Cheap Accommodation - Bangkok & Thailand
What a lot of people don't realise about Thailand is that there's an absolute plethora of cheap places to stay
. Thailand accommodation has literally thousands of hidden gems scattered all over the capital Bangkok, and starting from as little as $80 US/Month.
If you're on a world tour and would like to stay in the kingdom for a few extra weeks or months, then low budget hotels or guest houses are probably not your best option. Then again, they could be. Keep reading to find out why. Decent Bangkok rentals can be had for just a few dollars a day, but you need to know how to find them, which is easier said than done if you're a stranger to the this Jungle city of South East Asia.
Description of a Cheap Apartment in Bangkok
So just what will you get for under a hundred bucks a month? Well, as this is at the low end of the Bangkok rental market, such apartment blocks are occupied mostly by working class Thai nationals. The rooms will be basic and may or may not have air conditioning. Most will include an overhead fan, a bed, refrigerator (maybe), private bathroom, and very basic storage facilities. They will be studio rooms no bigger than 22-30 SQM max.
The majority of these budget rentals will have 24 hour security guards manning the entrance, and perhaps a 24 hour minimart on the ground floor. Such accommodation might not sound much like a home away from home for most travellers, but when compared against a bog standard guest house that uses communal squat toilets, has more mosquitoes than an African swamp, and a list of house rules greater than an Asian Jail, then the pros well outweigh the cons for long-stay tourists. Don't forget too that your monthly Bangkok apartment rental will be less than half what you'd be paying at a backstreet Guesthouse.
Finding these Cheap Bangkok Apartments
Obviously the Bangkok real estate agencies will not be prepared to help foreigners find inexpensive rental properties. They make their money purely on commissions, and so there's no reasonable gain to be had with inexpensive rents that require no long term contracts. Some of their websites might list a few budget dwellings, but if you really want to uncover the array of hidden gems out there, then the best places to look are the Thai property websites. If you do a search for the word ' horpak' you shall find a couple of good ones. Horpak roughly translates as 'building to stay'.
Most of these sites are have no English version though, so you'll probably need to ask a friendly local to help you translate. Even so, just by browsing the property pages and reading the English numerals next to the photos, you will soon come to realise just how much of this 'easy-on-the-pocket' accommodation is out there for grabs.
Bangkok Rentals Between 5-1000 THB/Mo
At the time of writing, 5,000 Thai Baht equates to around $155 US dollars. The standard of living improves quite a bit when paying over 5,000 THB/Month in rental costs (especially in other towns and cities around the country). For 5,000 Baht and over, you can expect a living space of between 28-35 SQM. It will be in a good central location and not too far from a BTS (Skytrain) or MRT (Underground Train) station. The room will have air conditioning as standard, a king or queen sized bed, Cable TV, telephone, refrigerator, bathroom, and a small balcony. More common these days too is a wireless internet connection, but this usually offered at an optional cost for those who want it.
On the ground floor there is likely to be key-card security door access for residents (plus a 24 hour security guard out front), a minimart, laundry service, beauty salon, and in some, a very reasonably priced restaurant that will include room service at no extra cost. The down side is that you may be asked to secure at least a 3 month commitment for which there will be a contact drawn up and a deposit put down.
When you move up to Bangkok accommodation nearer the 10,000 THB/Month bracket, then the choices and living standards get even better. More space, better designed rooms, and an improvement in furnishings overall. The facilities in some places may also include a gym, and a pool.
You also start to get some options in condos as well as apartments in this price bracket. The main differences between apartments and condos are that condos are privately owned units within a building, whereas an apartment block has a single owner who possesses the entire building and all its rooms.
With condos, both water and electricity is usually billed direct from the government which can lead to huge saving on power costs over a duration. Water and electricity in apartment blocks is fixed by the project owner and the charges are far greater than that of a condo. At the time of writing, electricity charges in Bangkok apartments that charge over 5,000 THB/Month in rents, are around 8 Baht/Unit, whereas government charges are less than half that.
Apartment Accommodation | Bangkok Apartments Competing with Hotels
New construction projects seem to be never ending in Bangkok and the rest of Thailand. One can't help but wonder how they're going to fill them all with tenants. And if that's not enough, nowadays many of the apartments are competing with hotels, especially the newer constructions. It's not unusual to see Daily, Weekly, and Monthly rates advertised outside an apartment building. However, the hotels are striking back too. Many hotels are beginning to offer vastly reduced rates for long term residents. Those who want to live in hotels are usually placed on the higher floors. The available facilities, security, and prime locations of hotel accommodation are making them quite an attractive living option for some, especially older folks who have retired in the kingdom.
by: Andy Aitch
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