Thai Elite 20-year Visa: Outlook & Process [2023]

[Ohyesuare]

15 minutes ago, taylor1975 said:

Better, yes ...but your upgrade cost from 5 to 20 will be the differential between the new 20 year price or the existing 1m price?

It sounds like the existing, otherwise they wouldn't bother announcing the deadline extension but you never know I guess until they confirm that. It sounds like they are adding new packages rather than getting rid of all previous ones though.

[davidge]

It appears the bosses realised they would be facing numerous legal challenges as they were breaking the contracts of all the 5-year members who had it in writing that they could upgrade at any point during the membership on the terms stated in the contract.

I don’t think it’s completely 100% certain yet, as they’re probably trying to find a way around it, but it looks as if all current contracts will be fully honoured at the terms stated originally. However, they haven’t made it absolutely clear that it will be at the current price and not the new price.

[Jackie2013]

One of the affiliated agents told me, over a lunch in Bangkok (post-purchase, little incentive to bullshit), that there's a huge regret internally over launching the 20y ESE a couple of years ago - not to mention making it upgradeable via the EEA. The new chairman doesn't like it at all. Apparently the uptake is huge and most, if not all, takers will be retirement age when it has expired. 

[Ohyesuare]

16 minutes ago, Jackie2013 said:

One of the affiliated agents told me, over a lunch in Bangkok (post-purchase, little incentive to bullshit), that there's a huge regret internally over launching the 20y ESE a couple of years ago - not to mention making it upgradeable via the EEA. The new chairman doesn't like it at all. Apparently the uptake is huge and most, if not all, takers will be retirement age when it has expired. 

Yeah 1 million baht for 20 years from 500k-600k for 5, I don't blame them for regretting that move.

[Eric8]

Dear Sir or Madam, 

 

About the recent announcement about upgrading EEA Membership sent this morning...

 

Honestly, we were confused this morning about this announcement.  So I made a phone call to the Elite staff who sent this announcement.  

 

Please let me explain you as below.

 

This announcement means...

1. The deadline to upgrade from EEA to other types of Elite membership programs is postponed (NOT 15 AUG 2023 anymore).   EEA members can upgrade their membership until 3 months before the expiry date.
2. For EEA members who want to upgrade to ESE or EUP, you will have to upgrade by 15 SEP 2023 or before the announcement of new Elite programs at the end of September 2023.   =>  We are not sure when they will make the announcement of new Elite programs, so we set the deadline on 15 SEP 2023 to be safe.
3. After the new Elite programs are launched, EEA members can upgrade to one of the new Elite programs and have to wait for the announcement (but NOT ESE or EUP anymore).  => They use the wording "ESE / EUP equivalent scheme".
   • We recommend you to upgrade now because new programs for 20 years cost around THB 5M. So I think the cost for upgrading should be much more expensive.

 

More importantly, they cannot give me the information about what new Elite programs that EEA membership can be upgraded to or how much to pay.

[Ohyesuare]

32 minutes ago, Eric8 said:

Dear Sir or Madam, 

 

About the recent announcement about upgrading EEA Membership sent this morning...

 

Honestly, we were confused this morning about this announcement.  So I made a phone call to the Elite staff who sent this announcement.  

 

Please let me explain you as below.

 

This announcement means...

1. The deadline to upgrade from EEA to other types of Elite membership programs is postponed (NOT 15 AUG 2023 anymore).   EEA members can upgrade their membership until 3 months before the expiry date.
2. For EEA members who want to upgrade to ESE or EUP, you will have to upgrade by 15 SEP 2023 or before the announcement of new Elite programs at the end of September 2023.   =>  We are not sure when they will make the announcement of new Elite programs, so we set the deadline on 15 SEP 2023 to be safe.
3. After the new Elite programs are launched, EEA members can upgrade to one of the new Elite programs and have to wait for the announcement (but NOT ESE or EUP anymore).  => They use the wording "ESE / EUP equivalent scheme".
   • We recommend you to upgrade now because new programs for 20 years cost around THB 5M. So I think the cost for upgrading should be much more expensive.

 

More importantly, they cannot give me the information about what new Elite programs that EEA membership can be upgraded to or how much to pay.

This wording looks like a response from an agent making their own interpretation of the postponement announcement from a supposed phone call. The official email from Thailand Elite themselves clearly says: Elite Easy Access members will be able to upgrade to Elite Superiority Extension (ESE), Elite Ultimate Privilege (EUP) or equivalent membership type until 3 months before the expiry date of YOUR membership.

[taylor1975]

1 hour ago, Ohyesuare said:

It sounds like the existing, otherwise they wouldn't bother announcing the deadline extension but you never know I guess until they confirm that. 

By back-tracking on their original plan of having 2 weeks to upgrade, they have 'honoured' their previous terms ...but i don't see this as having any connection to the price to upgrade.

[number8]

Im a bit late to the party regarding this thread

I see people mention the figure 400,000 to upgrade to the 20 year 

Where is this information?

[Ohyesuare]

3 minutes ago, number8 said:

Im a bit late to the party regarding this thread

I see people mention the figure 400,000 to upgrade to the 20 year 

Where is this information?

It's on the official Thai Elite website. 400,000 to upgrade to the 20 year if you paid 600,000 or 500,000 if you paid 500,000.

50 minutes ago, taylor1975 said:

By back-tracking on their original plan of having 2 weeks to upgrade, they have 'honoured' their previous terms ...but i don't see this as having any connection to the price to upgrade.

You're right and the price could change. We'll have to wait and see I guess.

[Eric8]

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

Truly apologize for the unclear information about upgrading the membership sent from Thailand Elite and me this morning.

I just discussed in more details with the Elite staff who sent this announcement again.

 

The conclusion is...

1. The deadline to upgrade from EEA to other types of Elite membership programs is postponed (NOT 15 AUG 2023 anymore).   EEA members can upgrade their membership until 3 months before the expiry date.
2. For EEA members who want to upgrade to ESE or EUP, you will have to upgrade by 15 SEP 2023 or before the announcement of new Elite programs at the end of September 2023. 
3. After the new Elite programs are launched, EEA members can upgrade to the ESE / EUP Equivalent programs that you will pay THB 400,000 for adding 15 years; however, we still don't know about the name of this program and whether there will be any new conditions attached to it or not.

 

Thailand Elite recommended that if you have a plan to upgrade your EEA membership to ESE or EUP and want to avoid the uncertainty, you should upgrade now because you will have at least 1-3 months to make a decision again before making a payment for your upgrade.   If you don't make a payment, your membership will remain as EEA member.

 

Therefore, for EEA members who sent us the signed upgrading forms already and we submitted them all to the CRM Team already, please kindly make a final decision again before making a payment.

[Bananaserg]

It sounds funnier than before now. Current 20y. ESE has no perks , new Equivalent which aiming to be much more expensive probably will have some , but from this text as I understand members will be able to upgrade to new 20y. membership for 400/500 kBaht... A bit confusing or just great news... 

[Thomaz73]

4 hours ago, taylor1975 said:

Better, yes ...but your upgrade cost from 5 to 20 will be the differential between the new 20 year price or the existing 1m price?

My question exactly. I went ahead with the upgrade application. And don't feel sure about my strategy. 

[Ohyesuare]

On 15/08/2023 at 12:17, taylor1975 said:

Better, yes ...but your upgrade cost from 5 to 20 will be the differential between the new 20 year price or the existing 1m price?

 

Greetings from Thailand Privilege Card Member Contact Center.

 

According to clause 5.3 "Upgrade, Fee, and Validity" of your application form, during the 5-year validity term, your membership may be upgraded. If you pay THB 500,000 for Elite Easy Access, you will be charged THB 500,000 to upgrade your membership. If you pay THB 600,000 for this package, you will be charged THB 400,000 to upgrade your membership to Elite Superiority Extension.  

 

You are eligible for an upgrade under this condition until three months before your membership expires, except for an upgrade to a new package with new benefits, which we will launch next month.  

[LASportsNut]

It's amazing how simple something can be, yet they continue to make things unnecessarily difficult.

[Ohyesuare]

1 hour ago, LASportsNut said:

It's amazing how simple something can be, yet they continue to make things unnecessarily difficult.

Agreed but TIT

[hillshillshills510]

I wonder what this means for the people who have submitted applications but not processed/members yet. I assume it'll depend on when your application is processed and whether you get accepted under the current plans. 

I'm hoping applying under the current plans means I am grandfathered into the same benefits. 

[Calmdown]

The communication from officials in Thailand will never stop to surprise.

There is always revisions and changes to stuff they publicly announce. It's not rocket science to release easy, simple to understand information regarding this.

Information is always packaged in some long text with an abundance of hard to understand and interpret text.

It was exactly the same during Covid when they always presented new information in some folder with images, clipart, diagrams and flashy colors.

How about an easy to understand check list with black text on white paper.

[stacksreg123]

My understanding was that it now would be possible to upgrade for 400k even after September 15.

[pombuffalo]

On 18/08/2023 at 19:00, Calmdown said:

The communication from officials in Thailand will never stop to surprise.

There is always revisions and changes to stuff they publicly announce. It's not rocket science to release easy, simple to understand information regarding this.

Information is always packaged in some long text with an abundance of hard to understand and interpret text.

It was exactly the same during Covid when they always presented new information in some folder with images, clipart, diagrams and flashy colors.

How about an easy to understand check list with black text on white paper.

Where's the fun in that 

[Jackie2013]

Here we go gents, the new prices. I predicted +50% price increases in my first post - but it turned out I was too low 🙂

 

[cygnus100]

26 minutes ago, Jackie2013 said:

Here we go gents, the new prices. I predicted +50% price increases in my first post - but it turned out I was too low 🙂

What is a Privilege Point? Do you have a link to that presentation?

[Bananaserg]

It must be the end of unlimited perks , I suppose. Now you just use points for the services. "Exciting news" style

[LASportsNut]

44 minutes ago, Jackie2013 said:

Here we go gents, the new prices. I predicted +50% price increases in my first post - but it turned out I was too low 🙂

This makes me relieved I paid for the 20 year option in 2021 for 1 million baht.

It seemed expensive at the time but I also did it knowing TIT and. things seem to change without much sense or warning.

However, if I were to do it all over I would highly consider the Long Term Resident Visa.

[Jackie2013]

Further details: 

The new 20 years Reserve Card is "by invitation only" and has a "++" clause
Not more than 1% (or not more than 100 applicants per year) will be selected as invitees
Holders of the Reserve Card can keep extending for 5 years at a time after the 20 years is up for 10% of the value of the Reserve card *at the moment* when they choose to extend
 

Regarding the points listed for each tier, I'm attaching 2 photos. 

Personal take: TPC doesn't have the organization to make this point-programme a satisfactory, and especially not premium, customer experience. 2-3 days for e-mail confirmations, lost in translation-galore and the overall hassle needed to "buy 1 get 1"-movie ticket. Perhaps I'm being harsh here, but this is exactly one of these products that works very well on c-suits PowerPoints, but not so much IRL. 

 

[Bananaserg]

90 Days Report - Point Redemption... Is it by mistake here or is it for real ))))?