Any input on the Sawasdee hotels?

[Kim_74]

Hi

 

Planning on a trip in late february, and been looking for hotels around or close to Soi Diana, and found some cheap hotels;

 

Sawasdee Siam hotel

Sawasdee Pattaya

Sawasdee Sunshine

Sawasdee Sabai

Sawasdee Seaview

 

...anyone has any recommendation among these? Or any others in the same area, and within the same budget (600-900 baht pr night)?

Most important that it is joiner friendly, good wifi and not noisy. Not too hard beds are a plus too

 

 

[davidge]

Unless you really want a pool, guesthouses in the area would offer a better standard than most Sawasdee hotels.

[kd_traveller]

There is a very good reason the Sawasdee hotels are cheap and the reason is that practically nothing is spent on maintenance. Have stayed in Sawasdee Siam years ago and would never stay there after the swimming pool went a dark shade of green and eventually had to be closed for a week.

 

I would say the chance of good wi-fi would be pretty slim as if it was it would be the only thing that would be good other than the low price!

 

I think if you do a search on Sawasdee hotels on the forum you will find that these comments will be one of the more flattering ones!

 

http://www.pattaya-addicts.com/forum/topic/283562-sawasdee-sabai/?hl=sawasdee

[Colin back in Pattaya]

Sawasdee places seem not to have a good reputation.

Instead, try the Opey De Place on Soi Lenkee. It has a pool, comfortable beds, and last August cost 820baht per night room only.

Plenty of bars & restaurants nearby and only a short walk to LK Metro.

They have a website if you want to make a booking

[Rainsberger]

Honestly don't bother with any of them you will be disappointed much better all

round Soi Buakaow area some just as cheap and better.

[Kim_74]

thanks for the feedback ...good chance to book something else than one of the Sawasdee hotels, then...

Have stayed at Boss Suites before, and it was cheap and ok. Nothing fancy, but ok rooms, clean, nice bed. And besides...the room will mostly be used for humping and sleeping anyway, so not to picky on the luxury

Have also been to LK Metropole, but it is a little too expensive in high season.

[ingo67]

They are painted purple and are shit, you don't need to know anymore.

[rampetamper]

I have stayed at the Sawasdee Sabai and I'll never go there again. Bad service and bad maintenance.

[SLEUTH]

Sutus Court at similar prices is a 1000 times better and that is still not brilliant

[philkrenshaw]

I'm not a hotel snob, so here is a just the facts review, no judgement.

 

I spent 4 weeks in October in the Sawasdee Siam. It is the most expensive of the Sawasdee hotels (around 650 Baht, but maybe more in February) but I chose it because it has a pool and a room safe and a great location (corner of Buakao and Honey). One advantage over guest houses is it has an elevator (lift) and a 24 hour desk if you arrive or check out in the wee hours. They also have luggage storage if you check out in the morning and leave in the evening.

 

I was on the 6th floor. My room was large, clean and freshly painted. They were in the process of painting all the rooms down the other hallway of the 6th floor. I also noticed them painting the elevator doors in the lobby. I suspect, but don't know, that they are giving the entire hotel a facelift. The maid service was fine, the desk service was friendly. Every day you get towels, soap and a packet of shampoo. If you need extra, just mention it to the maid.

 

Two internet connected computers in the lobby, but I think you have to pay for usage. I dont' know how much as I didn't use them. Nor did I bring a laptop or cell phone so I don't know about WiFi.

 

The pool is not lit, so it is only open 8am to 6pm. It has a bar and the bar tender will also give you a towel, so you don't have to bring one from your room (bartender is not there at 8 am but will show up an hour or two later). It was rarely crowded, and when it was the reason was some Indian or Russian families, so a bunch of kids in the shallow end.

 

They have a breakfast buffet which (when I booked through Agoda) was maybe 30 Baht per day. Posted price is 120 Baht. About half of it was Thai food which I didn't eat, so can't comment on. The rest was pretty much the same every day--white bread and a toaster, butter, jam, fried eggs (often not kept very hot), slices of ham (processed slices like you'd get in a grocery store), "sausage" which looks more like cut up American hot dogs and was not fried, coffee, tea, milk, water, orange juice, pineapple juice, fresh pineapple and watermelon and fixings for a salad (lettuce, cucumber slices, etc.) which I didn't try because I don't eat salad for breakfast. Open 7am to 11am so you'll be able to have it unless you sleep really late.

 

There was occasional noise from, I think, live bands on Soi Honey or Buahow, but not as bad as when I stayed near Triangle bar on Chaiyapoon or from the Cave behind Hunny Pot on Soi Honey. The last half of my stay was very quiet due to the mourning period for the King.

 

The television is an old CRT, so not a hi-def flat screen. I had 75 channels of satellite TV, a reasonable number of them in English. When the King died I think over half the channels were All King, All The Time for about 2 weeks.

 

The only bad thing was, about 3 weeks in, my air conditioner died. (Granted, I had it running every minute I was in my room.) I told the desk and they moved me to another room.

 

From the outside, it looks like there are balconies, but there are not--the railings are there to hide the room air conditioners. I have had places with balconies but never used them (for me it is All Air Con All the Time). I suppose they are useful for people who smoke, so if you need a balcony go elsewhere.

 

If you're looking for real quiet I can recommend Chaiyapoon Inn hotel, down near the 3rd road end of Soi Chaiyapoon. I stayed there last year and it was very fresh, clean, new and well appointed--a boutique hotel feeling. Like a guest house it has no elevator, but it does have a 24 hour front desk. It had a computer in the lobby which I never used but assume was there for internet. Around 600 Baht per day.