Ever wonder how the travel industry decides how to best take your money? To those of us here at WoWasis, it’s a fascinating topic. It’s not just about how that industry markets to us, either. It’s making sure that we like our vacation experiences enough that we’ll do it again and tell all our friends […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Hotels & Lodging' Category
Building scam in Bangkok: court orders 25 story hotel to be demolished
Our favorite building scam story in Bangkok has taken a new twist, as the Supreme Administrative Court has ordered that the 25-story Aetas Hotel on Soi Ruamrudee be either completely demolished or brought down to a legal height of 7 or 8 stories. And it’s all supposed to happen within 60 days. As first reported […]
Read the rest of this entry »Thai evening working ladies incensed about Bangkok hotels stealing their money
The scam involving Bangkok hotels and how they steal money from working girls has been going on for years. Here at WoWasis, to our knowledge, it’s a topic that’s never been reported. Like all scams, though, it should be reported as the first step in correcting it. But unlike most scams that affect other people, […]
Read the rest of this entry »Pa Farang on hotel scams overseas
The Good Manner: Advice on Thailand from WoWasis’ Pa Farang This week’s scam unveiled: Why am I paying unadvertised hotel “fees”? Dear Pa Farang, Recently, I stayed at one of Bangkok’s better hotels. I headed out to dinner and a night on the town, came back around 1 pm with an acquaintance, and we were […]
Read the rest of this entry »Why is my expensive Thai hotel is ripping me off with a 10% dining-in service charge?
The Good Manner: Advice on Thailand from WoWasis’ Pa Farang This week’s scam unveiled: My expensive Thai hotel is ripping me off with a 10% dining-in service charge Dear Pa Farang, I routinely stay at one of the top Western hotels in Thailand, and eat frequently at its top restaurant. Each time, a 10% “service […]
Read the rest of this entry »Why we just LOVE the Spa-Hotel Alpina in Takayama, Japan
We don’t write about hotels very often. We here at WoWasis don’t get complimentary rooms, we pay for our own. So when we take the time to write about a hotel, it’s gotta be good. If you’re ever in the beautiful historical city of Takayama, Japan, a bit northeast of Kyoto, then you’ve got to […]
Read the rest of this entry »Thai crime scams: international crooks find a home in Thailand, authorities classify them by ethnicity and crime type
Thailand’s easy atmosphere has made it a home base for millions of tourists, but, according to Thai police, it’s also a haven for groups of international criminals. Amazingly, the police have mapped various ethnicities to certain types of crimes, according to an article appearing in the January 14, 2013 issue of the Bangkok Post. Here […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘The Strange Disappearance of Jim Thompson’ by Harold Stephens
Don’t let the title of the book fool you. There’s more here than just a story of the demise of the legendary silk king. Harold Stephens’ The Strange Disappearance of Jim Thompson and Stories of Other Expats in Southeast Asia (2003, ISBN 0-9642521-7-1), which originally was published in 1978 under the title Asian Portraits, is […]
Read the rest of this entry »The ‘Italy Towel’ is that funny piece of cloth handing from your Korean hotel’s towel rack
It’s funny how sometimes the most common items are never discussed in travel guides. The Korean “Italy towel” is one of them. Every hotel in Korea, it seems, has one of these rough-toothed cloths handing from the towel rack or sitting rolled up in a basket. What’s it for? It’s there to help defoliate dead […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis hotel review: why we’re raving about the Icarus Motel in Gyeongju, Korea
To put it frankly, we here at WoWasis, make our money on people who book tours and hotels on our site (please continue to do it, as we’re always really objective about what we discuss and review, and the revenue keeps us traveling and posting). And that’s why today’s post is so wild: we’re raving […]
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