,

Mark