Holiday Inn or Sheraton

[onehitwonder]

I'm planning a stay (first time to Pattaya) in June. I'm trying to find a good hotel... I prefer 4 or 5 star places where I can earn points as well. At first I was thinking of Sheraton since SPG is my main program. I actually like the fact that it's out of the way, I prefer to stay somewhere a bit away from the madness. But I don't like the fact that it's a long uphill walk and also the fact that it's a long stretch of a walk that may not be busy enough at night to feel safe walking. It also sounds like you're gonna get screwed over if trying to get a ride..

 

So the other options are Hilton, Marriot and Holiday Inn. Wasn't thrilled about Hilton and Marriot reading about them in TripAdvisor. So I have a few questions about Holiday Inn as searching about it here yields nothing.

 

1. Does Holiday Inn allow bringing girls in? Joiners fees?

2. It looks like a 45 minute walk to walking street... but I assume it's easily accessible by baht bus, right? Till what I does the baht bus run?

3. Late at night, how much will a ride on taxi cost from walking street? Are motorcycle taxis the only form of taxi available (those make me a bit nervous)?

4. What's the part of town that Holiday Inn is located in like?

5. Is there a reason to prefer Marriot or Hilton over Holiday Inn? Why?

6. Are their classier/nicer hotels than these that I should consider but not on any western points earning programs? (classier/nicer as in both room as well as service.) 

[Nws]

I was in the same mind set when I first came out & went for the Sheraton, it's way off the beaten track and is around 300bht each way by taxi, with the heat you don't want to consider walking up there & I can't imagine ant BF wanting to walk there.

 

My 2nd trip I went to the Marriott & it is perfect not just the location but also the staff & the place is fine, i travel a lot with work staying in 5 star hotels & I'm happily going back to the Marriott, plus it's on both beach road & 2 nod road so ideal for a newbie

[matrix123]

I have stayed in Marriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn but not Sheraton because of the location.

 

About Marriott, the staffs are great. The location is great. It is within walking distance to Soi LK and WS. I have stayed there numbers of time. I am a gold member and got free breakfast, free afternoon tea, free snack and cocktails..etc. So, I hardly eat anything outside. The rooms are old and tired. The building is not a "enclosed" building like Holiday Inn or Hilton. When I was there early last month, it was raining everyday. A lots of small insects and ants were in my room. I got insect bite all over my body. I am not coming to Marriott anymore.

 

About Holiday Inn, I stayed there early last year. I bought back girls a couple nights. No one ask to keep her ID but just say "good night". So, I assume it has no joiner fee. You don't want to walk to WS, it is too far. Spend 10 THB on baht bus. I am not so sure how late the "public" bath bus run. I had no problem to catch one from WS around midnight. In early morning, the driver started to ask you to hire them as "private" taxi to take you back. They usually ask 200 and I had never used them. A couple nights, I came back late (2 or 3 am). I paid 100 THB for the moterbike taxi and told them to drive slow and they did. Holiday Inn is located on Soi 1. 

 

About Hilton, I stayed there in October, 2013. It was not girl friendly. 1000 joiner and they treated the girl like shit. Their room rate is one of the highest in Pattaya. I have no plan to go back.

 

Hilton and Holiday Inn have the best sea view if you have a ocean view room. There is a new Thai hotel called Siam@Siam on second road close to Ibis. I stayed there once early this year. It is a 4 star hotel and have good sea view rooms. They have kind of modern art design which I don't like much. It is too "industrial" for me.

 

I am also a Accor gold memeber. Accor has 5 hotels in Pattaya now. It has more hotels than any other international hotel chain in Pattaya. From budget Ibis to 5 star Pullman. I stayed in Mercure and Baraquda in October/November. Mercure was no good. I posted some pictures in a thread call "Mercure, worth it" topic here. You could have a look. Baraquda was nice but no sea view. A new Accor hotel called Mercure Pattaya Ocean Resort just open last month. It is a 4 star hotel with nice sea view. I will give it a try on my next trip.

 

Hope that will help.

[slalom]

LK The Empress and go for the beachfront room

[Luv2Phuket]

Sorry to be so late to this thread, but just came across it.

 

I'm probably a good person AND a bad person to ask on this question.  Good, because I have stayed at all 4 properties (I'm a points whore and love free rooms!); bad, because you';re really going to have to work to get any kind of criticism out me on any of them!

 

I thought the Sheraton was fan-freakin-tastic!  If you stay with SPG a lot, you may get upgraded, and they put me in a room with a huge patio that opened out onto the pool.  The location is a bit of an inconvenience, but -- as noted -- a private baht bus/taxi can get you back for 250-300 baht.  The additional taxi fare isn't great (they have shuttle, but it runs at limited, defined times), but it is like being at a resort, with the decadence of Pattaya a 5 minute taxi ride away.  It's a pretty large property built into a hill, but they golf carts to take you everywhere -- just call them, and they come to pick you up and bring you to the lobby in minutes.  Don't know why, but I REALLY liked that perk!  

 

Marriott is probably my favorite hotel in Pattaya because of the incredible staff (as mentioned) and what I view as the PERFECT location in Pattaya.  It is an easy walking distance to Walking Street AND LK Metro, but I think most people underestimate/overlook how great it is to be able to access both Second Road and Beach Road from separate entrances/exits at the Marriott.  That makes it easier to get just about anywhere.  Stayed there last November and loved it (as I always have)

 

The Hilton has a much more "modern" vibe.  I did NOT have any issues with joinder fees and was not charged one baht for bringing girls back (that applies to all four).  Being connected to Central Festival (huge mall) is a nice convenience, too.  I had no issues with the staff, but they didn't jump out as "amazing" like the staff at Marriott, Holiday Inn or even Sheraton.

 

I will be back at the Holiday Inn in less than a week, and am spending my entire trip there.  It's not a great value using points (25,000 IHG points per night is a little steep given the rates at which you can book it), but it is an excellent property.  That said, I have not been back in a couple of years, and have no idea what the new tower is like, as it did not exist the last time that I stayed there.  I am hoping that, as an IHG Platinum member, I get upgraded to a room in the new tower, but we'll see in a few short days.

The staff at the Holiday Inn was fantastic the last time I was there -- I had an accident, had to get 16 stitches and it seemed like every staff member was alerted and told to check on how I was doing whenever they saw me.  They even had their car service drive me for follow-up Dr. visits free of charge and sent fruit up each day.

The only inconvenience with the Holiday Inn is its location, but it IS on the baht bus route -- which I'm 99% certain runs 24/7.  It is at the far end of the "Second Road/Beach Road loop" and I had a couple of baht bus drivers tell me that it was 10 more baht to continue back around the curve (by the Dusit Thani) to the Holiday Inn.  Some would argue over the pint, but 10 baht is like 30 cents....not even worth thinking about, IMHO.

 

I have status all all of the properties EXCEPT the Sheraton, yet, ironically, that's the only one where I was upgraded to much nicer room that their standard.  Being Gold with Hilton got me a free breakfast in their executive lounge, which was a VERY scaled down buffet (handful of items); at Marriott, Gold status got me their very well-stocked breakfast buffet for free; I will find out about the executive lounge at the Holiday Inn this week.

 

Points-wise, Hilton, Sheraton and Marriott all offer a "discount" when you use points to stay 5 nights (use points for 4; get the 5th free), but Holiday Inn does not (sadly for me on this trip).  With the "5th night discount," I thought the Sheraton was INCREDIBLY cheap on points (only 40,000 points for 5 nights).  As noted, I think the 25,000 for Holiday Inn is a little high -- it was 15,000 the first time I stayed there, and that was too low.  I think it logically should be 20,000 points per night.  Hilton is 50,000 points per night, but that ticks down to 40,000 if you stay 5 nights (of course, that's still 200,000 HH points).  The Marriott is also 25,000 points per night, so 100,000 points for 5 nights. The required HH points does go down in low season, whereas HI, Sheraton and Marriott stay constant.

 

So...to summarize my opinions....you can't go wrong with ANY of the four!  

[Luv2Phuket]

Just wanted to post a brief update, sicne I am in my room at the Executive Tower of the Holiday Inn.

 

The room is nice, but not much different than the one at the Bay Tower.  It is a little farther back from the water, but not too bad and the views are great.

 

I scored a room on the 25th floor, which is where the Executive lounge is located -- it is VERY nice!  Free "mini buffet" at breakfast, plus cook-to-order eggs and pancakes.  I just did the items they had out (bacon, sausage, toast, etc.) yesterday, but had an omelet today and it was very good.  I don't know if it's appropriate to tip or not, but I feel compelled to do so since I'm not paying a baht for the meal!

 

They also had a nice spread out at happy hour -- some shrimp cakes, EXCELLENT little grilled cheese sandwiches and some desserts.  I just wanted to grab a snack and then go get a Sunday roast, but I got carried away and ate so much that it was my dinner!  555555

 

The bar overlooking the water is very nice at happy hour.  Cool breeze and great views!

 

If you are from the USA, are going to stay at the Holiday Inn here in Pattaya and do NOT have Platinum status, get the IHG Rewards credit card from Chase -- no foreign transaction fees (so good to use here for the room) and it gets you Platinum status right away (plus a few free nights).  Then, once you have Platinum status, email the hotel PRIOR to your stay and ask them if they will upgrade you to the Executive Tower.  They are very accommodating and hooked me up, so i can only assume that they would do the same for you.