A month in Krabi

The Hotel Act defines a hotel as accommodation set up for business to lodge people temporarily for payment, and it leaves out accommodation set up to provide lodging charged by the month or longer. A flat, house or villa let for a month or more is therefore not hotel business. The same place let by the night or the week needs a hotel licence unless it is a small notified lodging with 4 rooms and 20 guests at most.

The host still reports the guest. Under section 38 of the Immigration Act, whoever takes in a foreign guest notifies immigration within 24 hours of arrival on form TM30, and the form covers rented houses, apartments and mansions as well as hotels.

Since 15 September 2026 the visa exemption for tourism is 30 days for citizens of the EU, the UK and the US, and the 60-day scheme is gone. The date on the entry stamp is the last day of the permitted stay, so a month has to end on or before it. UK travel advice says a longer stay needs the appropriate visa before travel or, where eligible, an extension from Thai immigration, and that overstaying costs THB 500 a day up to THB 20,000.

Entries by land under the exemption are generally limited to two a calendar year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and proof of funds of THB 10,000 per person or THB 20,000 per family may be asked at the border.

Ao Nang suits a month with the beach and the boats to Railay and the islands on foot. Krabi Town suits a month of town life, about 15 km from the airport by road. Koh Lanta suits an island month that a car can still reach, by the car ferry from the Hua Hin pier and the Siri Lanta Bridge (via GetCar). These choices are editorial; the stock on offer was not checked.

VAT at 7% applies to providers with more than THB 1.8 million of turnover a year, so a hotel adds it and a private landlord may not. Krabi's provincial hotel guest fee applies to hotel guests; its current rate was not verified. The Thailand Digital Arrival Card is completed online within 3 days before each arrival, and the official site states that no fee is charged. UK travel advice warns against handing the passport over as a guarantee, for example to motorcycle or jet-ski rental businesses.

Airbnb calls a reservation of 28 nights or more a monthly stay: the first month is charged up front and released to the host 24 hours after check-in, later months are charged 10 days in advance, and the price is locked at booking. Its long-term cancellation policy applies to all of these stays and, as a rule, needs 30 days' notice of changes. Whether a 28-night booking counts as charged by the month under the Hotel Act was not verified, so a lease for a full month is the clearer choice.

No official parking scheme was found for Ao Nang or Krabi town, so a month with a car starts with a place that has its own parking. On Koh Lanta, every trip to the mainland means the car ferry, which TAT lists as running from 06:00 to 22:00 (via GetCar). For Railay days, park in Ao Nang and take a long-tail (via GetCar).

Renting a flat by the night outside a hotel licence. Under a month, that is unlicensed hotel business.

Planning a month past the 30 days on the entry stamp. Get a visa before travel if the stay runs longer.

Missing the last ferry back to Lanta. The ferry hours on TAT's page end at 22:00 (via GetCar).

Assuming the host has filed TM30. The duty falls on the host within 24 hours, so ask.