Advice re hotels in BKK please...

Sjoerd wrote:


I am not a backpacker (anymore). I don't know if we qualify as typical
tourists, but the hotel we stayed is totally adequate for a typical tourist.
Clean, fairly large room, private bath, minibar, TV, room service, what else
does a typical tourist want in a city hotel?
It is the kind of hotel room that one would pay USD 200 in New York City and
over EUR 120 in most European capitals for.

What's the problem?
For sure there are people that think that it is not possible to get
serious luxury for 20-20US. They prefer to pay 100 for the same service,
to tell their neighbours then that they stayed in hilton or something
else ... there is no need to convince them ....

Other ones look out for more economic possibilities, get the same
service for a better price and feel happy (well, it does not sound to
good if you tell your neighbour back home that you stayed in a 20 US
hotel) ....

just my 2 cents,

Manfred

--
...try the real lombok ecotourism: visit http://lombok-ecoturist.org

"Sjoerd" wrote in message ...
"Tchiowa" schreef in bericht
om...
"Sjoerd" wrote in message
...
"Tchiowa" schreef in bericht
om...
???? Notice that he said Bangkok, not some smaller city. A fairly
cheap tourist hotel in Bangkok is $50.

Bull****. Last month, we stayed in a clean, nice twin-bed room, downtown
Bangkok, certainly 3 star hotel, large bathroom with bathtub, TV,
minibar,
safe in the room, jacuzzi on the roof of the hotel, for 980 baht (EUR
20,
USD 24) for the room per night, nice buffet breakfast included.

Which is a "cheap tourist hotel". Other "cheap tourist hotels" like
the Nana charge around 40, for example. These are lower end hotels.

For a backpacker that's a reasonable hotel. For the typical tourist
that's not.

I am not a backpacker (anymore). I don't know if we qualify as typical
tourists, but the hotel we stayed is totally adequate for a typical tourist.
Clean, fairly large room, private bath, minibar, TV, room service, what else
does a typical tourist want in a city hotel?
It is the kind of hotel room that one would pay USD 200 in New York City and
over EUR 120 in most European capitals for.

This may have been adequate for you and that's great. But please don't
try to tell the group that you got the same type of hotel that you
would pay $200 for in the US for $24 in Bangkok.

$200 in New York or 120 Euros in "most European Capitals" gets you a 5
star hotel. 980 baht will not get that for you in Bangkok. You
labelled the hotel 3 star. Big difference between 3 star and 5 star.

The 980 baht room may have been fine for you and that's great. Do you
mind naming the hotel?

We still need the name of this hotel - PLEASE!

"Miguel Cruz" wrote in message
...
Tchiowa wrote:
Miguel Cruz wrote:
Tchiowa wrote:
???? Notice that he said Bangkok, not some smaller city. A fairly
cheap tourist hotel in Bangkok is $50. Luxury hotels are over $100 a
night in Bangkok.

At the moment I'm staying in the Grace Hotel on Sukhimvit Soi 3 for 930
baht
per night (about US$23). It's very clean and well-maintained, well
located
(5 minutes' walk to skytrain), probably what I'd call a 3-star. I
cannot
imagine what I could get for more money that would be worth the
additional
expense.

I didn't say that the the additional expense would be worth it. For
some people it is, for others it isn't.

But your note said that anything over $25 a night is "serious luxury"
and that makes no sense. The Nana is more than that and it's anything
but "serious luxury". You won't get into anything that you could call
"luxury" below $100/night.

To elaborate, my 930 baht hotel room had a pool (ok, the pool wasn't in
the
room), concierge services, a TV with about 40 satellite and cable channels
from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, spotlessly-clean room, nice view
of
the city, one double bed and one twin, three chairs, a desk and a table, a
spacious closet, modem port, and so on.

To me that seems more than adequate for a "tourist" and really quite
adequate for most other travelers as well unless they had particular
special
needs (I would have been happier with in-room broadband, for instance).

A week ago I was in a very high-calibre hotel (the MiCasa Suites in Phnom
Penh) that cost substantially more. Aside from the provision of a full
kitchen, though, everything else additionally provided there was luxury.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

"Tchiowa" wrote in message
om...
"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
...
"Nige" wrote in message
...


Yeah but Chiang Mai is an hours flight north of Bangkok and quite a
long
journey just for a bed for the night.

What night?

Any night.

Why didn't he /she say so then.

The discussion is about hotels *IN BANGKOK*. Yes, hotels in
other cities are cheaper. But if you want a hotel *IN BANGKOK* the

Hotels in Chiang Mai are not particularly cheaper. Actually rates are
typically lower in the two towns than anywhere else in the kingdom. I
mentioned the Imperial Mae Ping as a good tourist class hotel (far from low
end) in which I booked a room by 30 euros for each night. Similar
opportunities are plentiful in Bangkok as you have seen in texts sent by
other folks.

prices in Chiang Mai aren't relevant unless you want to fly there for
the night, are they?

I have no idea what you are talking about.

"ash" wrote in message
...
We still need the name of this hotel - PLEASE!

What do you need it for ? I suggest that he gives one or more perfect or
imperfect parameters, like partial address of the hotel, number of storeys
and lifts, main colour of the exterior, buss routes passing the hotel nearby
and so on. Others can make wild guesses about the identity of the hotel
until someone hits the target.

For instance I hired a two room "suite" last year at Baiyoke the Lower in
Pratuman with a buffet breakfast (not too good though) set at 44th floor
terrace by 24 euros a night. Okay, there were a couple of oddities: bathroom
was a lot hotter than rest of the apartment (aircon didn't reach it and
there were some funny through holes in one of the walls there) and one
couldn't go to the balcony even if there was one.

It is true that in Thailand too hotel fares vary a lot seasonally. I just
returned from Mexico and in Acapulco I hired a room by 60 dollars rack rates
starting from 170.

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
...

"ash" wrote in message
...
We still need the name of this hotel - PLEASE!

What do you need it for ? I suggest that he gives one or more perfect or
imperfect parameters, like partial address of the hotel, number of storeys
and lifts, main colour of the exterior, buss routes passing the hotel
nearby
and so on. Others can make wild guesses about the identity of the hotel
until someone hits the target.

For instance I hired a two room "suite" last year at Baiyoke the Lower in
Pratuman with a buffet breakfast (not too good though) set at 44th floor
terrace by 24 euros a night. Okay, there were a couple of oddities:
bathroom
was a lot hotter than rest of the apartment (aircon didn't reach it and
there were some funny through holes in one of the walls there) and one
couldn't go to the balcony even if there was one.

It is true that in Thailand too hotel fares vary a lot seasonally. I just
returned from Mexico and in Acapulco I hired a room by 60 dollars rack
rates
starting from 170.

Why dont we change this discussion to hotels in Finland - I am sure our
friend can provide some excellent and really helpful advice. How about the
risk of mosquito bites in Turku at 3am in the morning in a 2 star hotel. Can
you guess its name ? Well so much for the common sense of the human race.
I perpsire to attempt to understand.

"Tchiowa" schreef in bericht
om...
"Sjoerd" wrote in message
...
"Tchiowa" schreef in bericht
om...
"Sjoerd" wrote in message
...
"Tchiowa" schreef in bericht
om...
???? Notice that he said Bangkok, not some smaller city. A fairly
cheap tourist hotel in Bangkok is $50.

Bull****. Last month, we stayed in a clean, nice twin-bed room,
downtown
Bangkok, certainly 3 star hotel, large bathroom with bathtub, TV,
minibar,
safe in the room, jacuzzi on the roof of the hotel, for 980 baht
(EUR
20,
USD 24) for the room per night, nice buffet breakfast included.

Which is a "cheap tourist hotel". Other "cheap tourist hotels" like
the Nana charge around 40, for example. These are lower end hotels.

For a backpacker that's a reasonable hotel. For the typical tourist
that's not.

I am not a backpacker (anymore). I don't know if we qualify as typical
tourists, but the hotel we stayed is totally adequate for a typical
tourist.
Clean, fairly large room, private bath, minibar, TV, room service, what
else
does a typical tourist want in a city hotel?
It is the kind of hotel room that one would pay USD 200 in New York City
and
over EUR 120 in most European capitals for.

This may have been adequate for you and that's great. But please don't
try to tell the group that you got the same type of hotel that you
would pay $200 for in the US for $24 in Bangkok.

That's almost exactly what I tell the group: the quality of the USD 190
hotel in NYC that I stayed in June 2003 was actually worse than the quality
of the USD 24 hotel in BKK: smaller room in NYC, no breakfast included in
NYC, everything else similar quality.

$200 in New York or 120 Euros in "most European Capitals" gets you a 5
star hotel. 980 baht will not get that for you in Bangkok. You
labelled the hotel 3 star. Big difference between 3 star and 5 star.

Very small difference actually, unless you care for fountains and marble in
the lobby. I stay in 5 star hotels all the time for work, and I have told my
boss to book a 3 star hotel for me long ago (our travel department is not
willing to do that), because the difference between 5 star and 3 star is
almost non-existent as far as the important aspects of a hotel are
concerned.


The 980 baht room may have been fine for you and that's great. Do you
mind naming the hotel?

Yes, I do mind, because it is almost always fully booked and I don't want to
advertise that hotel too much as I would like to stay there again.

Sjoerd

"Nige" wrote in message
...


Why dont we change this discussion to hotels in Finland - I am sure our

It wouldn't fit the scope of this group.

friend can provide some excellent and really helpful advice. How about the

What friend ?

risk of mosquito bites in Turku at 3am in the morning in a 2 star hotel.
Can

Turku shouldn't be a major problem. Perhaps it is advisable to keep windows
closed at nights. Possibly around the Airisto region there are decent
populations. Lapland during the summer may be entirely different though.
While my military unit was maneuvering in southern Lapland, we discovered
that local mosquitos were very fond of fats, especially butter. They served
as a great source of protein on our slices of bread and butter.

you guess its name ? Well so much for the common sense of the human race.

Fortunately you don't represent it.

I perpsire to attempt to understand.

What perpsire stands for.

Daniel,

You did not provide your daily budget. I have used the following website as
recently at a month ago and booked beautiful rooms in Monterey, California
(Hyatt Resort) and San Ramon, California (Marriott) for $60 and $38US
respectively. You should be able to stay at the 5 Star Shangri-La in
Bangkok for around $50-55US/night (pure luxury). Check out:

www.biddingfortravel.com

Read and study the site carefully before you bid for a stay. If you decide
to book, use their link to Priceline.com. Again, study the site carefully.
Bid in $5 increments. If you are rejected, you can return to bid 72 hours
later, or expand your geographical area of preference within the city and
bid again.

Good luck and enjoy Bangkok!
Rick


"D" wrote in message
...
Hey all -

Will be spending 4 days in BKK soon - just a standover; aim to get some
rest
before a new job. I am faced with a choice between the Radisson (out of
town but good write-ups) and the Amari Boulevard Hotel in Sukhumvit (more
Central but current construction, they tell me).

Are there any sages in the group who could help me make up my mind.....

TIA

Daniel

ash wrote:
We still need the name of this hotel - PLEASE!

I thought I already mentioned it, but it's the Grace Hotel on Sukhumvit soi
3. http://www.gracehotel.th.com/

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu