Thank you for visiting this page. Phuket is full of natural beauty, nice beaches, and beautiful smiling people. But as with every place around the world, we have our problems as well. Normally, no tourist related business wants to talk about the problems they have, but I (Managing Director and CEO of Bolder Business Associates Co. Ltd.), have decided that the problem with the Airport Taxi Service is so important that we must inform our customers of the problem now as it has become worse after the tsunami and many well intentioned travellers are falling victim to this scheme.

Many independent travellers arrive in Phuket tired from their journey, looking forward to sandy beaches and smiling people; a nice holiday. Usually, the first people they run into are the airport taxi drivers, who are also usually smiling, but in many cases they are not smiling out of kind friendliness, they are thinking about how much money they can make off you. You might think that these poor people deserve to be supported and you wouldn't mind to pay a little too much especially after the tsunami etc.. But I don't think you would feel that way if you knew that they are scamming to get 30-40% of what you plan to spend for a hotel room. That means, on a two week booking, that innocent looking taxi driver and his smiling well spoken cohorts are trying to and many times will make 10,000 or more baht (250 USD) on your holiday. That is more than an average months salary for most Thai people.

So here is how they work. First a smiling girl or boy greets you at the arrival hall or just outside and ask you if you need a taxi. The next question they will ask is if you have a booking already. If you say "No", for them, that means you are a customer which belongs to them. You are now a piece of property which belongs to them and anybody who wants to have your business must pay them. Even if you know which Hotel you want to go to, if you don't have a confirmed booking it is understood that your business belongs to them. Since everyone is scared of the AIRPORT TAXI UNION, nobody can help you after you tell them you don't have a confirmed Hotel booking. So then to make it look legitimate, they will take you to a bogus travel agent whom they claim can get you a better deal. Sometimes they physically bring you to the bogus agent or sometimes they just call on their cell phone. They call the hotel you requested hotel and tell the hotel that you now belong to them and they will only bring you to the hotel if the hotel pays them an obscene commission usually about 700-1000 baht per night for every night you stay. Often times the hotel gets less than the taxi driver. And if the Hotel doesn't agree to pay the commission, then the driver and travel agent will spend hours of your time trying to convince you that the hotel is fully booked, closed for rennovation, or whatever story they think of. They will waste your time until you agree to go somewhere that they can get a commission. Once you get in that taxi without a confirmed booking you are their prisoner, even though you already paid a taxi fare about double the rate of Bangkok !!!!! These people are so good at running these scams that some customers even tip the taxi driver after he "helped them to find a room". But the bottom line is everybody loses except the taxi's. Hotels have raise prices in order to make up for this ridiculous expense so YOU PAY HIGHER ROOM RATES. Hotel's can't afford to pay their own staff well because of this, and actually the hotel staff are the nice people who really deserve more since they take care of you day after day, cleaning your room, making you good food to eat, and generally making your holiday more enjoyable.

So you might ask why the Hotel Owners of Phuket allow this Monkey Business activity to go on. The fact is that, over the years, these undereducated monkeys have made enough money this way to form a semi-legal group (mafia). The money they have made from making unsuspecting tourists pay higher hotel rates finds it way all around the island. They have enough money to convince all the government officials involved to allow them to maintain their presence as the only taxi service available inside the terminal at Phuket Airport. They also have enough money to prevent other competition from spoiling their situation. Now there are metered taxi's at the airport but you have to walk with your luggage across the parking lot through the mob of airport taxi drivers in order to get one. And then most of the metered taxis are scared to take you to tourist areas, actually they generally only want to take Thai people to non-tourist destinations since they have been harrassed and beaten by the much larger AIRPORT TAXI UNION. Also, many hotel staff are afraid of these guys, and sometimes taxi's even demand a commission when the customer has a printed voucher of reservation. That's right, first they charge you double the taxi rates of Bangkok, then you tip the guy, and after you check in, the same smiling taxi driver goes to reception and demands a commission.

As with most of the Hotel Owners in Phuket, we want to provide our customers with the best accomodation and service for the lowest price possible. We want you to enjoy your holiday so much that you come back again and again and with your friends too. We have a lot to offer here in Phuket especially exceptionally good value for your money.

If all customers follow these guidelines and assist us, we will put this activity to a halt and it will result in generally lower Hotel rates for you, our valued customers. Here at Bolder Business we offer you our convenient website direct booking systems which allow you to easily pick and reserve the room of your choice, get a nice discount on the room, and arrange your airport transfer in advance. Our commitment is to make your holiday easy, enjoyable, and excellent value for your money.

Kind Regards,

Uncle Eric