2007 Bangkok Hotels

[Mayday14]

There are three or four properties operated by Ascott group in BKK. I recently stayed at Suwan Park View Hotel in BKK on Soi Tonson right across from chidlom, it’s an ascott property and it’s a serviced apartment not exactly a hotel. ...... <SNIP> The lady I was with was on the reservation so I have no idea if it is girl friendly, but my opinion is that if you are cool about it, and not dragging in a bunch of drunk BG’s at all hours and making a fuss then I think it would be fine.

This is my usual place in BKK, GF for up to at least 2 girls and getting them to leave ID at the front desk is optional - if you go to the desk they'll take it otherwise they're cool about just going straight to the room.

[Imready777]

Stayed at 2 hotels in BKK on a recent trip in Thailand... here are some reviews if any of you areconsidering these places:

Somerset Lake Point

Fast check in. I was early (noon) and everything was ready for me. They had even upgraded me.

This is a bigger place than I expected with 2 towers. Indoor and outdoor pools, both excellent. Overall the whole place and the service had a luxury feel to it.

A big plus was for the breakfast (included in rate) which was great with made to order omlettes etc.

A big minus was no free internet!

A little bit too far to walk to Suk or BTS but the hote's tuk-tuk service is good to get you up there.

I think someone else noted the smell in the lobby... not sure what that is but it is bad. Only place in the hotel I noticed it though.

It is girl friendly. Even in the welcome letter they gave me it clearly said 'your security is our concern and we recommend any overnight guests sign in (ie. leave card)' which they duly did.

Citadines 16

Newer hotel in same chain as Somerset. Thisonedoes not have the luxury feel nor does it try to. This is a small boutique style hotel, all modern furniture, clean and has free internet in all rooms. Location is right at start of soi 16 - so just 4 or 5 min walk to Asoke BTS.

Girl friendly? I did not bring anyone back here, but seemed like others had no problem doing so.

I would recommend as good value new hotel ingood location.

Both booked via latestays.com and rate was around 2000B Somerset and 1800B Citidines.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I certainly hope that the author or somebody else will post a link to this report in the Reports of Distinction thread. Please Click Here for more information.

[Evil Penivel]

Okay EP, for most mongers it is guest friendly but in your case it may be not.

Good luck.

Many thanks, Horntoad, and a tip of the evil pen!

Evil

[Horntoad]

Another new boutique hotel. It's the redone Vega residence:

The Key

On the basis of the pics, facilities (full kitchen in suite, rooftop pool) location (Soi 19, right beside Robinson) and price (3,000 baht/night for a 68 square-meter suite is very good value for money), I booked it for early December before promotional pricing ends.

I have no idea whether it is guest friendly. Considering the location, it's likely to be, but I'm not sure. It's pointless to email as almost every BKK hotel will in the current climate answer in writing there is charge for overnight guests, even if in practice they never enforce it.

I still have plenty of time to cancel if it is confirmed guest-unfriendly. So does anyone know for sure?

Evil

Okay EP, for most mongers it is guest friendly but in your case it may be not. I went in there asking about joiner fees and they said if you bring in one girl at a time, it is okay but they will charge for the second girl if brought in at the same time. Knowing your penchance for Eden girls, you might want to clarify again before your trip.

However, the elevator is right next to the front door so you might be able get in the elevators before they notice or say anything. The rooms are pretty nice though.

Good luck.

[Evil Penivel]

Another new boutique hotel. It's the redone Vega residence:

The Key

On the basis of the pics, facilities (full kitchen in suite, rooftop pool) location (Soi 19, right beside Robinson) and price (3,000 baht/night for a 68 square-meter suite is very good value for money), I booked it for early December before promotional pricing ends.

I have no idea whether it is guest friendly. Considering the location, it's likely to be, but I'm not sure. It's pointless to email as almost every BKK hotel will in the current climate answer in writing there is charge for overnight guests, even if in practice they never enforce it.

I still have plenty of time to cancel if it is confirmed guest-unfriendly. So does anyone know for sure?

Evil

[Evil Penivel]

Sorry, Evil, but I couldn't disagree more with the gist of your report!
We are renting a room per night. H & S regs require and make it common sense for us to register all visitors to our rooms, but it shouldn't matter if we are sheltering half the population of Soi Cowboy so long as our credit guarantees cover potential usage/losses per pro the hotel. Of course, a very few hotels in Bangkok genuinely don't want punter customers. Lets identify these and move on.

We should not be encouraging subservience to bullshit hotel rules. Coma Boy alerted us to the fact that most hotels in Bangkok will back down over these bullshit rules when confronted with the alternative of Joe Farang taking his baht elsewhere.

I'm not sure with what you're disagreeing. I believe mongers should stay in hotels that want and encourage our business. Any hotel that charges a joiner fee doesn't want mongers staying there. The best way of "voting with your wallet" is not to book a guest-unfriendly hotel in the first place, rather than arguing with the night manager at 2.00 a.m.

Moreover, the staff and other guests - farang and non-farang - at non-GF hotels tend to rude to the girls you have with you. If a girl thinks she is going to be hassled or humilated in front of Thais, she'll often refuse to go back to the hotel.

Mongers should avoid hotels that aren't GF. Rather than trying to avoid paying the joiner's fee, avoid the hotel. There are plenty of hotels in all price ranges that don't have joiner fees.

You are mistaken about the number of people in a room, though. Renting a hotel room is actually a contract between the hotel owner and guest. The hotel has the absolute right to enforce the terms of the contract. No where, in custom, practice or law do you have a right to take back a unlimited number of unregistered guests for an overnight stay. The hotel may choose not to enforce this part of the contract, but still retains the right to do so.

Evil

[More Sex]

I found out 2 boutique hotels which I never heard previously.

Salil hotel
http://www.salilhotel.com/

The key
http://www.thekeybangkok.com/

The rates of Salil & The key are from Baht 1300 to Baht 1800 with breakfast. From the picture of their websites, it looks impressive. But you know, sometimes these photo are very deceiving.

Anyone can help me? Any review on these hotel?

These 2 hotel just 200-300 meter from Nana Station & Asoke station respectively.

[Notidik]

Bro,
Since it is GF hotel at Novatel Siam square, how come they still charge thb1,000 for guest to bring up girls for over night. I heard some of my friend who bring up girls without additional cost. Can ayone there verified that????

Never ever had this problem. Always walked in hand in hand in full view of the guards, boys whatever..........

[Fastcome]

Novotel Siam Square is girl friendly, but they charge THB 1,000/- (USD 30/-) per guest that you take up to your room.

Bro,
Since it is GF hotel at Novatel Siam square, how come they still charge thb1,000 for guest to bring up girls for over night. I heard some of my friend who bring up girls without additional cost. Can ayone there verified that????

[Cadjan]

Sorry to reply to my own post; I emailed the hotel and asked, and their reservations manager stated that there is NO charge for guests, they said:

"Please be informed that there is no charge for visitor who was not check-in."

I will likely stay there in early November and will report back.

Stayed at this hotel on the weekend - can confirm definitely GF. No problems bringing one back late at night.

[Cadjan]

Sorry to reply to my own post; I emailed the hotel and asked, and their reservations manager stated that there is NO charge for guests, they said:

"Please be informed that there is no charge for visitor who was not check-in."

I will likely stay there in early November and will report back.

Stayed at the Grand Sukhumvit over the weekend - definitely GF. Nice place, OK location, short walk to Nana BTS, no problems.

[Terry Terrier]

Just to make sure we're all on the same page.....

Sorry, Evil, but I couldn't disagree more with the gist of your report!

We are renting a room per night. H & S regs require and make it common sense for us to register all visitors to our rooms, but it shouldn't matter if we are sheltering half the population of Soi Cowboy so long as our credit guarantees cover potential usage/losses per pro the hotel. Of course, a very few hotels in Bangkok genuinely don't want punter customers. Lets identify these and move on.

We should not be encouraging subservience to bullshit hotel rules. Coma Boy alerted us to the fact that most hotels in Bangkok will back down over these bullshit rules when confronted with the alternative of Joe Farang taking his baht elsewhere.

[Piper1]

Just to make sure we're all on the same page:

To be considered "guest friendly," the hotel must allow your unregistered guests to stay overnight without extra charge.

I'll repeat for clarity: Outside of Thailand (especially in conservative or Moslem countries) a "non-GF" hotel means you cannot bring a girl to your room, period. (By the way, there are some hotels in BKK that don't let you bring girls to your room - maybe they should be labelled "Seriously non-GF").

[GermanBoy 2]

Hi guys,

Every time when I was in Bangkok I stayed at the ascot tower at the end of soi 4, thats not a bad choice for more or less 2000 /night, but I wanted to try something new next time. Really a long time ago in here the Majestic Grande (NOT the Majestic Suites) was recommended, but since some months I can not read any more. So maybe some of you fellow mongers can present a present update about price and if they are (still) girlfriendly.

Thanks in advance

Chris

[Evil Penivel]

Just to make sure we're all on the same page:

To be considered "guest friendly," the hotel must allow your unregistered guests to stay overnight without extra charge. Moreover, you must be able to change guests every night or even several times in the same day. Please note the abbreviation "GF" or "G/F" can mean either "guest friendly" or "girlfriend."

Lists of "guest friendly" hotels are frequently posted on the boards, but many punters misunderstand hotel regulations, local law and joiner's fees. You do not have an absolute right to bring back an unregistered guest even if you have paid for a double room. Whether an UNREGISTERED guest can stay the night with you is always at the discretion of the hotel, no matter what country you are in. Some of the misunderstanding stems from experience with U.S. motels (motor hotels), where it's standard practice to charge the same price whether one or four guests occupy the room. That practice doesn't usually apply at hotels, where the fee is almost always based on the number of people occupying the room.

Some hotels impose a "joiner's fee" if one or more unregistered guests stay overnight in your room. Depending on the hotel, the fee can range from several hundred baht to several thousand. While you can enounter joiner-fee scams, a joiner fee isn't always a rip-off. It's a policy decision by the hotel to encourage or discourage guests who are likely to bring back P4P providers to their rooms.

None of this is relevant if the girl registers with you on arrival at the hotel. Then she has a right to be there and enjoys the same privileges and benefits as any other guest. The danger is that as a registered guest, she can also charge things (meals, cigarettes, items from the gift shop) to the room and you would be responsible for paying her charges. There are only a very few hotels that won't let farang guests REGISTER with a Thai lady unless they prove they are married. The only notable which does this is the Oriental. However, many hotels charge joiner fees for UNREGISTERED guests and some won't allow UNREGISTERED guests in the room at all.

The point that some mongers have missed is that an unregistered guest doesn't have a right to stay overnight, even if the guest who invited her is paying for a double room. The decision to allow unregistered overnight guests is always at the discretion of the hotel. Difficulties occur when the hotel does have a joiner fee for unregistered guests, even when you are paying for a double room. That's the hotel's way of discouraging mongers from staying there. It's also happened that guys who have paid a heavily discounted rate for single occupancy will be charged a joiner's fee if they try to bring back an overnight guest. This is understandable. The special rate is based on one person staying in the room and the hotel expects compensation for the second person.

Just avoid those hotels that aren't guest-friendly, but don't worry too much about it. Some guys go to great lengths to try to get the hotel to commit in writing to never charging a joiner fee. That won't happen, either. Virtually all three-, four- and five-star hotels that are considered guest friendly still retain the right to charge a joiner fee, even if they never do so in practice. That's to prevent extreme cases, in which someone - not necessarily a punter - allows five or six people to sleep in a room in which two or three are registered. More guests in a room than have been paid for is an everyday problem in hotels around the globe and doesn't relate directly to P4P all the time.

One of the managers at a international Suk hotel told me that while joiner fees aren't a regular policy, they are sometimes used as a dsiciplinary measure when punters get too carried away, i.e., four or five people are staying in a room for which two are registered, or too much rowdiness late at night. So while a hotel can be guest friendly, it doesn't mean it welcomes wild partying. If you know that you'll be taking several girls back to your room each day as well as drinking heavily, you want to make sure you get a monger-friendly as well well as guest-friendly hotel. Sometimes hotels which are not worried about one unregistered guest will charge a joiner's fee if you try to bring back two or three.

Botttom line: do your research and make sure you're staying at a guest friendly hotel. Make doubly sure its monger friendly as well if you're planning on parties involving multiple ladies.

Evil