Small hotels can't tell arriving guests which routes and transfers work during floods
In the September 2026 floods airports stayed open while ground routes stayed impassable, and trade advice told hotels to keep guests updated on transfers and road access. One guest asked on Reddit if Grab would reach his Silom hotel; another pair spent three days stuck, eating cup noodles, after eight Grab drivers refused. A 10-room hotel has no tool for this.
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5 ways to tackle it
Hardware and sensors
Soi Depth Gauge: a cheap sensor at the street entrance that reports water depth
An ESP32 with an ultrasonic sensor sits above the entrance and measures water depth every minute. The hotel page shows 'water 18 cm: wheeled luggage not advised' in the guest's language, with a short AI-written note.
Build with ESP32, waterproof ultrasonic sensor, Claude, Cloudflare Worker
Hardware and sensors
Last Mile Slip: the desk prints each guest a map, Thai driver line and boat number
A cheap thermal printer at the front desk prints one slip per arriving guest. It has a hand-drawn style map of the final 500 meters with flooded stretches crossed out, a Thai sentence to show a driver, and the hotel's phone number. Guests with a dead phone battery still have it.
Build with 58mm thermal printer, Raspberry Pi, Google Routes API, Claude, python-escpos
AI agent
Transfer Fixer: an agent that phones trusted drivers and boat operators in Thai
When a guest is stuck, the agent calls the hotel's list of known drivers and boat operators in Thai, asking who can take the trip now, how deep the water is on the way, and the price. It reports the best offer to the guest in English with a driver contact.
Build with Twilio Voice, Thai TTS, Whisper, Claude, Google Sheets
Automation and APIs
Pre-Arrival Notes: reads booking emails and sends each guest a flood-aware plan
The tool reads new booking confirmations in the hotel's Gmail, pulls out guest name, language and arrival time, and checks the route status. It emails the guest a plan in their language with the best transfer option and a number to call.
Build with Gmail API, n8n, Google Routes API, Traffy Fondue, Claude
Web portal
Soi Shuttle Pool: small hotels on one soi share a flood truck or boat for arrivals
Ten-room hotels cannot hire a transfer alone, but five on one street can. A shared board collects arriving guests and times, and batches them into one truck or boat trip with the cost split by PromptPay QR. Guests get one confirmed pickup point.
Build with Next.js, Supabase, PromptPay QR, Claude for guest messages
What people reported
TTG Asia 28 Sep 2026: advice to hotels to communicate road access and transfers
ttgasia.comTourist asks if he can get a Grab from the airport to a Silom hotel while Bangkok is a disaster zone
reddit.comGuests stuck 3 days at a hotel, 8 Grab drivers declined
reddit.com