is my assessment more or less accurate?

[Jay108]

Can't seem to find the sweet spot  of 10K with mini-kitchen. Good value places I do find are full. Imagine that at Lunar New Year.

Accomodation beyond hotels in Pattaya proper (not Jomtien, Naklua etc) seems to be three levels...

1. Hong chau: working class Thai motel. No kitchen - 3K Basic

2. 'Mansion': middle class Thai apartment, no kitchen or an excuse for kitchen facilities 5-7K. Sparsely furnished or even empty

3. Condo: upper class Thai and foreign sojourner/expat. Furnished, some have mini-kitchens - 15K-40K+

The only constants are that they all have huge beds, of varying degrees of quality. And the mansions are owned by ethnic Chinese-Thais (though residents are Thai and foreign). 

Is the East Asian (Chinese, Korean and Japanese) market any different? While the Chinese (both local and foreign) are happy to take my money I do not get the same reception from those businesses popular with Koreans.

[jdn2020]

21 hours ago, Jay108 said:

Is the East Asian (Chinese, Korean and Japanese) market any different? While the Chinese (both local and foreign) are happy to take my money I do not get the same reception from those businesses popular with Koreans.

My observations are Japanese were originally the most homogeneous but it seemed to have calmed down a bit with them. While Koreans seem visibly uncomfortable / scared when there are Westerners around. Especially the louder types. The Chinese seem to be Business orientated and care a lot less about who they share spaces with. They certainly don't seem intimidated like the Koreans do.