The Stay Hotel - Soi 10 - Superior Balcony room

[Garzan]

The Stay hotel, Soi 10

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293919-d3161434-Reviews-The_Stay_Hotel-Pattaya_Chonburi_Province.html

Photos link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/n1zLFccEzrwQYr6k7 (Includes 360 degree photos that cannot be displayed properly on PA.)

 

Intro

 

The Stay is currently my favorite place to stay. I’ve been here four nights already so I think I’ve gotten a bit of a feel for the hotel and the location. This is the first time I’ve been in a hotel with a (small) view of Pattaya Beach, so I’m branching out a little. I’m normally closer to the Soi Buakhao neighborhood. The Stay is a nice, modern hotel, with comfortable beds, in a very quiet neighborhood.

 

Location

 

The Stay is halfway down Soi 10. There is a beer bar complex at the Second Road end of the soi, but that is far enough away to not be a noise issue, and near enough if you want to stop off for that first or last drink on an evening out. In the immediate vicinity there are only other hotels, and the odd massage shop. There is nothing nearby to cause any noise issues if you are a light sleeper. Beach Road is half a block away.

 

Check-in / Checkout

 

My booking was pre-paid on Agoda. Check-in was a breeze. There was a 500b key deposit. I expect checkout to be equally easy.

 

Facilities

 

There is an onsite restaurant with a reasonable breakfast buffet that was included in the cost of my room. I ate there most mornings. There are eggs to order, along with a standard mix of Asian and Western breakfast items. The restaurant also delivers a full menu of both Thai and Western options to the room for a 10% service charge plus 7% VAT. The hotel has a rooftop pool area, and a surprisingly nice fitness room. There is a K-Bank exchange booth in the parking area, and there is ample off-street parking for cars or motorbikes. There is also a 24-hour security person in the parking area. The lifts require a room keycard to move up from the ground floor.

 

Ambience

 

I’ve been very impressed by how nice the property is. It’s a new hotel, with a spacious feel to it. There is lots of open space without clutter. Rather than pack 10 pounds of hotel in a 5 pound bag, they have done just the opposite. All the areas I visited have been spotlessly clean, open, and airy. It really is an excellent facility.

 

Room

 

The room I booked is the Superior Double with Balcony. The room is 42 sq. meters and is not overpacked with furnishings. Aside from the King bed, there is a full-size desk and ample electrical outlets. The room includes a safe, hot water pot, and a small pre-stocked refrigerator. This room has a large glass walled shower enclosure, but the higher priced rooms can include a bathtub. A rather unique feature of the sliding closet doors is that one direction opens the closet area, the other direction opens up a passthrough ‘window’ into the bathroom area. On the room side, one door has a large mirror and the position of the mirrored door can be swapped but that will take away the bathroom sink mirror which is mounted on the back of the sliding door.) The room includes a balcony overlooking Soi 10 with enough room for a small table (suitable for a room service dinner) and two chairs. The only minor downside to the room is the wall mounted television is 32” and look remarkably tiny in the room. I don’t normally watch television on holiday, so it wasn’t an issue for me. But for the room size and price point, I would have expected to see a 40” or greater flat screen television. On the plus side, both USB and HDMI ports are easily accessible for connecting a laptop, or plugging in a movie drive.

 

Internet

 

My test of the hotel Wi-Fi was an 8ms ping, 5 Mbps download and 4 Mbps upload. These stats are only valid for the instant I ran the test for myself and may not be the speeds that anyone else gets at some other moment in time.

 

Customer Service

 

All the staff I had interactions with were both friendly and professional. I did not have any less than excellent staff interactions.  

 

Price

 

The cost on the Superior room should be around 1600-1700 baht per night, which for me is a reasonable price for the quality of the room. I’d be hard pressed to find a value when comparing quality for cost.

 

Summary

 

As I mentioned in the introduction, I think The Stay has become my new favorite Pattaya hotel. The first and second things I look for in a hotel are comfortable, and quiet. The Stay excels at both. I also appreciate the cost per square meter on the room. At 42 sq. meters, the room feels huge. There is enough open floor space that you might be able to play a VR game if you packed your VR gaming equipment with you.

 

PA: An extra guest is welcome without extra charge, and a morning guest was included without charge at the breakfast buffet. I did not test the reaction, or if there was any additional cost to having two or more guests at a time.  I past sixty a while ago; there is only so much I'm willing to do for a hotel review. 555

 

[Jagaar]

What was the bed like?  Hard or reasonable?

[Garzan]

23 minutes ago, Jagaar said:

What was the bed like?  Hard or reasonable?

I found it reasonable, and I have a difficult time with the standard Thai made from granite mattress.

[Garzan]

As a disclaimer, I've shamelessly stolen my hotel review template from @LOTTELLEE WINNA. :-)

[Spursman]

Thanks for the detailed review. For the location, standard of room and location, 1600b is a steal!!

[vimto66]

Stayed there three years ago, i too liked the place.

Soi 10 is a great area, brilliantly located for most places but still an oasis of calm.

Also stayed at see me too which is in the background of one of your pics, another good hotel in my opinion.

[Sneaky-E]

3 hours ago, Garzan said:

As a disclaimer, I've shamelessly stolen my hotel review template from @LOTTELLEE WINNA. :-)

And that's why it reads so well, great review Garzan. How did you feel about the window looking into the bathroom, I've seen this in other rooms and found it a little off putting?

 

[Jagaar]

19 hours ago, Garzan said:

I found it reasonable, and I have a difficult time with the standard Thai made from granite mattress.

That's good. Don't think my back could take a rock hard mattress. Might as well sleep on the floor. 

[Garzan]

23 hours ago, Sneaky-E said:

And that's why it reads so well, great review Garzan. How did you feel about the window looking into the bathroom, I've seen this in other rooms and found it a little off putting?

 

I thought it worth a remark in the review but the reality in my room is the sliding door stays closed so the opening is not an issue. It's not like 247 where a wall and a half of the bathroom is clear glass. :-) 

If you're not so trusting of your barfine, it's nice to be able to open up the view back into the room. For your own in-room shower show, it's really not conveniently situated. 

[Garzan]

Also worth a note, The Stay has onsite laundry services. Normal service is same day when in by 10:00. Four hour service is available for a premium price. 

The laundry service is pretty good. I tested it out with tropical wool trousers and dress shirts, which I don't really trust to street laundries and they did a fine job on them, and delivered them to the room the same day. The service is a little more expensive than street laundries, but then you don't have to walk to the street laundry to drop off your clothes, or walk back the next day to pick them up. 

[Spursman]

On 11/07/2019 at 17:00, Garzan said:

The laundry service is pretty good. I tested it out with tropical wool trousers and dress shirts

Good to hear you packed light!

Go on Garzan, post a pic of your tropical wool trousers - I'm intrigued to the point of burstin'!!!!

[Garzan]

2 hours ago, Spursman said:

Good to hear you packed light!

Go on Garzan, post a pic of your tropical wool trousers - I'm intrigued to the point of burstin'!!!!

Let me speak slowly and use small words for you. The hotel laundry is able to take on laundry jobs beyond the typical Pattaya uniform of 'wife-beater' Chang singlets and ratty-ass cargo shorts if someone chooses to dress differently than the Pattaya 'norm.' I'll take a wild guess that that's not a point of interest to you in your hotel selection. :-)

[Spursman]

4 hours ago, Garzan said:

Let me speak slowly and use small words for you. The hotel laundry is able to take on laundry jobs beyond the typical Pattaya uniform of 'wife-beater' Chang singlets and ratty-ass cargo shorts if someone chooses to dress differently than the Pattaya 'norm.' I'll take a wild guess that that's not a point of interest to you in your hotel selection. :-)

Bit touchy aren't we Garzan!

I'm sure you look most dapper in your tropical wool trousers and double cuff shirts when wandering the numerous back alleys of the dark side. 

In fact, with such refined atire, I'm surprised the bar girls charge you at all - they must simply be honoured to be in the presence of such superior intellect and avant garde fashion sense!

[felix the cat]

I was looking for a weeks accommodation due too my Guesthouse was fully booked, stumbled across the Stay hotel,  it had just opened for business, they had a soft opening price of 1200b per night which i took full advantage of.

Found the staff very accommodating & friendly, room was very nice.  Wish i could've stayed longer.

Thanks for the review!

[Garzan]

1 hour ago, felix the cat said:

I was looking for a weeks accommodation due too my Guesthouse was fully booked, stumbled across the Stay Hotel,  it had just opened for business, they had a soft opening price of 1200b per night which i took full advantage of.

That's an awesome price. I'm on my last night of my week down here. I've really been impressed with the hotel. I booked it on a whim, and because the Agoda "Insider Special" price looked appealing. It's worked out well. 

[Evilfriar]

Great review mate, thanks for taking the time and effort.

Cheers

[Pinoydave]

Has it got a swimming pool??

[vimto66]

39 minutes ago, Pinoydave said:

Has it got a swimming pool??

Yes it has , the pool area is very good in my opinion, bigger than many hotels pools on that soi.

[Garzan]

11 hours ago, Pinoydave said:

Has it got a swimming pool??

Yes, click on the link for photos and you can see a 360 degree photo of the rooftop pool.

There is also a well equipped fitness room on the 8th floor.

[baconator15]

I heard some complaining that bugs (cockroaches!) would sometimes pop up from bathroom drains, and hotel did not address this issue. That'd be an absolute nightmare for me. Have you had anything like this in your room?

Thanks for the great review - that price looks nice

[Garzan]

6 hours ago, baconator15 said:

I heard some complaining that bugs (cockroaches!) would sometimes pop up from bathroom drains, and hotel did not address this issue. That'd be an absolute nightmare for me. Have you had anything like this in your room?

That would be a nightmare, and sadly, all too common in tropical climates. I did not have anything like that happening in my room. No bugs and no strange odors coming up from the drains. 

[Garzan]

Pricing Error

I saw on checkout that the key deposit was 1000b, not 500b like I originally wrote. I'll attribute it to a Senior Moment on my part. Checkout did go just as smoothly and drama free as I anticipated, and my Meow Taxi was waiting when I came down to checkout, so it all worked out well.