ARECA LODGE

[Starfighter99]

Hey Gents,

Not sure how many of you this will affect, but I got a message from Areca through my Agoda booking. I'll paste the content here (It's about the dining area going under refurbishment):

 

Greetings from Agoda!

With reference to your booking ID ###### as detailed below: Hotel: Areca Lodge hotel City/Country or Region: Pattaya/Thailand Arrival: May 14, 2024 Departure: May 21, 2024 We just received an update from Areca Lodge hotel. They informed us that Bai-Mai Kitchen will be undergoing renovation from 20th May until 31st October 2024. Therefore, breakfast will be served at April Room located at Evergreen Wing instead starting from 06.30 am to 10.30 am. Apologies for the inconvenience. Should you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you.

Regards, FC Agoda Customer Experience Group

[jerkmcgerk]

54 minutes ago, Starfighter99 said:

Hey Gents,

Not sure how many of you this will affect, but I got a message from Areca through my Agoda booking. I'll paste the content here (It's about the dining area going under refurbishment):

 

Greetings from Agoda!

With reference to your booking ID ###### as detailed below: Hotel: Areca Lodge hotel City/Country or Region: Pattaya/Thailand Arrival: May 14, 2024 Departure: May 21, 2024 We just received an update from Areca Lodge hotel. They informed us that Bai-Mai Kitchen will be undergoing renovation from 20th May until 31st October 2024. Therefore, breakfast will be served at April Room located at Evergreen Wing instead starting from 06.30 am to 10.30 am. Apologies for the inconvenience. Should you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you.

Regards, FC Agoda Customer Experience Group

At first I was concerned how this could impact breakfast, but now I’m wondering how this will impact noise at both the pool and in the rooms… 

[kd_traveller]

5 minutes ago, jerkmcgerk said:

At first I was concerned how this could impact breakfast, but now I’m wondering how this will impact noise at both the pool and in the rooms… 

It should not impact breakfast as previously they used to stop breakfast at 9.30am from the Bai Mai kitchen and breakfast was then in the April room only.  Prior to 9.30am it was available from both kitchens. Occasionally it could get busy and there could be a slight wait but as this closure is during the low season it should be OK. The selection available was usually the same from both kitchens.

As to noise at the pool, if it impacts noise at one pool, just go to the other one.  Unless there is major structural work, it should only have a marginal noise impact on a very few rooms.

[LeoTex]

Back before Covid the Areca use to use that restaurant as well as the larger Bai-Mai Kitchen.

They both served the same food.

 It will be smaller so I can see it being full during breakfast.

When I was there last week you could also have breakfast in the Marble restaurant in the front of the hotel, which I'm sure will also be available for breakfast. 

[wallywest]

Hmm just received an email through Agoda that my booking at Areca for a deluxe plus pool view room for mid May has been cancelled due to apparent ‘renovations’ …anyone else experienced this? I’m a bit annoyed as it’s short notice and I’ve seen better alternatives price-wise in the last month or so, but none of them seem available now. Feckers.

[Greg_B]

1 minute ago, wallywest said:

Hmm just received an email through Agoda that my booking at Areca for a deluxe plus pool view room for mid May has been cancelled due to apparent ‘renovations’ …anyone else experienced this? I’m a bit annoyed as it’s short notice and I’ve seen better alternatives price-wise in the last month or so, but none of them seem available now. Feckers.

I booked in Jan 2024 and at the last second took the "standard plus" instead of "deluxe plus".

Not much of a difference and I made the lucky choice.

I booked via the hotel website and not Agoda

[wallywest]

2 minutes ago, Greg_B said:

I booked in Jan 2024 and at the last second took the "standard plus" instead of "deluxe plus".

Not much of a difference and I made the lucky choice.

I booked via the hotel website and not Agoda

Thanks for that, yes they look similar. I had a pretty good price for the room I’d booked even compared to their own website prices. This has soured me a bit so I think I’ll look elsewhere

[wallywest]

10 hours ago, wallywest said:

Hmm just received an email through Agoda that my booking at Areca for a deluxe plus pool view room for mid May has been cancelled due to apparent ‘renovations’ …anyone else experienced this? I’m a bit annoyed as it’s short notice and I’ve seen better alternatives price-wise in the last month or so, but none of them seem available now. Feckers.

No Agoda screwed up. They were supposed to be sending me the same message that @Starfighter99 posted above about the restaurant renovation, but the guy from Agoda sent me a cancellation message instead. I recieved an apology later in the day, with the correct message. Ironically now I’m thinking of changing hotels anyway lol.

[PGSTC776]

On 29/04/2024 at 09:27, jerkmcgerk said:

At first I was concerned how this could impact breakfast, but now I’m wondering how this will impact noise at both the pool and in the rooms… 

I wouldn't worry too much.  In years past whenever I stayed at Evergreen I'd have breakfast there; it's fine.

[Starfighter99]

I checked into the Areca yesterday, and had to wait until 20 minutes after the official check-in time since the hotel is so booked up that the cleaning staff didn’t have time to complete the room-readiness beforehand. I was walked to the Corona Building, the 2nd of the 3 buildings, and got into my room to settle down for a bit. I’d been talking to a previous ThaiFriendly girl who stayed with me at my last hotel, the LK Metropole. I have read, like many BMs here, about the side lot “entrance” that some guys use to bypass the lobby, and also of course read that the Areca doesn’t have any extra fees if there’s just one girl and you take her in through the lobby.

A complicating factor here is that this hotel, if you bring a girl in, requires not only her ID, but a carbon-copy signature *from the hotel guest* to let a TG in. In other words, if you’re like me and you enjoy having a TF girl come over, you have to go to the lobby to pick her up. Which, at least in this case, means the multi-minute elevator, walking, stairs, etc to get to the front desk, sign a piece of paper, and then make the trek with the BG back to your room.

In other words, this place—although a very nice establishment, with nice pools and room service etc, is not nearly as monger-friendly as all of the heaps of praise implies. 

Long story short: if you like having girls come to your room from Tinder, ThaiFriendly, etc, where you are already in your room, I can’t say that I’d recommend this hotel. Sure, if you’re coming home with a TG in your arms, it’s probably not as big of a deal, but if you like “Uber Eats” style TG delivery, you might want to reconsider.

[Laid Back Larry]

38 minutes ago, Starfighter99 said:

I checked into the Areca yesterday, and had to wait until 20 minutes after the official check-in time since the hotel is so booked up that the cleaning staff didn’t have time to complete the room-readiness beforehand. I was walked to the Corona Building, the 2nd of the 3 buildings, and got into my room to settle down for a bit. I’d been talking to a previous ThaiFriendly girl who stayed with me at my last hotel, the LK Metropole. I have read, like many BMs here, about the side lot “entrance” that some guys use to bypass the lobby, and also of course read that the Areca doesn’t have any extra fees if there’s just one girl and you take her in through the lobby.

A complicating factor here is that this hotel, if you bring a girl in, requires not only her ID, but a carbon-copy signature *from the hotel guest* to let a TG in. In other words, if you’re like me and you enjoy having a TF girl come over, you have to go to the lobby to pick her up. Which, at least in this case, means the multi-minute elevator, walking, stairs, etc to get to the front desk, sign a piece of paper, and then make the trek with the BG back to your room.

In other words, this place—although a very nice establishment, with nice pools and room service etc, is not nearly as monger-friendly as all of the heaps of praise implies. 

Long story short: if you like having girls come to your room from Tinder, ThaiFriendly, etc, where you are already in your room, I can’t say that I’d recommend this hotel. Sure, if you’re coming home with a TG in your arms, it’s probably not as big of a deal, but if you like “Uber Eats” style TG delivery, you might want to reconsider.

Howis the internet connection?

[swede37]

1 hour ago, Laid Back Larry said:

Howis the internet connection?

Buy a sim card with unlimited data and save yourself the hassle with the wifi.

wifi works most of the time but the login screen a couple of times a day made me turn the wifi off and just use mobile data

[neo1011]

5 hours ago, Starfighter99 said:

I checked into the Areca yesterday, and had to wait until 20 minutes after the official check-in time since the hotel is so booked up that the cleaning staff didn’t have time to complete the room-readiness beforehand. I was walked to the Corona Building, the 2nd of the 3 buildings, and got into my room to settle down for a bit. I’d been talking to a previous ThaiFriendly girl who stayed with me at my last hotel, the LK Metropole. I have read, like many BMs here, about the side lot “entrance” that some guys use to bypass the lobby, and also of course read that the Areca doesn’t have any extra fees if there’s just one girl and you take her in through the lobby.

A complicating factor here is that this hotel, if you bring a girl in, requires not only her ID, but a carbon-copy signature *from the hotel guest* to let a TG in. In other words, if you’re like me and you enjoy having a TF girl come over, you have to go to the lobby to pick her up. Which, at least in this case, means the multi-minute elevator, walking, stairs, etc to get to the front desk, sign a piece of paper, and then make the trek with the BG back to your room.

In other words, this place—although a very nice establishment, with nice pools and room service etc, is not nearly as monger-friendly as all of the heaps of praise implies. 

Long story short: if you like having girls come to your room from Tinder, ThaiFriendly, etc, where you are already in your room, I can’t say that I’d recommend this hotel. Sure, if you’re coming home with a TG in your arms, it’s probably not as big of a deal, but if you like “Uber Eats” style TG delivery, you might want to reconsider.

Is there any security to pass if you take the side car park route to the corona building? Looks like it might be a shorter walk also rather than going through reception 

[kd_traveller]

57 minutes ago, neo1011 said:

Is there any security to pass if you take the side car park route to the corona building? Looks like it might be a shorter walk also rather than going through reception 

Not going into the hotel via Soi Diana, there is security coming in via the Evergreen wing

[neo1011]

12 minutes ago, kd_traveller said:

Not going into the hotel via Soi Diana, there is security coming in via the Evergreen wing

So no one really to stop you if you bring back 2 girls ?

[PGSTC776]

7 hours ago, Starfighter99 said:

I checked into the Areca yesterday, and had to wait until 20 minutes after the official check-in time since the hotel is so booked up that the cleaning staff didn’t have time to complete the room-readiness beforehand. I was walked to the Corona Building, the 2nd of the 3 buildings, and got into my room to settle down for a bit. I’d been talking to a previous ThaiFriendly girl who stayed with me at my last hotel, the LK Metropole. I have read, like many BMs here, about the side lot “entrance” that some guys use to bypass the lobby, and also of course read that the Areca doesn’t have any extra fees if there’s just one girl and you take her in through the lobby.

A complicating factor here is that this hotel, if you bring a girl in, requires not only her ID, but a carbon-copy signature *from the hotel guest* to let a TG in. In other words, if you’re like me and you enjoy having a TF girl come over, you have to go to the lobby to pick her up. Which, at least in this case, means the multi-minute elevator, walking, stairs, etc to get to the front desk, sign a piece of paper, and then make the trek with the BG back to your room.

In other words, this place—although a very nice establishment, with nice pools and room service etc, is not nearly as monger-friendly as all of the heaps of praise implies. 

Long story short: if you like having girls come to your room from Tinder, ThaiFriendly, etc, where you are already in your room, I can’t say that I’d recommend this hotel. Sure, if you’re coming home with a TG in your arms, it’s probably not as big of a deal, but if you like “Uber Eats” style TG delivery, you might want to reconsider.

So, if your girl has never been there, and looks like she doesn't know wtf is going on she will get stopped.  I have had plenty of TF girls (girls I've seen before) simply walk straight up to my room, because they know what to do (which can be somewhat of a surprise on occasion).  You'll find this is the case for a lot of hotels, and honestly in general all over the world... if you "look" lost, you'll garner attention, if you "look" like you know exactly what you're doing, and belong, people will leave you alone. 

This isn't really any different from the vast majority of hotels in Pattaya.  The difference between Areca, and a lot of others is that it's very easy to bypass the main lobby.  The majority of places don't have multiple entry points to the rooms.

 

[PGSTC776]

7 hours ago, Laid Back Larry said:

Howis the internet connection?

The answer is always... shit.  The wifi at Areca is shit.  

[LeoTex]

26 minutes ago, PGSTC776 said:

The answer is always... shit.  The wifi at Areca is shit.  

I guess I have been lucky for the past 12 trips over the last 3 years I have not had a problem with the wifi.

Maybe staying in the Evergreen building has something to do with it. 

It has also worked well for me by the pools and in the restaurants. 

 

[kd_traveller]

1 hour ago, neo1011 said:

So no one really to stop you if you bring back 2 girls ?

In reality no, but there is always CCTV, and staff do move between buildings and so there always a slight chance of getting caught.  No sure how easy it is either to get additional towels etc from the cleaners!

[PGSTC776]

22 minutes ago, kd_traveller said:

In reality no, but there is always CCTV, and staff do move between buildings and so there always a slight chance of getting caught.  No sure how easy it is either to get additional towels etc from the cleaners!

If you tip daily, it's super easy.  I usually leave 50-100 THB (depending on what notes I have in pocket) on the edge of the bed every morning.  Around day 2 of the trip I usually ask the girl for 2 extra towels every morning.  Have yet to have one say no, or charge me. 

[PGSTC776]

1 hour ago, LeoTex said:

I guess I have been lucky for the past 12 trips over the last 3 years I have not had a problem with the wifi.

Maybe staying in the Evergreen building has something to do with it. 

It has also worked well for me by the pools and in the restaurants. 

 

People have different usage requirements, so there's obviously some give in what constitutes "good" or "bad".  Objectively however, Areca offers slower speeds, and significantly more frequent service disruptions than just about any hotel in its class; without even mentioning the annoying quasi-security protocols that require frequent log in.  For casual users that don't stream a lot, I'm sure it's probably fine, but then again so are 2G speeds.  For anyone that works remotely, and needs bandwidth for large file transfers Areca's wifi is horrible, and you'll need to rely on a fast cellular connection.