Bangkok Hotels

[1Ball]

Now the other "The Traveler" is just a ... ....

A perfect description Mick. If you had the pleasure of meeting this... ...., your expletitives would have taken longer to delete. He pretty much got tared and feathered about 6 to 8 months ago, hence his extremely low profile since then.

Still waiting to meet the wild one 1Ball. Has to happen sooner or later.

Reports of my death have been greatly exagerated, Mick.
I will be there october 9, (GF in tow) and if you are too, I look forward to buying a beer to the undisputed king of MPs.

[SexWithSmile]

I haven't seen a recent report on that hotel, so I will take the risk to repeat some previous comments as it might be useful for newbies. I will highlight features in all objectivity.

Definitive Pluses:

1) You can bring as many guests as you wish (threesomes are encouraged, as long as you are not screaming too hard), and entrance is very discreet.

2) Internet is free and well functioning, including next to the pool.

3) You can sit next to the pool, in the shadow, there are power plugs to connect your PC.

4) Pool is warmed up by the sun - unlike the pools of high rise buildings which are always in the shadow and therefore too cold to have a pleasant swim, floating on a buyo and sipping your beer. Also no children are splashing around.

5) There is a good in-house stable with quality girls. Management will not push for you to use it.

6) Mister Giotto is there to recommend you a few good alternative mongering places.

7) Rooms with double jacuzzi - not many hotels feature that.

8) Very high quality beds.

9) Very helpful and friendly staff, perfect cleaning of mess left in room (but I still politely remove the used condoms from the floor and hide the vibrating toys out of direct sight for not shocking the maids).

10) Restaurant serving quality food in a romantic setting around the pool, where you can sit and smoke a good cigar.

11) It is small, so if you forget something in your room you don't have to spend 5 minutes walking and waiting for a lift.

12) Breakfast is included and served until the afternoon around the pool. It is simple (no big buffet), but decent scrambled eggs.

Now - some factors to take into consideration to put Livingstones on the hard competitive map of restaurants and hotels in Bangkok.

9) Not too cheap. I personally find the value for money very good, but it is not suitable for all budgets.

10) Swimming pool is lacking beach chairs with plush towels for sun tanning.

11) Rooms furniture is a bit spartan, and no much closet space.

12) No remote control for airco.

13) It is not the hipping, flashy design, be the lobby, room furniture, glassware, seats... it has a bit of rusticity, but is all good to me.

Hoping this helps - I personally spend 300 nights per year in hotels, and I still come back to this one for some good reasons.

Cheers - SWS

[Primo Bolan]

When I stayed at the JW Marriott, it was ranked 7th on Tripadvisor, and the Conrad was ranked 9th. I know for a fact that the JW Marriott got a couple of lousy (1 out of 5) reviews from genuinely bitter reviewers, which dropped it out of the top 20 - I wouldn't be surprised if you were not one of those reviewers. That being said, you obviously missed where I stated that I thought that the Conrad was very slightly BETTER than the JW Marriott, except for the location. Still, as has been pointed out, there are nearly 400 Bangkok hotels in TripAdvisor, and pretty much all of the ones in the top 10% are excellent places. The fact is, for THIS board, the JW Marriott's location is a plus, but ma and pa tourist could well strongly DOWNGRADE the place because it's near NEP, and all of the 50 year-old guys with their 20 year old Tilaks in tow offended them - at least one of the JW's bad reviews specifically mentioned that issue.

My only gripe with the JW Marriott is that it now costs double what it did when I stayed there.

Dear Member #2041

First thing that struck me is that you are so familiar with the TA and all the moms and dads and there opinions and rankings.

When I refer from it its stupid.

For this particular guy, money was obviously not a problem. You should know that there is not hard to get a cab near NEP and to take a few minutes ride to Conrad. Which is a slihgtly better hotel in your own opinion.

If location is the big issue then NANA hotel would be a better option with a few meters to NEP or the nearer p-lot.

For THIS board ?

The fact is that in THIS THREAD we are discussing BKK hotels and they dont necessary need to have a brothel down the basement. Nor beeing in the middle of some fucking area. So please do not try to make up the rules to this thread.

And one more thing Member #2041, I do not write any reviews on the TA, so that one didn`t get you anywhere.

Yours Primo

PS: Congratulation Giotto not bad, not bad at all.

[M P Lurker]

Mix up the travelers? TT or T1234 ????

Can you believe it, in my VERY early days on the forum I got mixed up between The Traveler and Traveler1234, very stupidly. After a couple of uncharcteristic aggressive posts from T1234 I thought he was a friend of the Traveler. How very wrong!

When I started to compile some links to Soapy reviews I found that T1234 has some very good posts and his unfriendly posts were less frequent than my own.
We all get pissed off by dickheads and have to consider putting someone on our "ignore lists" from time to time.
Then I met T1234 at the lodge and I realised he was the most friendly high class guys around. I look forward to our next catch up.

Now the other "The Traveler" is just a ... ....
Expletives best deleted.

Now as for Tansak KTV, I thought he would be Asian until I actually met him LOL . I thought the KTV bit referred to Karaoke TV clubs. Wrong again! Another superbly friendly guy. I look forward to meeting him again soon.

Actually many great ISGers met at the LL.
Giotto, Nic Frenchy, Piper1, Sonic Bam, Rev Colin, PosterLion, Canyon, Flyhere, Duniawala, Stiffoak, and many others (sorry some handles escape me for a moment). Not enough spare time to get to know them all as well as would like. Still waiting to meet the wild one 1Ball. Has to happen sooner or later.

[Giotto]

At least this one was very obviously not written by T1234 .

Terry Terrier,

LOL ... good one.

No, obviously not. I think I know who wrote this report on tripadvisor.

The feedback from tripadvisor is not only positive. Single travelling women and couples sometimes complain about the bar... .

One cannot do it right for everybody. But position 75 from 398 hotels without being connected to a major hotel group.


Giotto

PS: If somebody needs any details: http://www.livingstones.co.th

[Traveler1234]

Wow, I just checked our ranking (Livingstone's Lodge): 75 from 398 hotels in Bangkok!
Giotto

Must be all those 'ISG assholes' who are so neo-con & evangelical about your place

[Member #3428]

They are both fellow Travelers.

Yes... one likes the lodge the other is not a big fan...

[Member #2041]

Mix up the travelers? TT or T1234 ????

They are both fellow Travelers.

[Member #3428]

At least this one was very obviously not written by T1234 .

Mix up the travelers? TT or T1234 ????

[Terry Terrier]

"The staff: this place is runned by two peculiar german guys. Professional and down to earth they handle everything with lots of care and you can sense that their hearts are in the place, the guests, and, very important, their Thai - staff. You can feel that the staff who works there, feels home and protected and they communicate a lot with the guests, making life better for them and yet they show their personality - you get to know eachother a little bit and that is real nice. Hey, a family feeling."

This one is from Livingstones.

At least this one was very obviously not written by T1234 .

[Member #2041]

Conrad is ranked 8 on the list and JW Marriott 34!

The location is included in the rating.

Is that pointing in some direction?

You have a bitterness in this discussion Member #2041.

When I stayed at the JW Marriott, it was ranked 7th on Tripadvisor, and the Conrad was ranked 9th. I know for a fact that the JW Marriott got a couple of lousy (1 out of 5) reviews from genuinely bitter reviewers, which dropped it out of the top 20 - I wouldn't be surprised if you were not one of those reviewers. That being said, you obviously missed where I stated that I thought that the Conrad was very slightly BETTER than the JW Marriott, except for the location. Still, as has been pointed out, there are nearly 400 Bangkok hotels in TripAdvisor, and pretty much all of the ones in the top 10% are excellent places. The fact is, for THIS board, the JW Marriott's location is a plus, but ma and pa tourist could well strongly DOWNGRADE the place because it's near NEP, and all of the 50 year-old guys with their 20 year old Tilaks in tow offended them - at least one of the JW's bad reviews specifically mentioned that issue.

My only gripe with the JW Marriott is that it now costs double what it did when I stayed there.

[M P Lurker]

Wow, I just checked our ranking (Livingstone's Lodge): 75 from 398 hotels in Bangkok!

Not bad for a small hotel like ours.


Giotto

Top ranked places tend to be expensive, e.g. Grand Millenium, Conrad, etc.
I would prefer to keep my left over cash for the girls instead of waste it on a pompous Hotel!
On the other hand we each tend to have a personal minimum acceptable standard that must be reached.
A good internet service is essential to me (preferrably free).
Good food is a definite plus.

I would like to see separate popularity list for different price brackets, or a value for money list.
Then I think that Livingstone's could easily more up the ranking for the 2k price bracket (inclusive of breakfast and internet and ++ charges)

[Primo Bolan]

I can't speak for countries outside SE Asia, but in this part of the world Tripadvisor's rankings need to be taken with a grain of salt. Some seem so out of whack that you have to wonder if interested parties are rigging the results.

You are definetly right about this!

A big grain.

"The staff: this place is runned by two peculiar german guys. Professional and down to earth they handle everything with lots of care and you can sense that their hearts are in the place, the guests, and, very important, their Thai - staff. You can feel that the staff who works there, feels home and protected and they communicate a lot with the guests, making life better for them and yet they show their personality - you get to know eachother a little bit and that is real nice. Hey, a family feeling."

This one is from Livingstones.

[Giotto]

Conrad is ranked 8 on the list and JW Marriott 34!
...

Wow, I just checked our ranking (Livingstone's Lodge): 75 from 398 hotels in Bangkok!

Not bad for a small hotel like ours.


Giotto

[Betong]

Conrad is ranked 8 on the list and JW Marriott 34

I can't speak for countries outside SE Asia, but in this part of the world Tripadvisor's rankings need to be taken with a grain of salt. Some seem so out of whack that you have to wonder if interested parties are rigging the results.