[JayBee]

IMHO, the Expat is not the place it used to be. I used to love to stay there, because I love the pool, the restaurant is quite convenient w/ decent food, and the location is fairly good. But there is plenty wrong with the place. The rooms are small, TVs tiny w/ no remote(unless they have bought new ones this year), very few cable channels, most of them Thai,, and no movie channels, the WIFI is pay-as-you-go at an outrageous rate, and the owner is very rude and dismissive in his attitude, as if he couldn't care less whether you stayed at his hotel. He has an "I don't need your f*cking business" attitude.

At one time, this was a wonderful place to stay and I used to recommend it highly to one and all(with some qualifications re room quality and TV). In the year of the tsunami, I stayed there for 4 months, and loved it. The staff was great, and they seemed quite happy to have my business. The last time I was there, which was 14 months ago, it just wasn't the same place. At one point, they actually rented my room to someone else, who showed up, and then they asked me why I hadn't left yet, although I still had the place reserved for another two weeks.It got sorted out, but what a headache. Even the guard, who I knew for years, seemed to be copping an attitude, but maybe he was under pressure from management. I didn't make it to Patong this year, and one of the reasons was that I would have to find a new hotel to stay at, since I will never go back to the Expat.

I find Tim's story quite plausible. How many cases do you know which involve BGs, who work in Patong bars(not FLs), ripping off guys in their hotel rooms for large sums of money? Unless he is just out and out making up a story, then there is no other plausible explanation. Sure, he was stupid to leave a large sum in his suitcase(apparently unlocked?), but sometimes people do stupid things, and that doesn't mean it is OK for someone else to rip them off.