Bella Express Hotel

[Dopeboyfresh]

I just wanted to write a brief review of this hotel. I was indecisively looking for hotels in Pattaya two days before my arrival date. I was searching for somewhere cheap, with pool and gym and a restaurant. That's when Bella Express cought my attention. The pictures they posted made the hotel look new and modern. So I booked all 13 nights here and $450 USD was charged to my credit card.

 

The hotel was easy to find. It's right off of central near second road, marked by visible signage. Upon arrival it was clear that this was a low budget hotel. I had to put down a 500 BHT deposit on the key card for the room. If I lost a key then I would have to pay the hotel 500 BHT.

 

There is a restaurant on the first floor that serves breakfast bufett ( $200 BHT) and dinner menu. There is also a pool and a small gym towards the back. The hotel also has a spa where you can get massages. The Grand Bella Hotel and the Bella Express hotel are back to back with the shared pool separating the two. The Grand Bella is a sister hotel that costs a few extra bucks.

 

There is a hospital around the corner, and situated on central, the hotel is obviously centrally located to restaurants, bars, transportation, etc.

 

I paid for a room that sleeps two, which consists of two twin beds next to each other. Mattresses on the beds are to hard for my liking and the pillows are too firm. The is AC in the room, a fridge, a lock box and an old TV. Picture quality on the TV is terrible, which makes it unwatchable. The hotel provides two bottles of water everyday because the tap water is undrinkable. The annoying thing is you have to re-enter the username and password to the wifi every hour or so.

 

The main customer base for the hotel are Indians and Russians. Indians come in by the buss loads on group tours. I've tried the hotel breakfast twice. Unsurprisingly, the food catered to the Indian customer base. The food menu changes but is not always fresh.

 

The hotel is girl friendly. Girl drops her ID at the front desk, take picture together and up to the room you go. When the girl leaves, you go to the lobby with her, she gets her ID and you both sign. The photo is a bit intrusive for married men but IDC. I'm not married.

 

In general, the hotel staff is happy to help with anything you might need. All in all, this is a budget hotel that tries to give you a lot for your money. But it's still very apparent that this is a budget hotel. Also washer on the first floor that you can use.

[superroo]

Good report mate. I won't be staying there.

[biggles]

Bella express used to have a really good all you can eat buffet, great for us CC. Steaks and Thai food prepared while you wait and a good selection of western meals plus deserts. Sadly they had stopped it when I was here a few months ago.

[On Borrowed Time]

the bus tourists was really the only thing needed to be said in that review.   It alone will ensure I'll never book it

[davidge]

Taking a photo is a really bad policy.

Hotel sounds pretty crap anyway, but that would be enough to stop me staying there.

[vimto66]

Taking a photo is a really bad policy.

 

I`ve never heard of that before,its a new one on me.Dosnt sound at all like a desirable place to stay,looks and sounds cheap although it is a budget place!

 

Thanks to the OP for the review anyway!

[davidge]

I`ve never heard of that before,its a new one on me.Dosnt sound at all like a desirable place to stay,looks and sounds cheap although it is a budget place!

 

Thanks to the OP for the review anyway!

I think Sunshine Hotel on Soi 8 used to do it but were persuaded it was bad for business.

[jimpty]

Could have had a deluxe room next door at lk mansion for less, with a king size bed, no intrusive photo taking policies and a hell of a lot less indians

[Dopeboyfresh]

If I didn't pay in full at point of booking, I would have stayed only one night here. I know for men with familily, the picture policy could be a bit much. I always thought it helped ensure that girls won't try anything stupid in the room, like steal from me.

[bobbybgood]

I  think this was the old Little Duck Pattaya Resort Hotel, in its hey day it was the place to be in the 80's and 90's, had a good Disco and Pub

[mathewparis]

The photo part is a no go for devils den :( you should have shown a picture of the swimming pool which is by far the best part of this hotel. I've tried the no window room which was great to sleep except for the neigboor 1 room many Indians 1 fucking a girl while the others wait at the door their turn ... But they do speak loud :( very late check in 14h very early check out 10h. The second good point is the mango sticky rice seller just across the street ! The WiFi was as bad as the one in basaya which mean awful !

[Rainsberger]

I  think this was the old Little Duck Pattaya Resort Hotel, in its hey day it was the place to be in the 80's and 90's, had a good Disco and Pub

 

Remember it very well.

[Dopeboyfresh]

The photo part is a no go for devils den :( you should have shown a picture of the swimming pool which is by far the best part of this hotel. I've tried the no window room which was great to sleep except for the neigboor 1 room many Indians 1 fucking a girl while the others wait at the door their turn ... But they do speak loud :( very late check in 14h very early check out 10h. The second good point is the mango sticky rice seller just across the street ! The WiFi was as bad as the one in basaya which mean awful !

The wifi is still awful. The dryer just stole my 60 baht and they are not reimbursing me. I did not take a picture of the pool because there are always people in and around it. I like the pool though. It's deep and has a water slide.

[mathewparis]

 

Hope this will work first time I post a picture

[vimto66]

IMG_20161115_150120.jpg

 

Hope this will work first time I post a picture

For a budget hotel thats a big decent looking pool!

[waco]

I have a room on hold through booking.com (seaview for the fireworks in November)

Anyone stayed in there in the last couple of months??

No chance of me staying, if they still have a silly photo policy

[reggieroggers20]

Has anyone tried taking 2 girls together? 

Do they charge for 2 joiner?

[Gone-east]

1 hour ago, reggieroggers20 said:

Has anyone tried taking 2 girls together? 

Do they charge for 2 joiner?

When you make your hotel booking its usually for 2 persons and on that basis you wont get charged when you take a guest back to your room. You will however be charged for the 2nd girl.

[reggieroggers20]

Is there any way i could slip in the 2nd girl without paying 1000baht fee?

Thanks

[LOTTELLEE WINNA]

OP - Not sure why you booked this hotel. If you had spent 10 minutes checking the 'Hotels' section of PA, you would have found lots of hotels, where PA members have posted hotel reviews, with really positive recommendations. Within your budget these include - April Suites, May hotel, Travel-lodge, Centra Avenue - and up towards the soi 6 end of town the excellent Nova Gold.

[neilri2001]

i also tend to prepay for my Pattaya hotels via one of the major online booking sites as i am very careful where ( or even if at all ) i use my credit cards in Pattaya. The downside to this is that you really need to do your research if you are going to book a hotel you have never stayed in before. It's also worth remembering that if you book via a third party you will only get the category of room that you pay for with very little chance of a room upgrade.

[porno frank]

sorry bout the headache. i dont think i will be staying there from your report.

[Mangiaw]

So far this hotel is one of my favourite in Pattaya for this budget. I came here with my friend 3 times. We take a standard twin beds room. I like the size and design of the room. It was clean. They have a free guest policy for one guest per day then additional guest costs 1000thb (I think). The guest has to show their ID card and be taken in photo by the receptionist. The photo requirement is a problem for certain guest. For instance if your guest comes from the 'Devil's Den' they will refuse to be taken in picture, because it is a policy of the 'Devil's Den' to refuse being photographed. Bella express, should make the photography optional, this hurts your business. This is one reason why we cannot stay all our holidays in this hotel.

The wifi signal is good but the internet is extremely slow, barely working. I experienced many disconnections. It used to be good I think back in 2014, and without a password or portal, but then last time in March 2016 they installed a portal where you have to input a password, and since then the connection is so slow that it is unusable. My friend told my that in november 2015 the portal was already installed when he went and that the connection became already too slow and he experienced many disconnections. Basically since then the wifi is just unusable, it just doesn't work 90% of the time. My advise to the bella express is to fallback to the time when there was no portal for the wifi, juat the direct connection to the wifi. So I put in my review that the rooms have No Wifi, even if technically there is wifi signal it is unusable for internet access 90% of the time since the installation of this portal. Please Bella express, remove the portal, it does great harm to your hotel and will hurt your business. Next time we will not come to your hotek just because of this.

I love the swimming pool there. They also have a little gym with a few weights to lift. For me the location is perfect, there is food 24/7, atm, 7-11, it's walking distance from the beach, central festival and soi bukhao where there is a market. It's just one 10thb songtaew ride from and to walking street. Yet it is a rather calm location.

Speaking of noise, most of the clients there are indians. Indians seem to have a different culture concerning the talking loud and shouting across a room, restaurant, swimming pool or corridor at night. They also like to bang at the door of they room in the middle of the night for some mysterious reason. Maybe they are taking turn for fucking a TG or they are coming back and don't have the key and their friend who is already back in the room is sleeping tight. This was not a major concern for me, but my friend generally dislikes the ambiance of the hotel due to the presence of these indian male guests which seems to be overwhelming for him.

It's worth noting that I have thai friends who came at the hotel, all of them had a strong racist bias against Indians. All thai ladies I talked to find indian men very ugly and feel oppressed by their behaviour, different boundaries, body smell and loudness. Here again for me it's not a problem, I see the differences but it doesn't affect me much negatively. As for when a Thai lady friend is with me (I am european) I actually see it as an advantage, since compared to the indian guys at the hotel I contrast and appear more handsome and gentleman in her eyes. However, clearly my friend (european as well) is very negatively affected by the presence of indian guests. So it depends on your subjectivity, you should decide if you feel comfortable staying among many loud indian men.

I also love to stay in a completely dark no window room, and it's possible to request to have such a room in this hotel, which comes at a little lower price.

This is an updated version of a review I initially posted on another site.

[thairak]

with the Indians , they must have to take the photo landscape,  with the slapper in the middle front row !   55

[Tagum]

On 08/05/2018 at 13:21, LOTTELLEE WINNA said:

OP - Not sure why you booked this hotel. If you had spent 10 minutes checking the 'hotels' section of PA, you would have found lots of hotels, where PA members have posted hotel reviews, with really positive recommendations. Within your budget these include - April Suites, May hotel, Travel-lodge, Centra Avenue - and up towards the Soi 6 end of town the excellent Nova Gold.

Not to pile on but yeah, really could have done better. I understand people like to have a home base but I always recommend to people who have not been to Pattaya to not book their whole trip in advance. Book a night or two so you feel comfortable that you have some place to land but then walk around, take a look around, see hotels, areas with your own eyes, learn and then book for the balance of your trip.