Denbosch1971

Hahaha ... good memory At a given point in time, I had a hotel umbrella waiting for me at Why Not, at CIB and at Cindy's The clerk at the hotel was quite confused when I collected them on a night and returned all of them at the same time But @naughtydog-bkk is right. After that I bought myself a decent one and have a girl at WN keeping it for me

The nail on the head @Unavowed. I've seen my fair share of Accor hotels (Mercure, Ibis, MGallery, Pullman, Novotel, Sofitel) and never ever had to make this amount as a deposit. I don't see ot mentioned on their website either. Anyhow, it got reduced to 5k THB (which is like 135 Euro), rather easy, so not a big issue

Update for Novotel in Sukhumvit Soi 4 I booked a standard deluxe room, with king-size beds arrived around noon, while check in time is 2pm, but the had my room ready by 1.15pm. They normally charge 1k THB deposit per night. But, 19k sounded little high to me, so we agreed on 5k The non-smoking room is meeting all my requirements. Great bed, comfy sofa, a small fridge and a small desk. The bathroom is spacious enough, with a decent shower (even for two ) and there's a daily supply of water, coffee and tea. The bedsheets are changed upon request and my room (21st floor) is made up around 10 am. I didn't book breakfast (495 THB/day), since I prefer not to be bound to certain hours and there are plenty alternatives available within 5 min walking. There's a rooftop bar with swimming pool (shared wit Ibis Styles), but didn’t visit yet. Same for the gym, no clue whether there is one to be honest Only small disadvantage is the 3 elevators. They are freakin' slow and quite busy. During my stay, one was out of order, which made it even worse. But since I'm not on any time schedule here, didn’t bother me much. Besides that, for smokers among us, there's one place where smoking is allowed, a wooden bench outside, facing the Kicking Donkey. Far from comfortable and between noon and 5pm in the full sunshine ... hot, hot, hot. Novotel is absolutely guest friendly. None of my ladyboy guests had to ID herself or was even stopped at the entrance. No additional charge either, for both ST and LT. I booked my stay mainly with loyalty point, but at the reception I see the current tariffs displayed: 4150++ (a few days ago 4800++) for Novotel and 3200++ for Ibis Styles.

Didn't have a similar problem for quite a while. But what works like a miracle for me is drinking a Coke (to stabilize stomach PH) and eat a huge well done steak!! Not the worst remedy

Great review there @tinpanali My last stay at HopeLand was in January 2024, and it seems nothing has changed. Your description is still spot on with my experience. Only instead of the a construction area, it was a peaceful garden with palm trees or something on that side of the hotel

Copy the recommendation! The last time I visited was in February this year, together with Yaya from Cindy's! Great food, very reasonable priced and both Yaya and myself loved it! During my visits in May and August I've stayed in hotels opposite, or around the corner of Swan in Soi 4, so it's obvious why I didn't end up at I'm Aroi ... especially considering the absence of the Cambodian delegation at Cindy's Secrets

Copy that ... for my last two visits, I filled it out a few days upfront and didn't get bothered by it when passing immigrations

If you can settle for non-live, but great rock music with a view, you can try Angelwitch in Nana Plaza I visited there in the past quite regularly, mainly because of the music. Girl (all GGs), are less pushy than average in NEP

I totally agree with the above. I've visited many times in both, low and high season. Specifically July, not since 2017, but more recent in June and August. Just got home from 2,5 week trip Aug/Sept. And to answer your question: Yes, it does rain most days. But did it obstruct any of my plans: no! Just bring a good umbrella, or buy one on the ground (bought mine at Robinsons, corner of Soi 15), and you're good to go! Prices for hotels are definitely more appealing in the low season!

My opinion on Citrus Suites: Location is perfect for someone who likes Swan for dinner and WN for dessert. Two 7/11's within 100 meter. The room is big enough, small desk, comfy chairs and big double bed. Plenty of storage space and good, spacious bathroom. Coffee/tea options in room, daily replenished, like also water. Small fridge with some mini-bar drinks. The pool is clean, but small indeed and the water temperature (even now in low season) is quite high. I've never seen all seats taken at the pool. It's on the rooftop, with also a gym, a cocktail bar and a smoking area. I visited only the latter I didn't book the breakfast, so no opinion there, but the spaghetti carbonara when ordered in the Beatz bar, tasted excellent. Overall, the staff is super friendly. Only bad thing, they occupy the pool table in the bar almost full time, so I didn't play a single game during my stay. Didn’t care too much to complain Costs, approx. 2700 THB per night (booked in June). It's definitely worth a repeat on future trips!

Guess we'll be neighbors at Citrus then @Warney! I left Swan literally 30 minutes ago, again totally satisfied. As mentioned by @SAGuy, the curries are excellent. And I like also the noodle soup, the sweet and sour chicken, the chicken/cashew nuts and I can go on for a while. if you like, just PM me and we can have a bite together tomorrow

I guess it depends on which head we're talking about here @Genghis hahaha

It's not really enforced! I regularly take trips on motorbikes around Sukhumvit, never had an issue with it. Sometimes drivers don't even wear a helmet. But ofcourse, if you meet an enthusiastic one I wouldn't worry too much though ...

As far as I know there is a Hilton in Sukhumvit Soi 24. And indeed, like @gainsbarre mentioned, all hotels in lower Sukhumvit are guest friendly.

When walking from Soi 4 to Soi 8, I saw new condos got available in Soi 6, where the road takes the turn. They can be checked out on weekdays between 10am and 5pm. Cheapest condo 26k/month. Both monthly and yearly contracts possible. You can check it out on: Bangkok apartment in Sukhumvit, 100m from BTS Nana! Stylish and great access - PSJ Penthouse

The Solitaire indeed is flooded with Indians ... also fuelled by the Indian restaurant, located on the rooftop. Even when staying in the hotel, I continuously got bothered by Indian guys, trying trying to lure me into a visit. For me the main reason to not visit again, very annoying! The rooms at Solitaire are quite okay.

Make sure to check availability soon, since I checked for my trips later this year and both periods were fully booked already!

Booking this hotel was a bit of a gamble. Didn't see much of recent reports, but a great rate and prime location made me do it anyhow. The hotel is located down Soi 4, opposite of Swan restaurant, with a 7-11 and Why Not bar both very nearby. The entrance is behind the bar with the same name, although the bar is run by a third party. Not possible to charge drinks to your room Inside the hotel, they have a refrigerator with drinks for sale, in the lobby. The hotel apparently is run by Indian guys. Check in before 2pm on arrival date wasn't possible. I could leave my luggage and come back later. Deposit = 1000 THB. I've booked the junior suite, a spacious room, on the 6th floor. Small fridge, two huge couches, a great bed and coffee making equipment. Bathroom has a spacious shower and a (too small) jacuzzi. Their choice of coloring can be considered off, but in general I am satisfied with the room. The only thing annoying me is the water pressure in the shower, which seems to be on interval mode. From perfect to nearly nothing to perfect aso. I didn't include breakfast. It's no problem to have ladyboys in the room, but sometimes receptionist will ask them to leave their ID! Costs approx 63 Euro per night. Pic of the loom:

I think it's good to give some more insights on this hotel, after my first impression above I've never stayed in a hotel with such a lousy and non-cooperative management! Some of my questions below: Q: Is it possible to have an additional towel? Their answer: No, we provide max. 2 towels. Q: Is it possible to make up my room sometime between 9am and 3pm? Their answer: No, we only start at 4pm.(The next 3 days room was made up around 9.30am, 1.30pm and 6pm ??). Q: Can you then at least provide me some clean and dry towels in the morning, so I can take a shower. Their answer: Sure, no problem. Every day 10am sir. (The first day I got them at 10.45am, after that agreement is forgotten). For me it's clear by now. The Indian guys in the staff here for sure have qualities, but service management or hospitality in general are not among them Ah well ... like my openings statement above: It was a gamble. A one-time experience, that's crystal clear now

I would suggest a big umbrella, 720 THB at Robinson, and every hotel you choose is fine

Understandable! What actually convinced me was the availability of a smoking room. Turns out, they have only one (which isn't the one I have booked ffs)

Yes, I agree. In general I would say Thai love to implement new rules and conditions, but adhering and/or enforcing them is a whole different story I still remember visiting BKK in April 2022, just in the Covid afterpains. It was mandatory to do a (negative) Covid test before departure in the home country. Upon arrival in the hotel another test was required and leaving room was only allowed after this result was negative as well. The QR code should be scanned into an app and the result was recorded. On day 5, a second test was mandatory. The tests before departure were a piece of cake. But when arriving in Thailand, it started! It took me about 4 times to install the app, after several technical issues, wifi-black outs etc. But once installed, it wouldn't accept the QR code of my test. So in the end, didn't record anything and I think the '5-day' test is still somewhere in a drawer here at my house. But nobody seemed to care and I didn't have anyone bothering me about it at all But then again ... when tourist read all the guidelines, without knowing the context, they might doubt to choose the LoS simply to avoid the hassle.

Well @FarangJaiNgay, seems with the earthquake, you experienced already one very rare happening in Bangkok! Hope you're well! Care to share some more details about your ladyboy adventures? Who, where, what, when why ?

I didn't review my accomodation from earlier this year, so here you go. In May, I stayed at Solitaire at the alley between Sukhumvit Soi 11 and Soi 13, for over two weeks. It's actually opposite of the Travelodge hotel, where I wrote about before. I stayed at this place before (February) for a week and at that time, I enjoyed my stay. In February I got a room in the 'old building), which is more at the S13 side. An okay room, small balcony ideal for having a smoke and an awesome huge bed. This convinced me to book again a deluxe room for my May trip. When arriving at the hotel, from the airport I couldn't check in (too early). I wonder what the added value is of providing arrival information upfront, since they don't act on it anyhow. So won't bother about providing it anymore. When I finally got a room, it was located in the new building. The room itself was okay, but unfortunately no balcony nor smoking (although requested). Maybe they couldn arrange a smoking room after 1 week of stay, but never got a notification after that. So deffo disappointing. Very small fridge, but the bed and the shower were good. Also no complains about the wi-fi I didn't book breakfast, because I don't want like to have 'deadlines' for having breakfast. The Coffee Club on the S11 corner is only 1 minute walk away and perfect to have a breakfast for similar price. After a few days the announced the pool area to be closed down for maintenance. As an alternative, guests could go to the pool in another hotel nearby. Far from ideal, so didn't have another swim after pool closure. They have a shuttle service to Sukhumvit Road, but it's almost never available or really difficult to find the driver, so after one try didn't even try using it anymore. The most annoying in the hotel is the continuous hassle from Indian guys at the ground floor, who try to lewer you into a visit of the (overpriced) Indian restaurant on the topfloor. Everyone knows the guys on the street screaming: "Indian food, sir ?" to all farangs walking by, but inside the hotel I expect to be left unbothered. Unfortunately, sometimes 4 times per day they approached me with questions, invitations and flyers. They were relentless, even after saying "no" all the time! Most likely this is the reason why 80% of the guests are Indian anyhow. Room charge was approx. THB 2.530 / night (without breakfast). In hindsight, I would have said too much money for the provided service. Will I return --> probably not. Attached photos are from my Feb-stay, in the old building.