They fill a market since many westerns don't wanna waist their time at The Red cross.
And they make good money since they charge high prices for all other than express services. A box of Teno-EM costs me around 1200 at Pulse, or 690 at Chula Basaj. So they make more than 100% pr box sold ( since they buy it for a lot less than 690)
But it is very convenient, and that's what we for.
I've recently stayed at the Styles. Here's my personal, subjective review:
The Styles hotel is a relatively new addition to the accommodation market in the lower Sukhumvit / Nana area. I think it opened in late 2017.
It's a nice three stars hotel. As it's located in the same building as the more upscale Novotel, you don't feel you've booked a cheap hotel. It rather feels you're staying in a standard room in a quality, upper middle class hotel.
Also, despite being located so close to the naughty nightlife scene, the majority of guests are "regular" people visiting the "normal" tourist attractions of Bangkok (Wat Po, Wat Arun... ). It doesn't give you the feeling of being in a "mongerer hotel" such as the Dynasty Grande or perhaps the Nana hotel also. Seems many guests came from places where smaller room sizes are more common than in the US for example, such as Japan and the European countries.
There's a free shuttle service from the hotel to BTS Nana that departs every 30 minutes from the front entrance. Though it's only a 7-8 minutes walk it can be useful when it rains (and it does so occasionally in Bangkok I've heard...) or during midday heat.
You can use the "inbalance" gym of the Novotel on the 7th floor. I didn't venture in so cannot comment any further. On the ground floor there's a lobby bar and the "food exchange", a good looking restaurant.
The standard room that I had booked looked spacious, at least bigger than the official 21 sq. m. it supposedly only had. It didn't feel small. When I'm in Bangkok I basically need a room only for sleeping and going to the bathroom, taking a shower etc. The rest of time I'm out and about. For this purpose the room was absolutely sufficient.
Everything you would need or want is there: bum gun, electronic safe, quiet a/c, queen size bed (upon request), mattress not too hard but also not too soft, hairdryer, liquid soap and shampoo. It also had a small fridge (empty). The big screen telly had a million channels or so (IP TV). You get daily two bottles of water for free. Everything worked except for two sockets (no power). But that was quickly fixed by hotel maintenance.
Once you get used to the characteristic, unusual style and decor of the room, it feels almost like home away from home.
Its main advantages are:
- Hard to beat location just 5 minutes on foot from NEP, the gravitational center of the ladyboy nightlife universe.
- Great value IMO: price range depending on season, demand and day of the week: standard rooms (21 sq. m.) with queen size bed go for I think about 2000 - 2500 Baht, superior rooms (26sq. m.) for about 700 Baht more.
- It is almost new: it shows almost no wear and tear (yet).
- It has a fantastic infinity pool and an exciting rooftop bar that you "must" visit with an awesome view of "downtown" Bangkok
- Wi-Fi worked without a problem in the room as well as in the rest of the hotel.
- I didn't see any tour groups...
- Breakfast was included in the room rate. Breakfast room in the "strEATS" restaurant on sixth floor is for Styles guests only (not for Novotel guests). It is open until 10:30 h. Food is good for a 3 star hotel. There's no egg station. But your stomach will get full, don't worry.
- Girl friendliest as can be (can also be a disadvantage...). If you despise the walk of fun and shame, you can enter the hotel through the entrance of the (often empty) "food exchange" restaurant or through the carpark which is located on floors 2-5. That way you'll avoid walking right through the front desk areas (which however is also no problem at all). I personally prefer ST rooms anyway and take back girls to my hotel room only occasionally and only if I know her well enough and only for LT. So this aspect of the Styles was not so important to me personally...
Disadvantages:
- I didn't notice them proactively checking girls' IDs. If for security reasons you want to register your LB, you have to walk up to the front desk (there's one for the Styles and one for the Novotel) and have her registered. One night I saw a middle aged Japanese man trying to sneak in a girl, telling her to stay close behind him so that no one could see her. That was hilarious as I think no one, I repeat: no one, neither staff nor guests, could have cared less... You get two room key cards so you can give the extra one to your LB girlfriend...
- The hotel appears to be in high demand, so might be sold out by the time you book...
- As I had an early flight out of Bangkok, I went to bed earlier and until 3 o'clock in the morning could hear noise from the street...
- The tears you will shed on the departure day when you have to leave this fine hotel...
You can book on the usual sites such as sexpedia, so sorry, Expedia, Agoda but also on the Accor site
I am a sucker for nice swimming pools. I don't want to visit the tourist sites and shopping malls so much anymore (ya know: been there, done that...). I'd rather now stay by a nice (!) pool and recover from the previous night's debaucheries and get some rest for the next wild night ahead. So that infinity pool was particularly important to me...
On previous trips I'd stayed at the Dynasty Grande (DG, a **** hotel) and the Citrus Suites Soi 6 (CS6, also a **** rated hotel), both just a minute away from the Styles. Both are fine but the DG's pool is cold and most of the time in the shade. The CS6 is much more modern but also more expensive than the DG as it has recently become more expensive than it used to be (I think) - and I don't like their pool...
I personally clearly now prefer the *** Styles when I want to stay in this area of Nana with it's excellent PVR and would not go back to any one of the other ones mentioned - unless the Styles was full.
Even though it's just a 3 star place it didn't feel like a downgrade from the two 4 star hotels mentioned, except for the room size.
BTW: This was not an attempt at writing an objective review. It was just my personal impression of the hotel that I wanted to convey... It's not even meant to be a recommendation, just a review. Okay?
Thanks :-)
Standard room:
Location on Sukhumvit Soi 4 and 6:
View of "downtown" Bangkok at night from top of hotel:
Styles' breakfast room on 6th floor:
Infinity pool area with a wow view (inspired by Marina Bay Sand's Singapore?)
Some of the photographs here were collected from the Grand Swiss website and are noted as such. The (very) amateur efforts were shot
by Yours Truly.
LOCATION: The official address of Grand Swiss hotel is Soi 11. The actual location is on the side Soi 11/1 as indicated on the map. Soi 11/1 is primarily a pedestrian Soi with very little vehicular traffic. Check In Bar is a 5 minute stroll away. Nana Plaza, Chaos 9 and the rest of Soi 4 are a 10-15 minute
walk depending on the bullshit clogging Sukhumvit sidewalks at any given time.
ABOUT: Grand Swiss is part of the Compass Group. Their properties include Citrus 13, Legacy Suites, Le Fenix, The Continent and several others.
Compass Hotels offer efficient and very friendly service as well as meticulously maintained properties. It is hard to go wrong booking any of
their hotels.
NEIGHBORHOOD: Soi 11 features numerous farang-oriented restaurants and bars for every taste and budget. Taxis, tuk-tuks and scooter taxis are
readily available around the clock. Nana BTS is about a 3 minute walk from the hotel.
RATES: Basic rooms start at 2400 baht per night. Club level rooms start at 3000 baht per night. They also offer large adjoining rooms sold as
suites, but chances are you won't be taking the wife and kids on your Bangkok ladyboy trip.
GS Website Pic
My room was a Grand Executive (club level room) located on the top 18th floor.
The bed was a tad soft for my taste, but I like rock-hard mattresses so I suspect most people will find them perfectly suitable.
A desk with good lighting will allow you to perform work efficiently.
The minibar. The Grand Swiss provides free bottled water to guests in the bathroom. However, the Evian bottled water pictured on top of
the minibar will cost you. More than once, a ladyboy mindlessly opened one of these instead of one of the free bottles and it cost me a
ridiculous 170 baht every time they did. I ended up hiding them on a shelf from the girls and telling them to open a free bottle.
Everything else in the minibar was reasonably priced by minibar standards, including the hooch.
The bathroom. Not much to say about this. The shower offers both rainshower head and hand held shower head. It also easily accomodates
2 people, allowing you to have some fun with your girl while getting clean. The only downside was a lack of adequate lighting, due to energy
saving priorities. The Grand Swiss isn't the only hotel that has this shortcoming. It seems like they all do these days.
Staying in a club room will give you exclusive access to Grand Swiss' rooftop lounge, the 180 Lounge. It can be found by walking up a flight of
stairs on the 18th floor. This place turned out to be far and away my favorite part about staying at the Grand Swiss. The 180 Lounge offers
complimentary booze from 5:30 to 7:00 every night, as well as snacks and assorted goodies throughout the day. The best part is the outdoor
seating area, which offers terrific views of Bangkok and was a fine place to watch the sunset. I took several ladyboys up here for drinks both
before and after fun in bed, and every girl absolutely loved it such as Bee from Fairy Bar.
GS website pic
GS website pic
After drinks at the 180 Lounge Bee tried out the bed with me for longtime fun. Grand Swiss welcomes ladyboys. NOTE: Not once did the front desk
call to verify with me when girls left to collect their IDs before leaving, which somewhat defeats the purpose of taking their IDs in the
first place. This isn't a big deal unless you bring back a freelancer to stay in your room. I am sure the front desk will call if you request
they do so.
In conclusion, I recommend the Grand Swiss. It's location close to mongering grounds as well as restaurants and bars is a winner. The moderate
rates offer great bang-for-the-buck results. I am sure I will be staying here again on future visits. Thanks for reading my review. Any thoughts and
comments are welcomed.
