You own a house on an island. Someone offers you 40,000 baht for a fortnight in high season. You take it, you list the place, and a booking site starts sending you people. None of that feels like running a hotel.
The Hotel Act does not ask what it feels like. It asks three things. Is the place set up as a business. Is it providing temporary accommodation to travellers or any other person. Is there compensation. Yes to all three and the place is a hotel, whether it is a 200-room resort or one house at the end of a dirt road.
The reason this gets answered badly, and answered differently by the same adviser twice, is that two separate laws are in play. The Hotel Act decides whether the place needs a licence. The Foreign Business Act decides whether a foreigner is allowed to run it at all. Most of the advice in circulation answers one and forgets the other.
Is 30 days the line that keeps a rental outside the Hotel Act?
No. There is no 30-day rule in the Hotel Act.
What the Act says is this. A place set up to be rented out for a month at a time or longer, and never for shorter stays, is not a hotel and needs no licence [Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 4(2)]. That is where the 30-day idea comes from, and it is close but wrong on two points.
The law says a month, not 30 days. And it has to be every booking. A villa that takes nightly guests in high season and monthly tenants for the rest of the year is a hotel all year round, because it was never set up for monthly lets only.
There is no form to fill in and nothing to apply for. A villa let only by the month is simply outside the Act.
Can I rent out my villa by the night without a hotel licence?
Yes, if a Thai person or a Thai-majority company runs it and the property is small enough. No, if you are a foreigner running it yourself. The second half of that answer comes from the Foreign Business Act, and it is explained two sections down.
On the Hotel Act side the rule is a room count. A place with no more than eight rooms in total, taking no more than thirty guests in total, is not a hotel once it has been registered with the district office, inspected, and issued with a letter of acknowledgement [Ministerial Regulation B.E. 2551, clause 1, as replaced in B.E. 2566]. The letter takes up to forty days and lasts five years. The market calls it the non-hotel licence. The letter acknowledges that the place was registered and inspected, a smaller thing than a licence, and it does the job.
Count across the whole site. Ten houses on one plot are one accommodation with all their rooms added together, and a four-bedroom villa is one accommodation of four rooms. The old figures of four rooms and twenty guests, still quoted on many websites, were replaced in 2566.
| Position | What the law requires | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed hotel | A licence issued by the district office before the business is operated. Valid five years, and it applies only to the hotel named in it. | Hotel Act, sections 15, 18, 19 |
| Registered small accommodation | Not more than eight rooms and thirty guests, registered, inspected, and an acknowledgement letter issued within forty days and valid five years. | Regulation B.E. 2551, clauses 1 and 1/1, as amended B.E. 2566 |
| Monthly letting | Set up to be let for a monthly charge or longer only. Nothing is applied for and nothing is issued. | Hotel Act, section 4(2) |
The first two are permissions. The third is a definition. They are not three versions of the same thing, which is how they are usually presented.
Above eight rooms there is no third way. The place is a hotel and needs the licence.
Can a foreigner get a hotel licence?
In your own name, no in practice. Through a company in which Thai shareholders hold more than half of the shares, yes.
The Hotel Act itself does not care about nationality. Its applicant test is about age, residence, bankruptcy and criminal record, and a foreigner passes it [Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 16]. The block is in the Foreign Business Act. Hotel business is on that Act's List Three, the list of businesses foreigners are allowed to run only with a foreign business licence from the Commerce Ministry, and the district office is under orders to refuse a hotel licence to any foreigner who does not hold one [Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, List Three (17), and the Notification under section 15 of the Hotel Act, clause 4(2)]. A foreigner here means a person without Thai nationality, a company registered abroad, or a Thai company in which foreigners hold half the shares or more.
The foreign business licence is a case-by-case grant from the Commerce Ministry with the approval of a commission. Two other doors exist. A business promoted by the Board of Investment gets a certificate that stands in place of the licence. And a United States citizen or American company gets a certificate under the Treaty of Amity. For one villa, neither of those is the usual path.
The usual path is a Thai-majority company, which is outside the definition of a foreigner and applies like anyone else. The Act polices how the majority came about. A Thai national who holds shares to help a foreigner get around the Act faces the same penalty as the foreigner, up to three years in prison and a fine of up to one million baht [sections 36 and 37]. Our article on nominee shareholding sets out what the Act says.
One carve-out matters for operators. Hotel management is excluded from List Three, and the Department of Business Development has ruled that a foreign company managing a hotel for the licensed operator, with its own staff in the building, is outside the lists. Managing a hotel and being the hotel are two businesses. Only one of them holds the licence.
I am a foreigner with a villa in my own name, or on a lease. What am I allowed to do?
Let it by the month or longer, yes. Let it by the night, no.
Monthly letting is outside the Hotel Act, as the first section explains, so there is no licence to get and nothing stopping you holding the tenancy in your own name. This is what foreign owners of villas and condominiums do, and it is why the market talks about the 30-day rule.
Nightly letting is different in kind. It is either hotel business or registered small accommodation, and both are businesses. As a foreigner you are not allowed to hold the hotel licence without Foreign Business Act permission, and the small-accommodation registration does not help, because it only takes the place out of the Hotel Act. The letting itself stays a restricted business. The Department of Business Development made that point in December 2566 when a foreigner who owned one condominium unit asked whether it could be let by the night through the building's rental pool. The answer was that the letting is a List Three service business and needs permission first, even though the owner never signed anything with the guests. That is the Department's published position rather than a statute, and it is the position the district office will apply.
The work-permit law lines up with this. Running the rentals yourself is work, and the only business activity it carves out is one run under a Foreign Business Act licence [Emergency Decree on the Management of Foreigners' Working B.E. 2560, section 5].
A lease does not change any of this, and neither does owning the house. What a lease does do is satisfy the district office that you have a right over the building, which is one of the licence requirements below. The licence then turns on the Foreign Business Act rather than on the lease.
A licence shall be applicable to the hotel specified in the licence only and shall be valid for five years from the date of its issuance.
Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 19
How do I get a hotel licence?
Apply at the district office where the villa is, on form ร.ร.1, with the documents listed below. In Bangkok the office is the Department of Provincial Administration. The office checks the file, inspects the building and issues the licence on form ร.ร.2.
The documents are set by a Ministry of Interior notification [Notification under section 15, B.E. 2552, clause 1]. They are:
- your identity card and house registration, or for a company its affidavit and the appointment of the person who will sign for it
- the building plans and a plan of the site
- a map showing the villa and what surrounds it
- evidence that the building is permitted for use as a hotel under the building control law, or an engineer's certificate where that law does not apply
- proof that you own the building, or the owner's written consent to your using it
- a copy of the land title, or whatever document shows who holds the land
- an environmental impact certificate, where one is required for the site
Then the clock runs. The office has five working days to tell you what is missing. A committee inspects the building within twenty days. The decision, with reasons, comes within thirty days of the last report the office needs [Hotel Act B.E. 2547, sections 17 and 18]. If the answer is no, you are told the grounds before the order is made and you have fifteen days to appeal.
The licence runs five years and names the hotel it covers. Renewal goes in on form ร.ร.1/1 before it expires. The fee is 10,000 baht for a hotel with rooms only and up to fifty of them, rising to 40,000 baht for a full-service hotel, plus 40 baht a room a year [Ministerial Regulation on Fees B.E. 2551, as amended B.E. 2558].
What are the requirements for a hotel licence?
Four things, and the office must refuse if any one of them fails: the applicant, the building, a right over the land and the building, and the Foreign Business Act.
The applicant must be at least twenty, live in Thailand, not be bankrupt or incapacitated, and have no serious criminal record or past licence revocation. For a company, the director who signs must pass the same test.
The building must be permitted for use as a hotel under the building control law. A house permitted as a house needs a change of use first, covered in the next section. It must also meet the 2566 hotel building-safety regulation on structure, stairs and fire systems, which has a lighter tier for small buildings, and provide the basics every hotel has: somewhere to register guests, a phone, first aid, security around the clock, and numbered rooms with a door that locks from inside.
A right over the land and the building. Ownership, a registered lease, or the owner's written consent are each enough [Notification under section 15, clause 4(4)].
The Foreign Business Act. A foreign applicant is refused unless permitted under that Act, as explained above.
Once the licence is issued, the operator appoints a manager, who is allowed to be the operator, and the manager keeps a register of guests filled in at check-in [sections 30 and 35].
Can I sell the licence with the villa?
Yes, with the district office's approval.
The Act lets a licence pass to anyone who meets the applicant test, once the office approves [Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 24]. The buyer applies on form ร.ร.1/2, shows a right over the building and the land, and receives a new licence in their own name. A foreign buyer runs into the Foreign Business Act in the same way as a new applicant. Skip the approval and the transfer is an offence, with a fine of up to 500,000 baht plus up to 20,000 baht a day while it continues. On the operator's death an heir or executor has one hundred and eighty days to apply.
Why does the answer change from one province to another?
Because two more layers sit on top of the Hotel Act, and both are applied by local offices.
The first is the building permit. A hotel is a controlled-use building, and using a house as one without a change-of-use permit from the local office is an offence, with up to three months in prison or a fine of up to 60,000 baht, and the office is allowed to order the use to stop [Building Control Act B.E. 2522, sections 33, 44 and 65]. A house permitted as a house is not a building permitted for use as a hotel.
Buildings that already existed used to have a shortcut. A 2559 regulation let the owner of a building already letting rooms change its use on lighter conditions. It was written to expire and it did, in August 2025. What applies now is the 2566 building-safety regulation. Convert an existing building under it and the setbacks, corridors, stairs and parking are judged by the rules in force when the building was first permitted, while the fire-safety rules apply in full. For a small villa that means an extinguisher, smoke detectors and an alarm in the rooms [Ministerial Regulation B.E. 2566, clauses 5 and 26].
The second layer is environmental. Where a district has been declared an environmental protection area, the notification for that area adds its own building conditions. The one covering Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao, published in May 2568, divides the islands into seven zones, sets height and green-space rules zone by zone, attaches conditions to any building converted into a hotel of 11 to 49 rooms, and requires an environmental impact report for larger hotels or any hotel within 50 metres of the shoreline [Notification B.E. 2568, clause 10]. Whether a site sits inside a protected area, and which one, is the first thing to check.
None of that is in the Hotel Act. That is why the same building gets different answers in different provinces.
What happens if I let the villa out before the licence comes through?
It is a criminal offence, and the fine runs by the day.
Operating a hotel without a licence carries up to a year in prison or a fine of up to 20,000 baht, or both, plus up to 10,000 baht for every day it goes on [Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 59]. The daily figure is the one that matters. Twenty thousand baht is a headline. Ten thousand baht a day for the whole period is a different number, and the period is not counted from the day somebody notices. The building-permit offence in the previous section runs alongside it, and a foreigner running the business adds a Foreign Business Act offence on top, with up to three years in prison and a fine of 100,000 to 1,000,000 baht [Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, section 37].
What this means in practice
For a foreign owner the order of questions is the reverse of the one most people ask. Start with who will run the business, because the Foreign Business Act decides that before the Hotel Act says anything. Then look at the building permit and whether the use has been changed. Then count the rooms across the whole site, because eight is the line for registered small accommodation and eleven is where the environmental rules on the islands start. The hotel licence comes last.
The documents that answer these questions are the company affidavit, the building permit and any change-of-use permit, the lease or consent showing the right over the building, the acknowledgement letter where small accommodation has been registered, and the hotel licence itself.
One last point on why the market answer is so inconsistent. Much of the guidance in circulation still quotes four rooms and twenty guests, still treats the 2559 conversion route as open, and still answers the Hotel Act question without mentioning the Foreign Business Act. All three have moved.
Licensing questions turn on documents rather than opinions: the building permit, the change of use, the room count across the site, and which zone the land sits in. If you are working through those for a property in Thailand, we can go through them with you.
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Every statement in this article rests on one of the 39 provisions below, each named by Act and section so it can be checked against the legislation itself.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 4. Defines a hotel as an accommodation established for business purposes of providing temporary accommodation service for travellers or any other person in exchange for compensation. It excludes at 4(1) state, charitable and educational accommodation not run for profit or income sharing, at 4(2) an accommodation established for the purpose of providing accommodation service for monthly paid service charge or upward only, and at 4(3) any other accommodation prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 5 and the rate of fees attached to the Act. The Minister of Interior issues ministerial regulations prescribing fees not exceeding the rates attached to the Act. Those rates are 50,000 baht for a licence, half the rate on each renewal, and 80 baht per lodging room per annum for hotel business operation, and may be varied by size, nature or category of hotel.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 13. Empowers the Minister to issue a Ministerial Regulation prescribing categories of hotels and rules and conditions on locations, sizes, nature, facilities and standards.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 15. No person shall operate hotel business unless he has obtained a licence issued by the Registrar. The application for and issue of a licence follow the rules and procedure the Minister prescribes by notification.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 16. Qualifications and prohibitions for a licence applicant: at least twenty years of age, domicile or residence in the Kingdom of Thailand, not bankrupt, not incompetent or quasi-incompetent, and the listed convictions and revocations. Where the applicant is a partnership or juristic person, the managing partner, manager or representative must satisfy the same requirements.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 17. The Registrar examines whether the application is correct and complete and, if it is not, notifies the applicant of the result and the period for correction within five working days from the date of application. An application under other law relevant to hotel business may be filed with the Registrar at the same time.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 18. The Registrar may grant a licence if the location, size, nature, facility or standard of hotel business operation for each category complies with the rules prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation issued under section 13, and notifies the grant or the refusal with reasons within thirty days from receiving the result of consideration from the agency under section 17.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 19. A licence applies to the hotel specified in it only and is valid for five years from the date of issuance.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 24. A licence may be transferred to a person having the qualifications and not being under any of the prohibitions under section 16, only with the approval of the Registrar. The application and approval follow the rules and procedures prescribed by the Minister.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 25. On the death of a hotel business operator, an heir or executor with the section 16 qualifications must apply to accept the transfer of the licence within one hundred and eighty days, failing which the licence is deemed to expire.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 30. The hotel business operator provides a manager with the duty of managing the hotel affairs. The operator and the manager may be the same person.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 35. The manager records the lodgers and the number of lodgers in each room in the lodger registration card at check-in, one lodger signs it, and the record is entered in the lodger registration within twenty-four hours.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 43. An applicant refused a licence, or an operator or transferee refused approval under section 22, 24 or 25, has the right to appeal the Registrar's order to the Committee within fifteen days of being notified of it. The Committee decides within forty-five days and its decision is final.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 50. A hotel business operator or an applicant under section 25 who violates section 22(1) or (2), section 24 paragraph one, or section 30 paragraph one is liable to an administrative fine of not exceeding five hundred thousand baht and an additional fine of not exceeding twenty thousand baht a day throughout the period of contravention.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547, section 59. Violation of section 15 paragraph one carries imprisonment of not exceeding one year or a fine of not exceeding twenty thousand baht or both, and an additional fine of not exceeding ten thousand baht a day throughout the period of violation.
- Notification of the Ministry of Interior on the Rules and Procedure for Considering Applications for and Issuing Hotel Business Licences, B.E. 2552, Royal Gazette volume 126, special part 164 ง, 11 November 2552, clauses 1 to 6. Application on form ร.ร.1 to the Registrar for the district where the hotel is located, in Bangkok at the Bureau of Investigation and Legal Affairs, Department of Provincial Administration, and elsewhere at the district office. The documents filed with the form, including evidence that the building is permitted for hotel use under the building control law, evidence of ownership of the building or the owner's written consent to its use, and a copy of the land title or possessory-right document. Inspection by the screening committee within twenty days. The grounds on which the Registrar refuses a licence: an applicant who fails section 16, a foreign applicant who lacks the qualifications or is barred under the Foreign Business Act, a building or site that fails the B.E. 2551 regulation, an applicant with neither ownership nor a possessory or use right over the land and building, a lease and a consent to use being named as qualifying rights, a building built in breach of the building control, town planning, disaster prevention, public health or environmental laws, and any other clear reason making the business inappropriate. The applicant's right to contest the grounds before the order is made. The licence on form ร.ร.2.
- Notification of the Ministry of Interior on the Rules and Procedure for Renewing a Hotel Business Licence, B.E. 2553, Royal Gazette volume 127, special part 24 ง, 19 February 2553, clause 1. Renewal on form ร.ร.1/1 to the Registrar for the district where the hotel is located, before the licence expires.
- Notification of the Ministry of Interior on the Rules and Procedure for Transferring a Hotel Business Licence, B.E. 2553, Royal Gazette volume 127, special part 24 ง, 19 February 2553, clauses 1, 4 and 5. Application on form ร.ร.1/2 with the transferor's licence, both parties' identity documents, the transferee's evidence of ownership of or consent to use the building, and the land title. Refusal where the transferee fails section 16 or is barred under the Foreign Business Act. A new licence issued to the transferee on approval.
- Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Categories and Criteria for Hotel Business Operation B.E. 2551, clause 1 as originally made. Accommodation of not more than four rooms and twenty lodgers, run for supplementary income and notified to the Registrar, was not a hotel. Replaced in B.E. 2566.
- Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Categories and Criteria for Hotel Business Operation B.E. 2551, clause 1, as replaced by clause 2 of the Ministerial Regulation (No. 2) B.E. 2566. Accommodation with not more than eight rooms in one building or several buildings combined, taking not more than thirty lodgers in total, inspected by a competent official and issued with a letter of acknowledgement, is not a hotel under limb (3) of the section 4 definition. Notification is made to the Registrar in the form and manner the Minister prescribes and the letter of acknowledgement is issued within forty days of the notification. The supplementary-income condition of the original clause does not appear in the replacement clause, although the explanatory note to the No. 2 regulation still describes the small places it covers as serving for supplementary income.
- Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Categories and Criteria for Hotel Business Operation B.E. 2551, clause 1/1, as added by clause 3 of the Ministerial Regulation (No. 2) B.E. 2566. Notification and the issue of the acknowledgement letter are made by electronic means, and where that is not possible at the district office where the accommodation is located, or in Bangkok at the Bureau of Investigation and Legal Affairs, Department of Provincial Administration. The letter of acknowledgement is valid for five years from the date of notification.
- Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Categories and Criteria for Hotel Business Operation B.E. 2551, clause 2, as replaced by clause 4 of the Ministerial Regulation (No. 2) B.E. 2566. The four categories of hotel, including Type 1 at not more than fifty rooms and Type 2 at more than fifty rooms or rooms with food service.
- Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Categories and Criteria for Hotel Business Operation B.E. 2551, clauses 4 and 7. Every hotel provides a place for registering lodgers, a telephone or communication system, first aid and referral of the sick to a nearby clinic, and security around the clock. Every room carries a number, and its door has a means of seeing out and a lock operable from inside.
- Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Categories and Criteria for Hotel Business Operation B.E. 2551, clause 9, as replaced by clause 9 of the Ministerial Regulation (No. 2) B.E. 2566. A building to be used as a hotel located in an area where the building control law applies must have evidence showing that permission has been obtained under that law for the building to be used as a hotel.
- Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Fees, Rules and Procedure for Paying Fees for Hotel Business Operation B.E. 2551, clause 1, and Ministerial Regulation (No. 2) B.E. 2558. Licence fees of 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000 baht for hotel Types 1 to 4, 200 baht for a substitute licence, renewal at half the licence fee, and the annual hotel business operation fee, originally 80 baht per room, replaced in 2558 by 40 baht per room per year.
- Ministerial Regulation Prescribing the Characteristics of Other Types of Buildings Used for Hotel Business B.E. 2559, clause 1 as replaced by the Ministerial Regulation (No. 4) B.E. 2566. The regulation was in force for nine years, and clause 4 required the certificate of alteration or the licence to change the use to be obtained within that period. The period ran from 2559 and ended in August 2568 (2025). Cited here as expired.
- Ministerial Regulation Prescribing the Characteristics and Safety Systems of Buildings Used for Hotel Business B.E. 2566, Royal Gazette volume 140, part 52 ก, clauses 5 and 26. The fire-safety requirements for a hotel of not more than two storeys, not more than ten rooms in one building and not more than 300 square metres: at least one portable extinguisher of not less than 4 kilograms within 22.50 metres, and smoke detectors and an evacuation alarm in the rooms. Clause 26 paragraph two: a building existing before the regulation took effect that is altered or changed in use to a hotel applies the requirements on external open space, corridors, building line, building height, distances between buildings and to neighbouring land and roads, stairs and car parking prescribed for its class of building when its construction or alteration was permitted.
- Building Control Act B.E. 2522, section 32(1). Controlled-use buildings include a building used as a warehouse, a hotel, a condominium or a hospital.
- Building Control Act B.E. 2522, section 33. The owner or occupier of a building that is not a controlled-use building may not use it, or allow any person to use it, for a purpose under section 32 without a licence from the local official or notification to the local official. The same applies to changing a controlled-use building from one controlled purpose to another.
- Building Control Act B.E. 2522, section 44. Where section 32 paragraph three or section 33 is contravened, the local official may order the owner or occupier to stop using the part of the building that has not received the certificate, licence or notification.
- Building Control Act B.E. 2522, sections 65 and 67. Contravention of section 33 carries imprisonment of not exceeding three months or a fine of not exceeding sixty thousand baht or both. Defying an order of the local official under section 44 carries imprisonment of not exceeding six months or a fine of not exceeding one hundred thousand baht or both, and an additional fine of not exceeding thirty thousand baht a day throughout the period of contravention.
- Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, section 4. A foreigner is a natural person who is not of Thai nationality, a juristic person not registered in Thailand, or a juristic person registered in Thailand at least one half of whose capital shares are held by such persons or by a company so held.
- Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, section 8(3). No foreigner may operate a business in List Three unless upon obtaining permission from the Director-General with the approval of the Commission.
- Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, sections 10, 11, 12 and 17. Foreigners operating listed businesses under a treaty to which Thailand is party are exempt from the licence requirement and obtain a certificate from the Director-General within thirty days of notifying him. A foreigner promoted by the Board of Investment obtains a certificate under section 12, which the Department of Business Development confirmed in a ruling of March 2562 removes the need for a licence under section 17. Section 17 is the licence granted by the Director-General with the approval of the Commission.
- Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, sections 36 and 37. A foreigner who operates a business in violation of section 8 is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine of one hundred thousand to one million baht or both, and the court orders the cessation of the business. A Thai national or a non-foreign juristic person who assists a foreigner in doing so, including by holding shares on the foreigner's behalf, is liable to the same penalty, and the court orders the cessation of the assistance or the shareholding.
- Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, List Three, items (17) and (21). Hotel business, with the exception of the hotel management service, and other service businesses except those prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation.
- Emergency Decree on the Management of Foreigners' Working B.E. 2560, as amended by No. 2 B.E. 2561, section 5. Work means engaging in an occupation whether with or without an employer, but does not include the operation of business of a person granted a licence under the foreign business law.
- Notification of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on Environmental Protection Areas and Measures in Koh Samui and Koh Phangan Districts, Surat Thani B.E. 2568, clauses 4, 6, 9 and 10, issued under section 45 of the Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality Act B.E. 2535 and published on 21 May B.E. 2568. The seven zones, the building and change-of-use conditions, the 11 to 49 room requirement, and the thresholds for an initial environmental impact report and an environmental impact assessment report.
- Department of Business Development, compilation of foreign business advisory rulings, ruling of June B.E. 2560 and ruling of July B.E. 2566 on hotel management service, and rulings of December B.E. 2566 on a foreign individual and a foreign juristic person letting out a condominium unit as a service business under List Three (21). Administrative interpretation, not statute.
Section numbers are given so you can check every statement in this article against the legislation itself. Where a provision exists only in Thai, the section number and the name of the Act are stated so the Thai text can be located.
Is 30 days the minimum rental period in Thailand?
No. There is no 30-day rule. A place set up to be rented out for a month at a time or longer, and never for shorter stays, is not a hotel and needs no licence. The law says a month rather than 30 days, and it has to be every booking. A villa that takes nightly guests in high season and monthly tenants for the rest of the year is a hotel all year round.
Can I rent out my villa by the night without a hotel licence?
Yes if a Thai person or a Thai-majority company runs it and the property has no more than eight rooms and thirty guests, once it has been registered with the district office, inspected and issued with a letter of acknowledgement. No if you are a foreigner running it yourself, because the Foreign Business Act treats nightly letting as a restricted business whether or not a hotel licence is involved.
Can a foreigner get a hotel licence in Thailand?
In your own name, no in practice. The Hotel Act has no nationality test, but the district office must refuse a foreigner who lacks permission under the Foreign Business Act, and hotel business is on that Act's restricted List Three. A company in which Thai shareholders hold more than half of the shares is outside the definition of a foreigner and applies like anyone else. Americans under the Treaty of Amity and businesses promoted by the Board of Investment have their own certificates.
I am a foreigner with a villa in my own name or on a lease. What am I allowed to do?
Let it by the month or longer. That is outside the Hotel Act and needs no licence. Letting it by the night is hotel business or registered small accommodation, and either way a business that the Foreign Business Act restricts to Thais and permitted foreigners, so an individual foreigner is not allowed to run it.
How do I apply for a hotel licence in Thailand?
At the district office where the villa is, on form ร.ร.1, or in Bangkok at the Department of Provincial Administration. You file the building plans, a site map, proof that the building is permitted for hotel use, proof of your right over the building and the land, and for a company its affidavit. The office checks the file within five working days, inspects within twenty days and decides within thirty days of the last report it needs. The licence lasts five years and costs 10,000 to 40,000 baht depending on the hotel type.
Can a hotel licence be sold with the property?
Yes, with the district office's approval. Section 24 of the Hotel Act lets a licence pass to anyone who qualifies. The buyer applies on form ร.ร.1/2, shows a right over the building and the land, and receives a new licence in their own name. A transfer without approval carries a fine of up to 500,000 baht plus up to 20,000 baht a day. On the operator's death an heir or executor has one hundred and eighty days to apply.
Where does the Foreign Business Act come into this?
Hotel business, with the exception of the hotel management service, is item (17) of List Three annexed to the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542. The Department of Business Development has treated hotel management service in its published advisory rulings as not being a business in the lists annexed to that Act. Managing a hotel and being the hotel are separate businesses.
This article is general information about Thai law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create a lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legislation as reviewed on 2 September 2026. Thai law and administrative practice change, and practice varies between offices and provinces. For advice on a particular situation, get in touch. See our editorial standards and disclaimer.
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