Oon Poshtel x Cafe Hostel

BEFORE THE TRIP
I planned a trip to Chiang Mai for myself and 17 other people in November 2017. Given the group size, I requested and paid for the ENTIRE lodge (see receipt attached), which I was told could fit up to 24 people. Additionally, given that we had a group of 18 Americans who’d never been to Thailand I wanted a more personalized group experience. I had planned to go through an actual travel agency in Chiang Mai but Nakrit’s (Papick Lodge Owner) seemingly helpful nature persuaded me to trust him with some travel details. I created an itinerary outlining every second of the trip. I simply needed logistical assistance transportation and a translator. Nakrit helped secure 2 vans that were scheduled to stay with us the entire 5 days (which I was told could fit 9 ppl per van) and an English-Thai translator. He took the itinerary I created, placed it in another format (see attached), and charged me a 10% service charge for his “work.” Nevertheless, Nakrit always maintained great communication before the trip. He was always patient and quick to answer any questions. Unfortunately, upon arriving to Thailand I experienced a completely different person.

DURING THE TRIP
THE TRANSPORTATION: Upon arrival the group was picked up by 2 mid-size SUVs that could fit 6-7 people, not 9 people as promised. For the entire 5 days, the group could never travel from place to place as a unit. The vans would make one trip and have to come back for those left behind. That’s not what we paid for. And it made travel logistics extremely difficult. What’s worse, on multiple occasions during the trip, the VANS DIDN’T EVEN SHOW UP. We ended up taking public transportation and paying per ride. We were 18 young women in a completely foreign country. We not only placed our money in Nakrit’s hands, but we also placed our safety in his hands and Nakrit completely disappointed us.

THE LODGE: Upon arriving to Papick Lodge we noticed there were 2 bedrooms on the ground floor blocked off to our use, one marked “staff” and the other marked “Management.” This was an issue for a number of reasons: (1) We paid for the ENTIRE lodge (2) I already planned who in my group would go in what rooms (3) we were a group of all women and there were men in shared spaces where we didn’t feel particularly comfortable and (4) WE PAID FOR THE ENTIRE LODGE. Throughout our time there we came to find out, that the individuals in the rooms were actually guests (we talked to them). Because of that, some of my group had to share rooms and even beds. We were never refunded any money though we paid almost double to have the entire lodge.

THE TRANSLATOR: She hadn’t fully mastered the English language which completely invalidated her claim as an ENGLISH translator.

THE ITINERARY: What’s the point of having an itinerary if you’re not going to stick to it? The very first day we arrived, Nakrit told me he moved the schedule around. There were times where we had nothing planned because he moved an activity and there were other times where we had to cancel stuff because there was too much planned.

NAKRIT: There were some activities that I planned on my own before getting to Thailand. For some reason, Nakrit wanted to call all the places I booked and check them out “for safety reasons.” On the last day of our trip we had a yoga session. After the session, the yoga instructor pulled me to the side and said there was something he had to tell me. Apparently, Nakrit called every place/activity we went and told them to double their prices for our group in hopes that he would get half. Before knowing this, everything in me said Nakrit was a genuinely good person who just made poor business choices or simple mistakes. I could get over the mistakes. But to be intentionally deceptive to the point where you’d take advantage of your customers to make more money is simply disheartening. I did approach Nakrit with this knowledge. Of course he denied it. But the yoga instructor had nothing to gain by lying. He told me before I even paid him. Chiang Mai was great, Papick Lodge was not.