oliver17

alwayslooking but not alwaysthinking

You're not missing anything on the KokoroBkk site. Heavily photoshopped girls who aren't nekkid is all they have. FWIW, this place refers to their girls as "product". I wonder what the warranty is on the product if you get saddled with a starfish or a clock-watcher.

I don't disagree that young folks are generally more socially enlightened than their parents, but some cultures and age groups will be stuck in the old days and I don't think that will be changing anytime soon. For instance, think about the growing number of Muslim families that visit Thailand. These are desirable tourists with money and there is no way a hotel that wishes to attract them is going to hire an LB for the front desk to check them in or serve them in any other capacity. Mainstream middle age and elderly Western farangs are also tourists with money and while they may be more liberal than Muslims, the mere sight of an LB is guaranteed to have them nudging and whispering to each other. I have seen their reactions myself one million times over the years, you probably have as well. Even when young Western farangs visit LB bars, they frequently regard it a they would visit a zoo, shooting pics and video to post on social media for some laughs. Ladyboys are everyday stuff for us, but for most other people in the world, LBs may as well be from outer space. Hotels and other businesses that cater to tourists know this and they adjust their hiring practices accordingly. That's why you rarely see ladyboys working for them.

Page 10 Hotel in Pattaya employs several LBs, or at least they did the last time I was there. They work the front desk and there are also a handful of them in the restaurant. I have never seen that many ladyboys working straight jobs in one workplace before or since. The down side is Page 10 is absurdly overpriced for what they offer. Even the presence of LBs doesn't make it worth your money. Sad to say, but I am sure most hotels prefer not to have LBs working in positions that directly face customers for business reasons. Most mainstream farang tourists find ladyboys weird and unsettling, and while Thai folks may publicly accept the presence of LBs in society, their real attitude about LBs is revealed by the fact that most families wouldn't stand for their son becoming one or marrying one. Hotels no doubt prefer to avoid all that stuff by only hiring ladyboys for low-visibility jobs only.

Welcome to the forum. I stayed at Hopeland for 3 nights during my last Bangkok trip a few weeks ago in January as well as staying at Citrus Suites, Park Royal Suites and Lohas Suites. Some of the issues with Hopeland were detailed by other guys in this thread. A few too many folks hanging around in the lobby all the time, some of them snoozing away on the sofas. My room was large and I had no complaints except for the bullshit dim lighting in the bathroom. It was so bad, they may as well have had candles in there. I never tried their restaurant. No worries because a few paces away is the very solid Det 5 bar/restaurant which is open all day and serves from a big menu with modest prices. You can't go wrong with that place. It is a bit of a hike down Soi 8, but they have a golf cart to transport guests to Sukhumvit. If you don't want to walk down Soi 8 to the hotel, you can take a moto taxi from Suk for 20 baht. During the day when the sun is beating down, that's money well spent. Of the 4 hotels I stayed at, I would say Park Royal Suites and Lohas Suites both offer more bang for the buck that Hopeland. I think Citus Suites is overpriced for what they provide, but it's popular with many BMs. In this price range, the best of all the suite hotels for mongering purposes is Adelphi Suites on Soi 8. Yes, they can be pricier compared to the other places, but if you can stomach spending the extra cash, it's definitely the best place to stay due to its location with equal proximity to all the lounge bars. None of them are a more than a 5 -10 minute walk from Adelphi.

When they assign you a room, the very first thing you need to do is open the shower door and verify there are no sewer odors coming from the drain. I ran into this issue during my stay there in December. They gave me a new room. I know that Thai plumbing can be dodgy in older buildings, so it was surprising to experience it in building just a few years old. FWIW, I have stayed at Citrus Suites 3 or 4 times over the years and never had any odor issues until last visit. What is interesting that I had the same issue with a Citrus 11 room a few years back. The staff there gave the impression they were quite well acquainted with the problem of smelly shower drain odors. Make what you will of that.

Another alternative is to directly ask for your credit card company for the refund instead of hoping booking sites or the hotel will do the right thing. American Express in particular is very good about protecting their cardholders. Over the years I have cancelled 5 or 6 "non-cancellable" hotel reservations with Amex and gotten my money back every time with no questions asked.

Fortune Town gets a A+ in my book. About 10 years ago, I left on a ladyboy trip and failed to pack my laptop charger. I thought I was screwed because the laptop was an ancient Lenovo that was built during the Bronze Age. A guy working the front desk of my hotel told me about Fortune Town. I had to visit a couple of different shops before I found the charger, but people there were very helpful in getting me steered to a little place that sold nothing but chargers and batteries. It really did save me a world of trouble, because I needed the laptop to do work for back home. It's also a fun place just to wander around and look at stuff.

Damn, I posted at the exact same time Mangatanga posted his decision to stay at Citrus. Oh well, folks can use my post for future reference...

I have stayed at both hotels. Park Royal once last year (and many stays when it was Phachara). I have only stayed at Citrus one time, which was earlier this year. I have also stayed at Adelphi many times. If your top priority is simply the room itself, Park Royal wins. The executive suites are a bit larger, and the kitchenettes are better equipped with clothes washers. Citrus does not have washers. The bathrooms at PR are much larger than either Citrus or Adelphi. I don't know about anyone else, but I am not of fan of tiny bathrooms with no countertop space and small showers that are found in too many Bangkok hotels. You don't have that problem at Park Royal (pic below is from Trip Advisor). I think all of the executive suites have balconies, but the ones on the upper floors are quite large 15 sq. yds/meters or so. You could look down into Nana Plaza from them before NEP installed their roof a few years ago. The balconies are a winner. Citrus has better hotel amenities like restaurant and pool. PR's restaurant isn't even worth setting foot in, but the Citrus restaurant is a perfectly good place to eat breakfast or lunch in. PR has a large pool, but that gets cancelled out by the roof over it that blocks out most of the sun and renders the water colder than the Arctic Ocean. Citrus' pool gets a lot of sun and the water won't freeze your ass off, which it makes it much better in my book. Like Nick Bullseye says, Citrus and Adelphi do not take LB IDs, but Park Royal does. There's really not that much difference among these 3 hotels. I would still take Adelphi over Park Royal or Citrus Suites due to its location, but the other places have their own strong points.

Who gives a shit about the moral indignation of parents who take their kids on vacation to a red light zone?

You may want to take a look at Radisson on Soi 13 or Solitaire on Soi 11. I have stayed at both of them in the past. Both are LB friendly with no guest fees. They both have all the bells and whistles of typical 4 star hotels. Radisson has a great pool on the roof along with a very solid Indian restaurant downstairs. Solitaire has gigantic beds, wider than king-size that can easily accommodate 3 LBs and yourself. Solitaire is about a two minute walk from Cindy's bar. The only downside to these places is the long hike down 11 or 13 to Sukhumvit. Taking a moto taxi or a tuk-tuk is sometimes pointless because Soi 11 is often gridlocked at night with traffic. 13 is better, but it still takes time to get down the street. During daytime, traffic is a lot lighter however.

It surely is LB friendly, but if you need peace of mind, all you have to do is email them. Have it read exactly like this: "Hello- Can you tell me what your guest policy is? Can my ladyboy friend stay overnight? Thanks, XXXX XXXX" Be sure to mention your guest will be a ladyboy. Chances are you will receive positive reply. Like Genghis said, book your room for 2 guests (this won't cost any more than booking for 1 guest).

I looked up SVK airport code. It's a small and privately owned landing strip with a gravel surface located in Belize. If we connect the dots, it's reasonable to conclude that it's owned by a Central American drug lord and that the immigration process entails talking your way past a guy pointing an AK-47 at your head while threatening to work you over with a blow torch if he doesn't like your answers.

Obviously because hotels don't want teenagers cavorting with adults in their rooms, regardless of whether it's p4p or not. I would do the same if were them. Wouldn't you?