Holiday Inn Express or Amber? (need to get some work done)

[jdubz99]

I usually stay at the Acqua or Travelodge but will have to bring the laptop and get some work done and in both hotels there's really no space to work without getting upgraded rooms (the standard rooms at the Acqua are absurdly cramped which sucks since the wifi there is great).

I've booked a week at the Holiday Inn Express (standard Queen room, with breakfast) and hotel Amber (Queen room, pool view, no breakfast) and have a few weeks before I have to cancel one of them.

While the rooms in neither are huge, at least there's a chair and surface to work on. Both are around the same price although the Holiday Inn Express includes breakfast... and I do love a rooftop pool but it looks to have just a paltry 5 lounge chairs up there (is it ever an issue getting a chair there?).

Ideally a fast upload would be preferred (all I can ever find is "wifi fast" kind of comments on tripadvisor) as I'd have to upload some large (20-40GB) project files for work... I don't mind leaving my laptop on over night but the faster the better obviously.

I do most of my drinking on Soi 7, LK Metro and Treetown and will occasionally head over to WS so I think the location is ideal (RIP Made in Thailand for now at least). Although it might be trouble convincing a new friend to make the hike back to the Amber from WS where as the HIE seems much closer (I'm relatively fit and if someone can't/doesn't want to go for a walk I rule them out... at least if it's a LT arrangement).

Unfortunately the Blackwoods is fully booked and all the affordable rooms at the Amethyst are gone. Areca is a non-starter due to horrific wifi and the 24/7 Boutique is also out thanks to the Treetown noise so it's really down to these two.

Am I splitting hairs here and both are fine? All I can think about is my 3 week trip and specifically the last week in Pattaya so this is a nice first world problem to have lol.

Thanks!

Edited March 31, 2023 by jdubz99

[Arnie85]

8 minutes ago, jdubz99 said:

Am I splitting hairs here and both are fine?

Totally. 

[Macawber]

Amber hotel poolside rooms might not be suitable for you if you plan on working in your room during the day as the noise from pool users might prove to be a distraction. And yes, the desk space is small. 
 

[jdubz99]

6 minutes ago, Macawber said:

Amber hotel poolside rooms might not be suitable for you if you plan on working in your room during the day as the noise from pool users might prove to be a distraction. And yes, the desk space is small. 
 

I'm not too worried about that, it's pretty mindless (just merging some reports together and compiling them into a large database file then hitting update). Minimal effort/thought kinda thing and will only take 40 minutes or so a day which is why I'm ok with a smaller work space. Hell I can just drag the computer to a cafe for that part if need be.

[Zauberfee]

5 hours ago, jdubz99 said:

Minimal effort/thought kinda thing and will only take 40 minutes or so a day...

If that's the case you really overthink big way 😉

I stayed at HIX last year and it fitted greatly as a working area.

 Big desk and a very comfortable chair on roles. Good wifi as well. 

 

[jdubz99]

7 hours ago, Zauberfee said:

If that's the case you really overthink big way 😉

I stayed at HIX last year and it fitted greatly as a working area.

 Big desk and a very comfortable chair on roles. Good wifi as well. 

 

 

That does look plenty big enough and I'm not normally up for breakfasts but that sounds like it's worth checking out for sure.

Do you remember the upload speed? I have emailed the hotel and they just said "fast" lol

Any issues ever getting a lounger on the rooftop? I've only counted 5 of them from the pics I've seen. I hope it's not a Hunger Games situation as afternoons by the pool is how I recharge for the night to come.

[SlowlyMan]

In my experience over 6 weeks at Amber. most days the wifi was unusable. I had to connect to my cell if I wanted to do anything more then email.

[Zauberfee]

6 hours ago, jdubz99 said:

Do you remember the upload speed? I have emailed the hotel and they just said "fast" lol

No, sorry ... downlowd always was kind of ok/good ... it never felt slow ... unfortunately I can't say anything to the upload speed, just keep in minf that in most hotels sharing files/using torrents et al. is not allowed, so they might reduce the upload speed.

Still my best uneducated guess is that you probably will be fine at HIX

Edited March 31, 2023 by Zauberfee

[jdubz99]

On 31/03/2023 at 12:03, SlowlyMan said:

In my experience over 6 weeks at Amber. most days the wifi was unusable. I had to connect to my cell if I wanted to do anything more then email.

Yikes! I keep seeing mostly good praise of the wifi there, at least on TripAdvisor. I emailed them a special request to ensure the room I was allocated had strong wifi (I'm sure they know which rooms are the duds).

This might all be moot anyway, I've been refreshing Agoda to see if the Amethyst and Blackwoods have anything on my dates (since both look fantastic and I love me a brand new hotel) and sure enough a King room at the Amethyst appeared! It's more $ of course but hot damn I jumped all over it.

So now I've got all 3 booked and have till April 12 to cancel 2 of them lol

Edited April 1, 2023 by jdubz99

[SlowlyMan]

4 minutes ago, jdubz99 said:

Yikes! I keep seeing mostly good praise of the wifi there, at least on TripAdvisor. I emailed them a special request to ensure the room I was allocated had strong wifi (I'm sure they know which rooms are the duds).

This might all be moot anyway, I've been refreshing Agoda to see if the Amethyst and Blackwoods have anything on my dates (since both look fantastic and I love me a brand new hotel) and sure enough a King room at the Amethyst appeared! It's more $ of course but hot damn I jumped all over it.

So now I've got all 3 booked and have till April 12 to cancel 2 of them lol

The WiFi signal was always strong. But, no throughput. It's shared so, if a bunch of people are streaming, then it's going to be slow no matter where the room is located. Just my experience though. Others may see it differently

[jdubz99]

3 minutes ago, SlowlyMan said:

The WiFi signal was always strong. But, no throughput. It's shared so, if a bunch of people are streaming, then it's going to be slow no matter where the room is located. Just my experience though. Others may see it differently

Sound logic and makes perfect sense. Amber is out then, much appreciated!

I don't get how in this day and age why some hotels skimp on internet. There's usually rooms with spotty coverage or in this case it seems insufficient network capacity. Minor investments and common sense troubleshooting would solve both problems and attract more travelers who are working out of their laptops. Which is quite common these these days.

 

 

[jerkmcgerk]

@jdubz99, did you end up at Holiday Inn and test the speeds? I'm going this weekend and need to find a place with good connectivity as well.

[jdubz99]

Nope, I'm there next week but I also have the Amethyst booked at the same time. Not sure which one to keep. When are you there?

[jerkmcgerk]

I will be there a couple weeks starting this weekend, but I decided to try out an apartment that advertised good internet speeds. I'd have liked Acqua (for speeds) but it's booked up this entire week coming up.

Edited April 6, 2023 by jerkmcgerk