Private Clubs

Today we took our students on a field trip to the Tennis Academy of Asia and then to the Rajpruek Club. Both of these are private clubs for members only. Here is a little about them…

Tennis Academy – this state of the art facility has multiple courts including a center court to get players used to playing in front of big crowds, 2 clay courts that were built because Asians get beat on clay courts because they are very scarce, an Olympic sized swimming pool, weight equipment, and a restaurant. The purpose of the facility is to train high level tennis players throughout Asia. However, they only have 2 clients. The owner loses about $500,000 per month on this facility as he has a large staff who maintain the grounds and facilities. It was only recently that they added the weight equipment and started selling memberships. This was to raise more revenue. However, the location isn’t the best in that it is pretty industrial with only middle income people living in this area. The monthly membership fee is $40, which is good for us, but pretty high by Thai standards. Consider that they make about a dollar an hour. I hate to see such a beautiful facility go unused, but it seems the owner doesn’t care about making money. He just likes tennis, so this is a hobby to him. Marketing seems to be non-existent and tennis isn’t very popular in Thailand. It is expensive and Thais like team sports much better than individual ones.

Rajpruek Club – this private membership club has a 30 year membership of $10,000 with a monthly fee of $40. It has 3 pools, badminton courts, golf course, snooker room, areas for children’s activities, a restaurant, and much more. It is beautiful. Things were well thought out when this facility was built. The manager has traveled all over the world and has collected best practices on his travels that they instituted here. Pictured is a toilet that is miniature sized for children. Plus the handles on the showers and other things are low enough for children to use. Remembering back to your days in KNR270, you know ours are a standard height. ADA does not exist in Thailand, so they are lower. I have also posted a picture of the parking garage which is below ground so you don’t have to look at the cars. We rented a city bus for the field trip and they hid it from the members when we were at the club since it is an eyesore. This club usually does not let groups such as ours come in because the members don’t like it, but they took us since we were U.S. professors. Again, I like this special treatment! Lastly, this club does a nice job of having areas for children and adults that are separate. Some go together, but many are adults only. This includes programming. They do programs for all ages. Only on the private clubs do you find programming. There is nothing in the public sector.

Like the first facility the fees are very reasonable by American standards but expensive for Thais. I could afford to be a member at this club here, but in the U.S., the fees would be much higher to keep people like me out!

A note on accessibility…there isn’t any. You find very few ramps. When you do find them, there probably isn’t a ramp to get you into the building to use the ramp. There are no Braille signs, and elevators are not that abundant. Just ask Dr. Klitzing & I as we had to carry our 4, 50 pound suitcases up 4 flights of stairs in 100 degree weather! Add to this that all buildings have rooms that you either step up into and step down into. Rarely is a building on one level. This includes houses. There really isn’t much reason behind this we have found. However, it has made both of us trip a number of times. I am sure she will have a lot more to say about accessibility in class in the fall.