Holiday Inn Express coming to Buakhao

[Tuna Town]

9 hours ago, piloter said:

 I checked out the livestream by a guy whose name can't be mentioned here and he came across the aftermath of the fire and found a fellow who had been sleeping in the hotel.  This fellow related in colorful language how the stairway he was using to escape the fire was clogged with people dragging their suitcases along with them.   I never considered that people would do that in a fire but it could have caused people to die (and who knows if some were injured because they ended up staying the smoke too long).

 

 

People do the dumbest shit in an emergency situation

That just the reality of humans. We are Fucking stupid

[ludwighigh]

Looks like the cladding on the outside of the building burned.  Kind of like that fire in that public housing building in England.

I guess they were lucky the fire did not get inside the building - to that end the windows did their job.  You can see in some photos how the frames started to melt with the heat.

[striderman]

cosmetic clean up underway today hiding the main damage and cleaning the wall and room windows to the sides

the 28 or so rooms at the front looked closed last night (about 240 rooms total) some may come back on line in the next day or so. some in the middle area are going to need new windows etc made which is gonna take a bit longer. rest of hotel in use

work in progress to fix the heat/fire  damaged main sign

[Mr_wimpy]

On 06/12/2019 at 13:59, Tuna Town said:

People do the dumbest shit in an emergency situation

That just the reality of humans. We are Fucking stupid

I’d grab my backpack, laptop, wallet and passport in this situation.  Would take 20 secs.  Not arsed about my clothes and suitcase.  Guess I’m stupid.

[petehoax]

1 hour ago, Mr_wimpy said:

I’d grab my backpack, laptop, wallet and passport in this situation.  Would take 20 secs.  Not arsed about my clothes and suitcase.  Guess I’m stupid.

it's not about it taking 20 seconds to grab, it's about it becoming a problem if 300 people in panic do that and try to ran down a small stairwell. and then maybe your backpack (or a few others' suitcases) are falling down and people falling over it and a dozen people dying cause of it. 
i'm sure the people that cause it don't intend any harm. but there's good reason why airlines try to drill into people to leave EVERYTHING behind in case of emergencies. 

(this obviously doesn't apply to taking a wallet & passport & phone with you). 
 

[Mr_wimpy]

5 minutes ago, petehoax said:

it's not about it taking 20 seconds to grab, it's about it becoming a problem if 300 people in panic do that and try to ran down a small stairwell. and then maybe your backpack (or a few others' suitcases) are falling down and people falling over it and a dozen people dying cause of it. 
i'm sure the people that cause it don't intend any harm. but there's good reason why airlines try to drill into people to leave EVERYTHING behind in case of emergencies. 

(this obviously doesn't apply to taking a wallet & passport & phone with you). 
 

It’s not a massive hitchhiker back pack, just a small one with important stuff in.

id still be smaller in size with it, than some of the fat farangs without one.

sorry don’t care, I’d still grab it.  Tough titties 

[gmoule]

Yep id grab my stuff aswell guess that makes me stupid aswell

[likeaking]

On 05/12/2019 at 19:59, piloter said:

 I checked out the livestream by a guy whose name can't be mentioned here and he came across the aftermath of the fire and found a fellow who had been sleeping in the hotel.  This fellow related in colorful language how the stairway he was using to escape the fire was clogged with people dragging their suitcases along with them.   I never considered that people would do that in a fire but it could have caused people to die (and who knows if some were injured because they ended up staying the smoke too long).

 

 

Same thing happened on that Korean airliner that crash-landed in San Francisco a few years ago. Folks took their bags from the overhead bins before sliding out of the plane. Now the airlines announced, "Do not open the overhead bins in case of an emergency.".

Edited December 9, 2019 by likeaking

[Njaya]

On 31/10/2019 at 13:27, david83 said:

Cons

• Bathroom with no door, after shower there is a puddle even if you pay attention.

Are you sure it's not the same type of door at the HI Express Siam? In order to close the shower you swing the bathroom door into the shower, leaving the bathroom opened. 

It's not possible to close both the shower and bathroom at the same time, but does keep the shower water off the bathroom floor.

I know this configuration is used at Siam, and have seen it elsewhere too, possibly Sukhumvit, as well as many European HI Express locations.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Njaya

[david83]

38 minutes ago, Njaya said:

Are you sure it's not the same type of door at the HI Express Siam? In order to close the shower you swing the bathroom door into the shower, leaving the bathroom opened. 

It's not possible to close both the shower and bathroom at the same time, but does keep the shower water off the bathroom floor.

I know this configuration is used at Siam, and have seen it elsewhere too, possibly Sukhumvit, as well as many European HI Express locations.

I see,

I'm not sure? could be. Maybe someone can clarify it, i was not the only one that pointed it out.

[SiamDreamer]

18 minutes ago, david83 said:

I see,

I'm not sure? could be. Maybe someone can clarify it, i was not the only one that pointed it out.

I think it's a design flaw -  or something they overlooked - due to the small size of the bathroom. It's an issue that other's have experienced and so have I.  And not just at Holiday Inn Express in Thailand.   Adjustable shower heads do help minimize the problem, but not completely.

[mikeonabike]

I was surprised to see this hotel today. With the PC /#Metoo climate in the USA, I was surprised this popular American chain ventured into the "Sin City" market.

Let's see if there is a reaction when a Pattaya news story comes out of some kind of beef between a customer and working girl / Ladyboy, etc. at this hotel. 

[Bawdy]

On 12/12/2019 at 12:21, david83 said:

I see,

I'm not sure? could be. Maybe someone can clarify it, i was not the only one that pointed it out.

There is no shower door at all, just a partial partition, the shower stall is always open to the rest of the bathroom.

Edited December 14, 2019 by Bawdy

[striderman]

move along. nothing to see here

[Njaya]

On 13/12/2019 at 09:48, mikeonabike said:

I was surprised to see this hotel today. With the PC /#Metoo climate in the USA, I was surprised this popular American chain ventured into the "Sin City" market.

Let's see if there is a reaction when a Pattaya news story comes out of some kind of beef between a customer and working girl / Ladyboy, etc. at this hotel. 

It's the third IHG hotel in the city. Holiday Inn on Beach Road has been there for decades, Intercontinental for maybe 5 years, and now the HI Express.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Njaya

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, Njaya said:

It's the third IHG hotel in the city. Holiday Inn on Beach Road has been there for decades, Intercontinental for maybe 5 years, and now the HI Express.

Two very slight corrections on dates:

 - the Holiday Inn on Beach Road opened in 2009, so it is only 10 years old.  It certainly seems like it has been there MUCH longer than that.  The Executive Tower opened 5 years later in 2014.

 - the InterContinental technically is older, as it was previously a Sheraton (opened 2005), but it was re-branded as an InterContinental in 2016.

[Njaya]

2 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Two very slight corrections on dates:

 - the Holiday Inn on Beach Road opened in 2009, so it is only 10 years old.  It certainly seems like it has been there MUCH longer than that.  The Executive Tower opened 5 years later in 2014.

 - the InterContinental technically is older, as it was previously a Sheraton (opened 2005), but it was re-branded as an InterContinental in 2016.

Okay, more accurate time line.

In addition a year or two ago, IHG announced the intention of also building a Staybridge Suites in Pattaya, Holiday Inn Resorts in Jomtiem and on Koh Larn, and HI Express on Koh Larn. They don't seem to have any reservations about the area, although the reduction in tourist arrivals seems to have slowed down the pace.

[Luv2Phuket]

4 minutes ago, Njaya said:

Okay, more accurate time line.

In addition a year or two ago, IHG announced the intention of also building a Staybridge Suites in Pattaya, Holiday Inn Resorts in Jomtiem and on Koh Larn, and HI Express on Koh Larn. They don't seem to have any reservations about the area, although the reduction in tourist arrivals seems to have slowed down the pace.

Agreed!  I was just tweaking the dates in case someone thought that the Holiday Inn was an old property.

Since I have a buttload of IHG points, I look forward to their expansion!  5555

[Njaya]

3 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Agreed!

Since I have a buttload of IHG points, I look forward to their expansion!  5555

Me too, and it's pretty hard to beat the Beach Road property @ 25,000 points. Although I'll probably try Buakhao too. Nice to get the free breakfast.

[Taa_Saparot]

3 hours ago, Njaya said:

It's the third IHG hotel in the city. Holiday Inn on Beach Road has been there for decades, Intercontinental for maybe 5 years, and now the HI Express.

Did the Koh Larn Holiday Inn ever open?

[Rainsberger]

Anyone heard that they are building another Holiday Inn on Soi 7 near to 2nd road where the previous bars stood, an expat friend of mine told me last week and that a very large crane is on site. 

[Taa_Saparot]

8 minutes ago, Rainsberger said:

Anyone heard that they are building another Holiday Inn on Soi 7 near to 2nd road where the previous bars stood, an expat friend of mine told me last week and that a very large crane is on site. 

Not heard that .... and there has been announcements of new openings in Pattaya for Hilton, Marriot and Grande Centre Point recently.

[Njaya]

1 hour ago, Taa_Saparot said:

Did the Koh Larn Holiday Inn ever open?

Definitely has not opened.

Rumor a year ago was they took over the Sealey Resort on Koh Larn and were converting that into a HI Express. But no recent news on that as far as I know.

[striderman]

On 16/12/2019 at 06:16, Rainsberger said:

Anyone heard that they are building another Holiday Inn on Soi 7 near to 2nd road where the previous bars stood, an expat friend of mine told me last week and that a very large crane is on site. 

took these today. no evidence of any holiday inn express hoardings which were up at the buakaow site during construction. neither does the construction outfit appear to be Nova who built buakaow. 

 

so i don't think so.

[davidge]

On 15/12/2019 at 23:16, Rainsberger said:

Anyone heard that they are building another Holiday Inn on Soi 7 near to 2nd road where the previous bars stood, an expat friend of mine told me last week and that a very large crane is on site. 

I thought that was meant to be another ‘Flipper’ hotel.