Do I need a hotel licence for a small guesthouse?
The simple answer to this is yes, any establishment with more than 4 rooms, offering accommodation for less than a month in exchange for payment requires a hotel licence.
In recent times the regulatory board has also become more strict requiring condos which rent out rooms on a daily basis to also have hotel licences.
The punishment for running a hotel without a licence is up to 1 year in jail and a fine of up to 20,000 THB.
How to get a hotel licence
In order to be granted a hotel licence your building needs to meet certain structural requirements, minimum guest room area and health and safety regulations.
The hotel building must fulfill certain safety standards depending on its number of floors. For example: With no more than two floors and less than ten rooms, the corridor needs to be more than one meter wide and must have fire extinguishers.
For buildings having more than two floors, and more rooms, the corridor must be even wider. In buildings with more than four stories, emergency escape stairways made of fire resistant material is required. Fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, escape route signage, emergency lighting and other legal requirements have to be fulfilled as well.
Small hotels, where the building has previously been used as something other than a hotel may be granted up to 5 years to bring their building up to a standard where it meets the regulations.
What are the hotel licence categories:
There are 4 different categories of hotel licence
- Hotel business only, for up to 50 rooms: application fee at 10,000 THB
- Hotel and restaurant business: application fee of 20,000 THB
- Hotel, restaurant and seminar rooms: application fee of 30,000 THB
- Hotel, restaurant, seminar rooms, entertainment business: application fee of 40,000 THB
What steps have to be taken to get a hotel licence?
- Application for the construction license at the district office, which is signed off/should be requested by the engineer or architect (five working days)
- Application at the provincial office (10 working days), which will transfer the application to
- The Health, Environmental and Construction Authorities who will each have to inspect and approve the building (90 working days)
- Issuance of the license (15-30 working days)
The license has to be renewed every five years.
What documents do I need for a hotel licence?
The documents to be provided mainly consist of the construction permit, map of the interior, landlord documents, map of the location showing that there is no school or temple in the surroundings, and of course the company documents.
There will need to be at least one hotel manager, if you wish to be the manager of your hotel then you will need to apply for and be issued with a Non B visa and a work permit.
If you are considering starting a hotel with at least 100 rooms and you have capital of at least 500 million THB then you may be eligible for BOI approval.
If you would like more information about obtaining a Thai hotel licence please contact [email protected]
