Phuket hotel staff track down a French tourist in Koh Samui after finding ฿100,000 in forgotten euros. He flies back, collects every euro from owner Guy Petcharat and leaves a ฿100 tip, prompting online commenters to brand the small reward as less than generous.
A French tourist flew back from Koh Samui after a Phuket hotel tracked him down over ฿100,000 in euros he did not even know he had lost. A housekeeper found the cash stuffed inside an envelope in his wardrobe after checkout, before owner Guy Petcharat personally contacted him and returned every euro. Then came the kicker. The delighted tourist handed him a ฿100 tip. That startling 1,000-to-one contrast has since lit up online message boards, with commenters branding the reward astonishingly thrifty given the amount involved.
A French tourist flew back to Phuket after hotel staff found about ฿100,000 worth of euros he had forgotten. By then, he was already on Koh Samui. More remarkably, he apparently had no idea the money was missing.
The unusual find was made at OASIS Phuket Airport, near Phuket International Airport. A housekeeper entered the Frenchman’s room after he checked out and began the usual cleaning.
During the work, the employee found an envelope inside a wardrobe. It contained a substantial bundle of euro banknotes.
French tourist returns from Koh Samui after Phuket hotel staff find about ฿100,000 in forgotten euros
Meanwhile, the guest had already left Phuket and travelled onwards to Koh Samui in Surat Thani province. He had apparently continued his holiday without noticing the missing envelope.
The housekeeper reported the discovery and hotel owner Guy Petcharat took over. Rather than waiting for the Frenchman to call, Mr Petcharat contacted him personally.
That was when the tourist discovered his costly mistake. His envelope was still in Phuket, while he had already travelled to another island.
The Frenchman then arranged to fly back to Phuket and retrieve the cash. Mr Petcharat estimated the euros inside the envelope were worth around ฿100,000.
The precise amount in euros has not been disclosed. However, the estimate gives some idea of what the tourist had unknowingly left inside the wardrobe.
Mr Petcharat later posted a photograph of himself returning the money. The Facebook post appeared at 10.35 am on October 2.
He also thanked his team at OASIS Phuket Airport. In particular, the recovery had started with the housekeeper finding the envelope during routine cleaning.
Hotel staff track down tourist in Koh Samui before he flies back to Phuket to recover forgotten euros
The Frenchman had not reported the money missing before the hotel contacted him. Instead, staff discovered the cash and then went looking for its owner.
That detail gave an otherwise straightforward lost-property case an unusual twist. The tourist was already in Koh Samui before learning that his money remained in Phuket.
Once contacted, he made the return journey. He flew back to Phuket and collected the envelope containing his euros.
Mr Petcharat later spoke to Phuket Times about the episode. He did not portray the return as an extraordinary act.
“If a guest leaves a personal belonging behind in their room, it must be returned,” Mr Petcharat said.
For the hotel owner, that appeared to settle the matter. A guest had forgotten something valuable, staff found it and the property was returned.
Nevertheless, the amount involved was considerable. Mr Petcharat estimated the envelope contained around ฿100,000 worth of euros.
Phuket hotel owner says returning forgotten property is routine after tourist recovers ฿100,000 in euros
He also recognised how the Frenchman might have reacted had the money disappeared permanently.
“If the money had really been lost, he would have been shocked, because there was a lot in that envelope,” Mr Petcharat said.
Instead, the tourist recovered the entire bundle after flying back from Koh Samui.
Then came the detail which has since given the story another life online.
“He looked very happy and gave me a 100-baht tip,” Mr Petcharat told Phuket Times.
That ฿100 has since become a talking point on online message boards discussing the story. Commenters have focused heavily on the contrast between the recovered money and the tip.
The comparison is certainly stark.
The hotel returned euros valued at around ฿100,000. The tourist gave Mr Petcharat ฿100 afterwards.
In percentage terms, the tip was approximately 0.1% of the estimated value of the recovered money.
฿100 tip becomes online talking point after Phuket hotel returns around ฿100,000 in euros to tourist
Moreover, the tourist had not discovered the loss and asked the hotel for help. Staff found the envelope first, while he continued travelling.
Mr Petcharat then personally contacted him on Koh Samui. Only after that call did the Frenchman apparently realise what he had left behind.
The tourist subsequently had to fly back to Phuket. There, he recovered a substantial amount of cash which might otherwise have remained forgotten in the wardrobe.
Against that sequence, the ฿100 tip was always likely to attract attention once the story became public.
Some online commenters have described it as stingy. Others have simply focused on the extraordinary disparity between the two amounts.
Mr Petcharat himself, however, made no complaint. His comments instead stressed that returning forgotten property was simply what a hotel should do.
Online commenters call ฿100 tip sparing after hotel tracks down tourist and returns his forgotten euros
That distinction is important. The hotel owner did not publicly criticise his former guest. The verdict on the tip came afterwards from people discussing the story online.
Yet the figures require little embellishment.
A housekeeper found the forgotten envelope. Mr Petcharat tracked down its owner. The Frenchman learned he had misplaced around ฿100,000 without even noticing.
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He then flew back from Koh Samui and got every euro back.
And after all that, he tipped the hotel owner ฿100.
Call it generous or call it economical. Either way, it was one-thousandth of the estimated value returned.
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