Saw a huge shift in cafe culture in Chiang Mai over 3 years

I first hit Chiang Mai in 2021 and back then every second cafe was a coworking spot with free wifi and power strips everywhere. Last month I went back and half of those places now have signs saying "laptop free zones" or limit you to 2 hours. The barista at a place near Nimman told me they got sick of people buying one iced latte and camping for 6 hours. Has anyone else noticed this shift in other nomad hubs too?

3 comments

3 Comments

paul2512mo agoTop Commenter

Man, that sucks but I get it. I saw the same thing happening in Lisbon last year. Some of those digital nomad types really ruin it for everyone by treating a cafe like their personal office all day. A buddy of mine runs a small cafe near the firehouse and he had to start charging by the hour too just to keep the lights on.

victorb172mo ago

Huh, charging by the hour huh? How much did he end up setting the rate at?

grant_foster7914d ago

paul251 I get your buddy's frustration, but honestly I think people are making a mountain out of a molehill here. Some cafes are gonna cater to the laptop crowd and some aren't, that's just business. I was in a place in Pai last month that had a whole "working corner" with booths and power strips, so it's not like every cafe is banning laptops. Feels like a few loud voices crying about a problem that's been around since cafes started having wifi in the first place.