Long John

Crazy stuff! Atrocious service.
I booked my flight in November for an April departure. In January I got an email from Thai Airways titled Seat Change. The wording in the email:
Dear Valued Customer,   Due to operation reason THAI would like to inform that your seat has been changed from 51K to 51K on TG475.
WTF? That doesn't look like a seat change.
Then 3 days later I got an email titled with my name and reference number - totally different email format, with the message:
DEAR CUSTOMER, WITH REGARDS TO YOUR FLIGHT TG475. WE REGRET HAVING TO INFORM YOU THAT THE AIRCRAFT IS CHANGED DUE TO TECHNICAL REASON. YOUR SEAT ASSIGNMENT IS CHANGE FROM 50A TO 52A. I changed from a Valued Customer to just Customer. Not sure how my seat changed from 51K to 50A...then to change to 52A? Makes no sense, and this is about 4 months before the flight. Do they know about technical issues with the plane so far in advance? Makes no sense.
Thai Airways - TIT

My trip in Sept last year had a return flight BKK to Melb by Thai Air.
Turned up at 9.30 pm for a 12.05 am flight. Seareched the board. Nothing there. Went to their ticketing office and asked what what was going on.
Oh no, that flight has been changed to 8.00am
I had to rebook for the following day. Cost me taxi fares, another night in the hotel etc etc. Total of about $250.00 with all the screwing around. Would have found out if they had the courtesy to notify me of the flight change, but no. Did not do it.
I had booked about 3 months prior so they had time.
Sent them an email asking for compensation but you can guess what happened about that!

My trip in Sept last year had a return flight BKK to Melb by Thai Air.
Turned up at 9.30 pm for a 12.05 am flight. Seareched the board. Nothing there. Went to their ticketing office and asked what what was going on.
Oh no, that flight has been changed to 8.00am
I had to rebook for the following day. Cost me taxi fares, another night in the hotel etc etc. Total of about $250.00 with all the screwing around. Would have found out if they had the courtesy to notify me of the flight change, but no. Did not do it.
I had booked about 3 months prior so they had time.
Sent them an email asking for compensation but you can guess what happened about that!

My trip in Sept last year had a return flight BKK to Melb by Thai Air.
Turned up at 9.30 pm for a 12.05 am flight. Seareched the board. Nothing there. Went to their ticketing office and asked what what was going on.
Oh no, that flight has been changed to 8.00am
I had to rebook for the following day. Cost me taxi fares, another night in the hotel etc etc. Total of about $250.00 with all the screwing around. Would have found out if they had the courtesy to notify me of the flight change, but no. Did not do it.
I had booked about 3 months prior so they had time.
Sent them an email asking for compensation but you can guess what happened about that!

Hey, go easy on the accusations!

Thanks for the heads up mate … just cancelled my next trip , going to Benidorm instead  

I use Booking.com to compare options, but also check other aggregator websites and with the shortlisted hotels direct to. Remember that hotels use dynamic pricing based on season and how far out you book. Sometimes it pays to book late as sometimes prices will drop if they don’t meet their booking quota. But your approach is sound if you book in advance with free cancellation so you can check prices closer to the time.

Same issue with airlines and they are ripping us off in Aus. But Thai are starting twice daily flights from Sydney and Melbourne and also a flight from Perth. I hope that will push down prices as Qantas is overpriced but I’ve managed to get some business awards flights from them for the past 3 years.


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Haha … uk Thailand in June /July £800 ish mate 

Suits me fine.
In the Premiere suite the bathroom is quite big as are the other rooms.
Restaurant is good. Has the benefit of an outside area which looks down on passing foot traffic. This paid dividends for me as I met a very nice LB who happened to walk past and I caught her eye. Bingo. A match made. Going to catch up with her during my upcoming trip. (photo attached). Have seen a couple of CIB girls in there with their "clientele".  I get on well with the reception staff and the concierge. A nice guy. Always smiling. The one thing it hasn't got, and I would like, is a pool. Neither has it a gym. Mind you with my physique I dont need to visit one of those.
The only downer I can recall is the reception staff stopping me taking 2 CIB girls to my room. Only one at a time!
So for my trip in March, due to it being a warm time of year I am trying a couple of others. Hopeland, (Denbosch think it is ok but sometimes I doubt his opinion!). Also going to give Promenade a go.
 

Suits me fine.
In the Premiere suite the bathroom is quite big as are the other rooms.
Restaurant is good. Has the benefit of an outside area which looks down on passing foot traffic. This paid dividends for me as I met a very nice LB who happened to walk past and I caught her eye. Bingo. A match made. Going to catch up with her during my upcoming trip. (photo attached). Have seen a couple of CIB girls in there with their "clientele".  I get on well with the reception staff and the concierge. A nice guy. Always smiling. The one thing it hasn't got, and I would like, is a pool. Neither has it a gym. Mind you with my physique I dont need to visit one of those.
The only downer I can recall is the reception staff stopping me taking 2 CIB girls to my room. Only one at a time!
So for my trip in March, due to it being a warm time of year I am trying a couple of others. Hopeland, (Denbosch think it is ok but sometimes I doubt his opinion!). Also going to give Promenade a go.
 

CV, please dont use those big words. I stumble over them and have great difficulty understanding their meaning in the context of the complex, multifaceted, duality, and often erroneus usage!

Agreed 100%
I wrote about LBs and their fear of water a few years back. It's shocking how many of them don't know how to swim, even the ones from rural areas. The thread below was about taking LBs on trips, and their reluctance to go swimming was one of the things that was guaranteed to occur on most of my trips with them. 
 

I have invited afternoon treats to the pool. About 25% have taken me up on the offer.
But...
CanadaVisitor's first two points are on target. The girls have mainly stayed in the shade, under a pool umbrella. And most will get in the pool but not get their hair wet. Some just sit with their feet dangling in the water.  At least half tell me they don't know how to swim. But a few have jumped in and taken full advantage of the pool. Mostly we just sit, talk, and have something to drink.

If I'm doing an afternoon date I might mention the pool and that she can bring a suit if she wants to swim or hang out.  Note...all my afternoon dates have been with girls from CIB and Cindy's.  No one has ever taken me up on it.  I think for 4 reasons:
1.  They don't want to be in the sun and get their skin darker,
2. They don't want to get their hair wet,
3. They still have to work that night and need to go back to their room and get some more sleep and get ready for work.
4.  They are sex workers and I'm just a customer for them.  They don't really want to hang out after the job is done.
It would be different if your date was with a girl from TF or whatever and not full time pay for play.  Or if it was a long long time date.
In Thailand I've found that almost all the ladies will take you up on going for a bite to eat either before or after fun in the room, but that's about the extent of extra curricular socializing I've experienced. 
Totally different from Las Vegas.  If you ask a stripper to hang out at your poolside cabana, 90% will take you up on it.

I look forward to your arrival @Bwana_LB...just note that there have been a few changes here since I stayed back in April.
They are attempting to be a lot more family friendly...they do not allow the weed trucks to park in front of the hotel anymore.  They have also put up a railing in front of the hotel so that freelancers can't sit there anymore.  That was a shame for me because I actually became friendly with one of the girls who posted herself there by the name of May.  Haven't seen her so far this trip 
Also, breakfast is pretty bad now.  They still have an egg station, but fried and scrambled eggs are waiting for you under a heat lamp.  They still do omelettes to order and you can also shame them into making you fresh fried eggs.  There is no coconut water like they used to have.  And the buffet is now mostly halal.  (I think I got that right...Indian food). They have 2 choices for western dishes and that's it.  One day the choices were broccoli in cream sauce and fried tomatoes. Haha...not a potato in sight!
And this is room dependent...even though the outlets should accept N.American plugs I found that I needed to use an adapter to make a proper connection. I look forward to your thoughts when you return.
Cheers

This must be a fairly new build…everything looks pretty fresh and clean.
Got to my room. They are quite small, but fairly well laid out.  Downsides are that it has a mini bar with regular exorbitant hotel prices.  I’d much rather an empty fridge and I’d stock it myself.  It also only has one drawer and that’s located in the bathroom by the clothes closet.  So storage is almost non existent.  I’ve kept most of my crap in my suitcases and littered the tv stand with the rest. It’s also quite dark in the bathroom.  Aside from those things it’s fine.  Lots of electrical sockets and has modern hookups for the TV if you want to hook up your streaming gear.  I don’t know how good the wifi would be for that though.
I figured I didn’t get an upgrade, but it turns out I did.  All the room’s except the suites are the same size.  My room was considered an upgrade because it has a good view. Half of the rooms have a totally obstructed view because there is a condo very near to it on one side.
 

She is not my type!

Thanks
They know me at the hotel I normally book and have given me a price of 1600b for 2 incl breakfast, so not bad. Grand Business Inn. I do like the staff there. Always get treated well.
Not the "grandest" hotel around, but very convenient to everything and doesn't wear the girls out during the walk from Soi 10. Doesn't have a pool which is a drawback.
That price for the Mercure is good. 

Thanks
They know me at the hotel I normally book and have given me a price of 1600b for 2 incl breakfast, so not bad. Grand Business Inn. I do like the staff there. Always get treated well.
Not the "grandest" hotel around, but very convenient to everything and doesn't wear the girls out during the walk from Soi 10. Doesn't have a pool which is a drawback.
That price for the Mercure is good. 

Patience. Rates very frequently drop about two months out. I was looking to book a room at the Mercure Soi 11 for late January arrival. In early Nov. the advertised rate was about $125. In mid-Nov. the rate dropped to $78, and I booked.
Not sure what you're looking to pay, but I see that the rates at the Mercure Soi 11 are as low as $73 in March. Citrus Suites is asking $88 for their executive suite, which is a huge room.

Not stayed at the Capella. I do like a nice 5 star hotel but not at A$900 per night.
Few weeks back I saw a list of Top 50 hotels in the world from some travel company in the UK. They had 4 Bangkok hotels listed:
3. Four Seasons Chao Praya River, Bangkok 21,000 Thb per night  A$900 per night
10. Mandarin Oriental Bangkok   34,000 Thb to night A$1463 per night
11. Capella Bangkok   21,000 Thb per night A$910
42. The Siam, Bangkok  19,800 Thb per night  A$856 per night
Other than the prohibitive price, I probably wouldn't stay in any of these hotels as none are in the LB Triangle in Sukhumvit

It was probably the snow on your boots!
DB says 19 .05 meters, I say 30.32 , so go for say 25.64 and you should find it!

Just walk from Soi 11 about 30 meters and it is on your left. Has the circular bar in the middle. TV's on the left and right walls. Not quite the stairway to heaven but you climb about 4 steps. 
Good staff. It is my regular after grabbing a burger just around the corner in Soi 11. They do serve food in there.
They have opened another one a bit further on. Not been in there.

Yep, stayed there and it is good.

I am flying EVA out of Heathrow mid September. Glad to hear PE and business are decent. I was sold when I realized the flight is nonstop.