Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we're discussing conquering the gangsters through Thai Hotel Licensing. What are we talking about here? Well let's jump in.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Phuket News, that is thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: DOPA (that's DOPA) chief orders Phuket Hotel raids. (That is Department of Provincial Administration by the way.) Quoting further: "A special operation unit from the Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA) raided three unlicensed accommodation businesses in Phuket's tourism hubs of Karon and Rawai and arrested their operators as part of the nationwide crackdown on illegal hotels. According to DOPA, the raids formed part of the nationwide "Conquering the Gangsters" campaign launched under directives from Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and DOPA Director-General Narucha Khosasilvilai (who publicly uses the name Narucha Kosacivilize).  Kosacivilized, okay. Quoting further: "In its report, DOPA confirmed that a special operations team from its central offices was specifically deployed to Phuket for the raids. According to Narucha, the raids came after investigations found several operators allegedly providing accommodation to Thai and foreign tourists through online booking platforms without obtaining hotel licenses or complying with standards required under the Hotel Act 2004. Officials conducted surveillance and gathered evidence before identifying three establishments in Karon and Rawai that were allegedly accepting room reservations and providing hotel-style accommodation service without authorization, Narucha said." Quoting further: "Narucha said the raids formed part of a broader campaign aimed at suppressing corruption, maintaining public order and tackling businesses operating outside the law. He said inspections and enforcement action against illegal hotels would continue nationwide, particularly in major tourism provinces." 

So what are we talking about here? One, as we have discussed in other videos, there is a major paradigm shift in Thai law enforcement right now, and matters pertaining to what can only be described as front companies, nominee-style setups have been elevated to the level of a National Security concern and I can't over-exaggerate how important that is. As we have discussed in other videos, even the Army has been brought in with regard to some of this, especially as it involves certain tourist areas involving the islands down south. So this is not something that they take lightly. 

On top of that, we see a lot of situations and we have seen a lot of situations involving foreigners basically exploiting land associated with both condos as well as free holding land, and as we have talked about, they're actually raiding people; they detained two dozen people on the islands in matters involving these nominee corporations, many of them which have land holding capabilities. And it seems a lot of folks are using things like Airbnb as well as booking.com, to go ahead and allow for what basically amounts to a hotel-style services for foreign nationals as well as others here in Thailand, and again, law enforcement is not taking this lightly. They also view this stuff as basically transnational crime too, because in a lot of cases, it's involving nominee structures and there seems to be some concern as to where the capital comes from to fund these type of operations. 

So what to take away from this video? One, the police are not taking this un-seriously, okay. I know people from other jurisdictions, Airbnb is not that big a deal; in Thailand it is. There are also big interest groups that are concerned about this as well, most notably from large hotel operators who do have to deal with the bulk of all of these rules and regulations and taxes and fees associated with their operation. They have a real problem being competed with by folks that aren’t following the law, and we are seeing the upshot of that in the form of further law enforcement activities that are not only detaining but arresting and also deporting foreigners from Thailand, and we could also be starting to see situations where they will start seizing property associated with these types of operations. 

So again, if you're looking to come to Thailand and you are looking to buy property here to live in for yourself, no big deal, but if you're trying to exploit land in Thailand, that is a real issue.