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[QUOTE=Wolvenvacht;1305211]Mmmm, at 3400 baht / night for the "deluxe studio" (which is actually their most basic offer) via booking.com it is expensive. At least 1000 baht above Citadines which seems to offer a similar style of lodging.[/QUOTE]? I just punched in some dates in July and August and it was 2350 a night. That is including all taxes.
[QUOTE=Luvpuss;1305375]? I just punched in some dates in July and August and it was 2350 a night. That is including all taxes.[/QUOTE]I just picked a random date in September for one night. Maybe I just picked a bad (expensive) date. Or maybe weekends are differently priced than weekdays?
I have given up on trying to understand tariffs of airplanes and hotels.
The travel industry does not care about goodwill or customer relations. They have their non linear maximization programs that tell them when and what to charge at a specific point in time based on demand, sales, time of the year, and time remaining till the end date ect. All they care about is short term profits and meeting quarterly expectations.
So shop around the travel sites including the airlines and hotels sites at least weekly until a couple of weeks before your trip. When a good price pops up, grab it. Show no consumer loyalty to any airline, hotel, or internet travel site. They don't deserve it. Price, location, time of flight, duration of flight, the level of hotel quality you are willing to afford is all that matters. Everything is now a fungible commodity. Ok, there are still a few independently owned hotels that treat their customers with respect and remember you when you write to them. I am not talking about these boutique businesses. They are great.
No one travel reservation site always has the best prices. I am amazed at the price variation for hotel rooms on different sites. I have seen price vary as much as $50 to $60 per night on different sites. Sometimes Agoda comes up with the best price. Sometimes Expedia beats them. Sometimes a great deal comes from the hotels themselves. Generally, I have found Travelocity to be a pretty expensive site, but occasionally they will surprise me and offer a really good rate at a hotel on my list. You have to shop it. I keep a spreadsheet of the lowest room prices historically offered on my short list of possible hotels. So when I start planning for a new trip, I just refer to my list and wait until I am quoted a price that matches or beats the historical low spreadsheet price for a specific hotel. Then I book. Remember, show no loyalty to any of them. A hotel room or plane ticket is a commodity.
Airlines are a little tricky, but play the same game. I book a lot of Asia Airlines flights. If I see a great price I book right away. Otherwise I wait them out, check once a week, and book only when you see a good discount price. Usually the discount price is 40% less. Last minute deals are sometimes a real savings as long as you realize you are playing Russian roulette and in the high season it may cost you.
I have noticed something funny going on over at Kayak recently. I often check their prices since they show the comparative rates of hotels at 3 or more travel sites. In their comparisons, Agoda frequently comes out on top with the lowest price, but when I follow the link to Agoda, the advertized price is not available and only a higher price is offered. Bait and Switch? Kayak should do something about that. The Agoda prices listed in Kayak are not for real.
No one should be dumb enough to use Kayak for Hotel price Comparisons. I attach a picture here showing that, for a request in a big city like Paris KAYAK only lets you shop Expedia, Hotels. Com, Hotwire (all belong to the same owner by the way) and Finally American Express (using a GDS system most probably).
Hotelscombined offers more choice of websites they shop from (Otel. Com, Venere, Getaroom, Laterooms, Hotels. Com, Expedia.)
I think the most functional today is WEGO. Com, not only they shop more channels than any other MetaSearch Engine, but they also let you choose which nationality likes what hotels.
This is big for me. Whenever I travel, I want to avoid Russians, Chinese and Indians (no offense, but that's my preference) , WEGO lets you see: "Popular with XXXX" and you can choose the Nationality.
(I attach a pic too)
[QUOTE=NicFrenchy; 1305607]No one should be dumb enough to use Kayak for Hotel price Comparisons. I attach a picture here showing that, for a request in a big city like Paris KAYAK only lets you shop Expedia, Hotels. Com, Hotwire (all belong to the same owner by the way) and Finally American Express (using a GDS system most probably).
Hotelscombined offers more choice of websites they shop from (Otel. Com, Venere, Getaroom, Laterooms, Hotels. Com, Expedia.)
I think the most functional today is WEGO. Com, snip) [/QUOTE]Good tip Nick. I like new alternatives.
I have liked Kayak for air purchases though. I've also liked wotif for BKK hotels. I did a quick comparison for the Aloft on Soi 11. I'm interested in staying there. The best price through wotif was 2353 all inclusive. Wego offers it for 1999 ++. So with the plus plus it might work out to just about the same. I really like wotif's mystery deals but I see no way to choose this exact property that way.
Everyone will have their own preference but beside the sites mention already, [url]www.cheaptickets.com[/url] Is another option and site I use frequently along with Expedia and find them to be very reliable and reasonable
Thanks Natty.
+1.
[QUOTE=Natty Bumpo; 1305518]The travel industry does not care about goodwill or customer relations. They have their non linear maximization programs that tell them when and what to charge at a specific point in time based on demand, sales, time of the year, and time remaining till the end date ect. All they care about is short term profits and meeting quarterly expectations.
So shop around the travel sites including the airlines and hotels sites at least weekly until a couple of weeks before your trip. When a good price pops up, grab it. Show no consumer loyalty to any airline, hotel, or internet travel site. They don't deserve it. Price, location, time of flight, duration of flight, the level of hotel quality you are willing to afford is all that matters. Everything is now a fungible commodity. Ok, there are still a few independently owned hotels that treat their customers with respect and remember you when you write to them. I am not talking about these boutique businesses. They are great.
No one travel reservation site always has the best prices. I am amazed at the price variation for hotel rooms on different sites. I have seen price vary as much as $50 to $60 per night on different sites. Sometimes Agoda comes up with the best price. Sometimes Expedia beats them. Sometimes a great deal comes from the hotels themselves. Generally, I have found Travelocity to be a pretty expensive site, but occasionally they will surprise me and offer a really good rate at a hotel on my list. You have to shop it. I keep a spreadsheet of the lowest room prices historically offered on my short list of possible hotels. So when I start planning for a new trip, I just refer to my list and wait until I am quoted a price that matches or beats the historical low spreadsheet price for a specific hotel. Then I book. Remember, show no loyalty to any of them. A hotel room or plane ticket is a commodity.
Airlines are a little tricky, but play the same game. I book a lot of Asia Airlines flights. If I see a great price I book right away. Otherwise I wait them out, check once a week, and book only when you see a good discount price. Usually the discount price is 40% less. Last minute deals are sometimes a real savings as long as you realize you are playing Russian roulette and in the high season it may cost you.
I have noticed something funny going on over at Kayak recently. I often check their prices since they show the comparative rates of hotels at 3 or more travel sites. In their comparisons, Agoda frequently comes out on top with the lowest price, but when I follow the link to Agoda, the advertized price is not available and only a higher price is offered. Bait and Switch? Kayak should do something about that. The Agoda prices listed in Kayak are not for real.[/QUOTE]+1
I stayed bang opposite Phachara at the Dynasty Grande on soi 6 for 5 nights toward the end of June. It's a great hotel. Cheaper and I wouldn't hesitate one bit staying there again even though it may not be at the very next one simply because I'd like to try something different. Just make sure you chose the 'Grande Deluxe' rooms rather than just the Deluxe because there is quite the difference (I tried the deluxe for a night).40sq. Meters, flat screen, dvd player for the porn, great house keeping, great bathrooms with high quality fixtures and no pressure problems at all, and one of the best, largest gyms I've seen at any hotel thus far with what smelt like fresh new equipment. It was a pleasure working out there. In fact I may go back simply for the gym. I couldn't get it any cheaper than USD 70 / night, but that still saved me over a 1000 baht a night by not staying at the Phachara and they were the nicest and quickest in responding to me when I was shooting out emails to over 2 dozen hotels to enquire about their guest friendliness. Walking distance to soi 4 on your left and the sky train and some nice eating places on the perpendicular sois to the right. Oh and by the way, even though its a 3 minute walking distance to the entertainment, the rooms were quiet and the sleeping sound.
[QUOTE=Monopoly; 1304913]How are the bathrooms and water pressure, hot / cold water, etc? I like the idea that they have kitchenettes; but wondering if guests cooking brings bugs in the rooms or are they very clean, etc?
Any recent reviews? Thanks![/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Monopoly; 1304913]How are the bathrooms and water pressure, hot / cold water, etc? I like the idea that they have kitchenettes; but wondering if guests cooking brings bugs in the rooms or are they very clean, etc?
Any recent reviews? Thanks![/QUOTE]I stayed bang opposite Phachara at the Dynasty Grande on soi 6 for 5 nights toward the end of June. It's a great hotel. Cheaper and I wouldn't hesitate one bit staying there again even though it may not be at the very next one simply because I'd like to try something different. Just make sure you chose the 'Grande Deluxe' rooms rather than just the Deluxe because there is quite the difference (I tried the deluxe for a night).40sq. Meters, flat screen, dvd player for the porn, great house keeping, great bathrooms with high quality fixtures and no pressure problems at all, and one of the best, largest gyms I've seen at any hotel thus far with what smelt like fresh new equipment. It was a pleasure working out there. In fact I may go back simply for the gym. I couldn't get it any cheaper than USD 70 / night, but that still saved me over a 1000 baht a night by not staying at the Phachara and they were the nicest and quickest in responding to me when I was shooting out emails to over 2 dozen hotels to enquire about their guest friendliness. Walking distance to soi 4 on your left and the sky train and some nice eating places on the perpendicular sois to the right. Oh and by the way, even though its a 3 minute walking distance to the entertainment, the rooms were quiet and the sleeping sound.
[QUOTE=Natty Bumpo; 1305518]The travel industry does not care about goodwill or customer relations. They have their non linear maximization programs that tell them when and what to charge at a specific point in time based on demand, sales, time of the year, and time remaining till the end date ect. All they care about is short term profits and meeting quarterly expectations.
I have noticed something funny going on over at Kayak recently. I often check their prices since they show the comparative rates of hotels at 3 or more travel sites. In their comparisons, Agoda frequently comes out on top with the lowest price, but when I follow the link to Agoda, the advertized price is not available and only a higher price is offered. Bait and Switch? Kayak should do something about that. The Agoda prices listed in Kayak are not for real.[/QUOTE]Natty,
Being that I am a part of the industry being discussed, I will tell you that as far as the airline goes, you are only partially correct. They Do care about some passengers, but only those who's proven "loyalty" means that they know they will ride on said airline almost regardless of the fare. Airline execs guard these people like gold mines. Which they are!
In some respects we (we being the traveling public) have done this too ourselves and we are getting EXACTLY what we are willing to pay for. Which is not much more than basic transport. We say we want a "high service level", but as consumers we aren'twilling to pay for it. To be honest, the margins that the airlines operate with are pretty small and I can't think of a single airline in the world that is a good investment, unless you are one of the preferred stock holders.
Airlines make keep it all going using "float" for the most part, they use the money you pay for your next month's ticket to pay for today's fuel, knowing that they will sell tickets next month to pay for your fuel. That is one way that airlines can lose money for years and keep it all going. Along with terminating retirement plans and employee contracts. But another subject.
As far as Kayak goes, what happens if that if you notice on Agoda, it says the price is "from" a certain amount, but the actual amount isn't revealed until you select the room you want for the date. I don't think the Kayak site searches at this level. Plus like was mentioned, the fees aren't included up front, only when you get ready to check out. That is because they know if they put the entire amount you will search for a better rate on another site. If you get to the whole process you are less likely to start over again when you get to the "pay now" page, as long as the difference isn't at the "[url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord140][CodeWord140][/url] me off" level.
Just IMHO.
Sky
I can re-confirm that this property is very girl friendly.
This hotel is very modern, has decent size rooms, modern decor, decent breakfast buffet and is totally GF. I did not see a lot of guys bringing in girls though, the hotel seems to attract "regular" tourists, families and businesspeople. The staff will ask your GF to leave her identification card at the front desk, although this does depend on the staff (not all staff will ask) and the sluttiness of your companion (my GF who had a very girl-next-door-kind-of-look was not asked).
The pool is quite nice, although the sun disappears from the pool in the early afternoon. Pool area can be noisy due to families with kids.
Beds are not thai-hard, although they are more firm than Sheraton beds in the US.
The staff is very friendly. Bathrooms are nice, modern and well maintained.
-h
[QUOTE=NicFrenchy; 1305328]Agoda's 10 times worse than Booking. Com.
Why would you agree for your credit card to be charged at time of booking? And Pre-pay? When Booking. Com is only on a CC Guarantee basis?
Best practice is to book direct with the Hotel as they always have the same deals as any OTAs but with usually more Added value. And if you can get a hold of a manager and talk to him, you can even get a cheaper price.[/QUOTE]Agoda refund automatically, based on the rules, on a no show without me even asking for it. So paying up front was not a big problem.
In reality I find it rare that hotel management staff will match or better a price I got from Agoda or Wotif. I have tried. In the end it isn't worth the effort. I find direct Hotel prices usually more expensive, although not always.
Anyone have an opinion on Marriott Executive Apartments, Sukhumvit Park? I have checked this thread and couldn't find any mention of it (but I must admit I have had a few problems with the search feature in the past).
The place appears to have good write-ups on a well-known review website (the one with 'Trip' in its name). However I checked a list of 'girl-friendly or guest-friendly' hotels (on another well-known website with 'Night' in its name) and it was not listed, although other Marriotts in Bangkok were.
I appreciate the location (Soi 24) may not be perfect but I am not so bothered about that. Also, I know there are some cheaper options for apartments, but I am not all that price-sensitive, because I tend to have fairly short holidays and only go to Thailand once a year. Two years ago I stayed at the Landmark then last year I stayed at the Grand Millenium. Both were entirely GF (although I was only bringing in one girl at a time). I particularly liked the Millenium, although the Landmark was OK too.
[QUOTE=Sky Ryder; 1305712]Natty,
Being that I am a part of the industry being discussed, I will tell you that as far as the airline goes, you are only partially correct. They Do care about some passengers, but only those who's proven "loyalty" means that they know they will ride on said airline almost regardless of the fare. Airline execs guard these people like gold mines. Which they are!
Just IMHO. Sky[/QUOTE]I second this. Beign a gold member of Star Alliance (nearly top level, but not over restricted) I always get an empty seat aside mine. If occupancy of the airfcraft allows. I noticed that a few times, with the planbe nearly full, lots of people packed in the 2 or 3 seats rows and me enjoying (in economy) an empty seat (or two) aside mine. I recently changed a seat after booking at the check in and the agent said, we'll block the seat aside yours. Why?"cause you are Gold". So the feeling I had on the privilege was a reality. So airlines do care for frequent travellers. They allow extra luggage, they allow lounges, they allow other priviliges. Once might not bother about them, But if you travel well over 100k miles a year, you do enjoy thos benefits.
[QUOTE=Altered Ego; 1305937]Anyone have an opinion on Marriott Executive Apartments, Sukhumvit Park? The place appears to have good write-ups on a well-known review website (the one with 'Trip' in its name). However I checked a list of 'girl-friendly or guest-friendly' hotels (on another well-known website with 'Night' in its name) and it was not listed, although other Marriotts in Bangkok were.
I appreciate the location (Soi 24) may not be perfect but I am not so bothered about that.[/QUOTE]Since there is construction going on next door to the Admiral Premier, my favorite suites hotel, I decided to move to the other side of Sukhumvit and try out the Marriott Exec Sukhumvit Park Apartments for a few days. The rooms are large and I like that because it allows me to entertain my girls before we get down to the main event. In addition, I don't mind earning a lot of Marriott Reward points for staying there.
The Marriott Soi 24 Park Apartments may not be as convenient as the Soi 23 Admiral Premier or the Grand Millennium on Asok for hitting Soi Cowboy every night, but I am really looking forward to staying at the new Soi 24 location because of its proximity to the best oily massage joints in BKK. I figure I will be walking past these little hotbeds of action many times each day and I know I will avail myself of their services more than I usually do. Change is good.
Based on my research, the Marriott Exec Sukhumvit Park Apartments is GF. My source is Sukhumvit Psycho. Just Google Girl friendly plus the hotel name.