CanadaVisitor

Just checked in here after my first three nights in town at the Mercure. I did some contact work this year and was in a Marriot hotel for about two months. This gave me enough points to become a Marriot Bonvoy Platinum member and I’m using all those points to stay here for eight days. My first impressions are very good. Seems quite nice and has a good vibe to it. Check in was fine, but my room was waiting for final inspection so I’m writing this as I wait for it. I’m not sure if it’s because of my status or because I had to wait for my room to be made up, but they gave me a voucher for a free drink at the pool bar. The pool bar area is nice, but quite small. I estimate the pool is at least 20 metres, so I can get some laps in (provided I’m the only one using it, but I probably will be as I like to swim in the mornings). It gets all the morning sun too which is a bonus…the Mercure pool area is a lot bigger, but doesn’t get sun until the afternoon. I was expecting a basic drink as my freebie, but the bartender Nan made me a legit Long Island iced tea. So far so good. There isn’t a smoking area on the pool floor (10) so I came down to the eighth floor for that. I’ll add more to this review as I check out my room and the gym and what not…I just wanted to get it started while I’m waiting. Oh, and here’s a bonus…taking a lovely lady home from the CIB Christmas party is going to be a quick trip, lol

I've got my next trip booked and I chose this hotel again for 25 of my 29 nights. Four reasons for this decision: The better beds and bedding, the much better breakfast (even though I might only eat breakfast half the time), the Marriott Bonvoy points program seems to be the best overall fit for me, and I was able to negotiate a better nightly rate. The downsides are that it doesn't have a lounge for the freebie early evening drinks and snacks and both the pool itself and the pool area aren't that big. I will definitely do as you and @whiteshirt suggested this time...get the mini bar emptied and fill it with my own supplies.

Yes...I remember your posts on that thread were spot on and a MUST read for anyone planning a holiday girlfriend type of date.

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.

So I keep reading about this place and would love to go, but after searching high and low for it a few months ago I couldn't find it. Is it right on Sukhumvit? My maps show it right at the Soi 11 intersection. Can anyone give me step by step instructions say from the 7/11 on the corner of Suk and Soi 11? Thanks in advance. Cheers

I have found this now, but haven't stopped in yet. I did have an "aha" moment. The reason I can't remember walking past Leks before is because I probably didn't. When I'm walking down Soi 11 and am going to go left on Suk I never walk all the way to the corner. Instead I take the shortcut through the Ambassador to get onto Soi 13 which has considerably less traffic. Mystery solved.

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

Yeah, I might have been too harsh on this place after now staying in three different hotels. The beds and bedding at Aloft have been by far the best. Same with the breakfast...way better than Mercure or the Holiday Inn Suk 22 where I am now. They also have a free shuttle to Nana BTS and to Terminal 21. That meant that I didn't build up too much of a sweat when I walked the rest of the way to NEP or CIB. I might take some more contract work this year. If I do I would happily stay here again using those points. Shame they don't have a lounge though...I'm quite enjoying the 2 hour free drinks and snacks I get at the other hotel chains in the early evening.

Another final few points. The bed and bedding are very comfortable. The mattress is firm, but not too firm and the sheets and pillows are quite nice. The shower is big enough for two and the shower head easily adjusts to many different positions. The first time I tried sex in the shower was almost a disaster because the floor is too slippery. However it’s plenty big so it’s good enough to soap each other. And if you are determined (like I was) to have shower sex, just bring the bath mat in for traction.

@Rocco Yup, exactly! Even though it was frickin cold I did laps instead of the gym today. Hopefully things down there get back to normal by tonight. I was going to take a picture of the gym, but there were always some people in it. Never crowded (only 1 or 2 each time). Lots of the standard cardio equipment (treadmills, bikes, ellipticals...maybe at least 2 of each); dumbbells and weight equipment and enough space in the middle to do your thing...including a Bollywood dance that I just witnessed. Overall, this hotel is nice enough and in a good location, but I'm not sure if I would stay here again. I don't know how much they were asking for their rooms, but based on what they charge for everything else (if you want to buy the breakfast buffet it's 450 baht) it's probably not the best deal. If I have points again next year, maybe I would stay a few less nights at the Westin. Great location for CIB! Oh, and last point...if you watch TV, there are several channels to choose from and a surprising amount in English. I've only turned the TV on once just in case they were showing NFL football and sure enough they were.

Good tip about the mini bar, but at this point I'll just ignore the stuff in there as there was room enough in it to put my own supplies. Condoms were one of the items you could buy, 200 baht for 1, lol...definitely only for the desperate! Breakfast...the buffet is pretty good. Not sure how much it costs as it was another perk from my status. I find the buffets here in Thailand are exceptional compared to N.America ones. Fresh egg station, lots of western, and Asian choices. No coconut water though (that costs extra here), but lots of fresh fruit and the pastry section was pretty big. I don't usually eat any bread or baking while I'm here though. Laundry service...I was putting all my dirty clothes together until I realized it was going to cost 2500 baht, so screw that. I did let them dry clean my dress pants for the party tonight (400) and dropped the rest off at the laundry on the same alley as Cindy's (300). I'll review the gym next as it's overcast today and kinda cool outside to go for a swim. I did go do some laps yesterday and was uninterrupted for over an hour as I did my thing. I'm guessing the pool isn't heated, but the cold water shock quickly went away after I started.

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.

Whoever you pick up would know the best places nearby. She's the expert, right? If the first place she brings you doesn't seem okay, you could ask her for something better, something cheaper, etc.

Good for you Bwana to wait it out. I just noticed they dropped as well and booked myself. Had I waited I could have saved over 3000 baht for my 3 night stay over new years. I’m going to call Accor and see if they can do anything for me for those nights. (They have a price match guarantee but I don’t meet the conditions for it). They still might do something out of goodwill though.

Thanks. Good to know. That’s about 20% of the cost for me here. I may consider doing that at some point, but insurance is picking up my dental bill next month so I’m good for a while. But that does cause a dilemma if I’m in BKK and need my teeth cleaned. Do I frivolously spend 1500 on my health or do I put that money to a more reasonable use…like buying lady drinks? 555

@ARI23Do you remember the price of the cleaning?

Haha…in my defense there was only one Leks (Now @Long John says there are two), but there are thousands of cute girls!

Thanks, haha. I’m from Canada so they think I’m slow, eh?

Huh? Don’t know how the hell I missed that! The only explanation I can think of is that when I turn that corner I only have one thing on my mind…Check In Bar!! And coming back from CIB my head is in the clouds.

Yup...that's pretty damn impressive. 6800 is more than I would personally want to spend, but if you can afford it, why not? Interesting about the girls thoughts on it. I wonder what their reaction would be if they knew the actual cost!

Thanks PB...more options are always good to have. I enjoyed coffee at Kinaree several mornings. A cheap and decent diner type place

Tough question to answer...so many options. There will be many choices for you from the eastern seaboard of the US with connections in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Geneva, Istanbul, etc. I liked connecting in Frankfurt the one time I flew through there as the Germans are very efficient in processing you through and the lounge I found was pretty good. Almost every major city in Europe has flights to BKK. Just look at stopover times and flight durations to pick what's right for you. (Do you want one longer flight and one shorter? Or do you want two flights of approximately the same length? Do you want a quick stopover or do you want a few hours so you can take a stretch and have a shower and a meal and those kinds of things?) As far as airlines go, I do not like Thai Airways and will not use them again if I have a choice.

You now have 23 likes Oliver, but I gave my like not for the well worded post, but for all the pics of your beautiful dining companions! I agree with the advice the BM's have given here. I stayed at the Mercure (thank you for this review Bwana) and on my first night I ran into the bellboy who helped me with my luggage when I arrived. He asked me "Where do you go tonight sir?" and I responded "Cindy's Secrets" which got me a big smile and thumbs up from him. I enjoyed chatting with the girls from reception when they were not with guests...especially Beem and Cherry...they are real sweethearts. They would tease me about my carousing...not because I was bringing back ladyboys, but just good natured banter in general. I never got any dirty looks from the other guests or the staff there bringing back girls. Quite the opposite...the staff were always very polite and respectful towards my companions and the other guests were usually jealous, haha.

Thanks. I’ll do that next time

When I landed early afternoon last Friday the arrivals area was extremely busy. I didn’t have too much of a difficulty navigating things though. My only issue was that I didn’t change any money near the baggage claim. A. It was too busy and B. I thought I read that there were better rates on the lower level. But once I got to the taxi level I couldn’t find any exchanges and my bank card didn’t work in the ATMs. Luckily I had enough THB in my pocket from last trip to pay the taxi