Quote Originally Posted by christianpfc View Post
This is a slight misrepresentation of procedures. To enter Thailand, you have to apply for a COE (not required for Cambodia), and you have to submit your ASQ booking. There is an initial outlay of money for the booking, at least a partial payment. Some hotels want full payment and don't allow cancellations or alterations!
As I understand it in Cambodia:
Pay out $2000 deposit (THB 66,000) & after quarantine, go to collect what is left after quarantine hotel charges from a specified bank.
There is a slight advantage as you don't part with the $2000 until arriving in Cambodia.
There is a disadvantage as I understand it's more difficult to choose the quarantine hotel ?

As it was in Thailand:
The ASQ hotel needs to be selected and booked before applying for the COE.
Prices started from just over THB 30000, but the choice and quality gets more interesting around the THB 50000 range.
Many ASQ hotels did have unreasonable cancellation terms, such as full payment when booking and no refunds less than 3 or 7 days before arrival. Totally useless if you fail the PCR test which had to be taken less than 72 hours before the date of departure.

The hotel I selected required only a deposit of THB 15000, with the remainder paid on arrival. They assured me that in the event of enforced cancellation, I would be entitled to a refund of all except the 2.5% credit card charge. I wrote that on the credit card authorization form, just in case the matter ever had to be discussed with the credit card company.

For me, the choice was simplified as the Cambodia Embassy in London were not replying to e-mails. Also they were reportedly less generous with their interpretation of criteria for getting a business visa than some other countries.

So:
Paying out £2k (THB66k) ON ARRIVAL in Cambodia is better than making a non-refundable Thai hotel reservation a couple of weeks in advance of travel (as the travel might not happen).
For anyone prepared to work at it, the majority of the Thai hotel charge can be paid upon arrival, therefore reducing the deposit at risk.

I think Thailand was probably the better choice for the winter months, but if intending to stay for over 9 months, as Christian has, a 12 month Cambodia visa is the safer option.
Thailand has of course been offering 60 day extensions for those "unable to return home", but without any checks on whether you could actually return home. This was not a known when Christian applied to go to Cambodia.