Review: 1 month condos from DanceWatchers.com

[SmellyFarang]

A buddy & I just finished renting a pair of condos from Dancewatchers.com for a month, and since this forum (and others) was such a helpful source of info, I thought I’d contribute a review of my experience for others as well.

 

I’d always used hotels during past trips, but liked the idea of getting a nicer place for a lower price for a longer stay. But I was very concerned & hesitant about getting ripped off with a scam. How easy would it be for a guy to just advertise a place and take your cash (especially since most places only accepted a wire transfer)? Or you show up and there’s a “problem”? Or with most of these guys demanding an additional 1-month deposit, how easy would it be for them to stall & keep your deposit knowing that you had to leave the country? Even the large-looking rental companies like Fair Properties were really just brokers representing individual owners, so they would not be responsible for any problems you had with the owner. I've also heard (second hand), that Fair Properties in recent months has been slow to pay pay forward customers' rent & buildings fees which has resulted in renters having their water shut off, etc. by the building management.

 

Dancewatchers.com had a lot of good reviews on this & other forums, and they had 3 key advantages that strongly factored into my decision to go with them:

1. Tik, the owner, spoke excellent English and had an American husband, so I had much less concerns about “misunderstandings”.

2. Unlike every other place I talked to, Dancewatchers did not require a 1-month deposit in addition to the actual rent.

3. Also unlike every other place, they accepted payment by credit card via PayPal, so you had all the protections of your credit card company if any problems arose.

 

DanceWatchers’ prices initially seemed higher than other websites (like Fair Properties), but after spending a ton of time and no small expense with overseas phone calls I learned that most the other sites were using “bait ‘n switch” pricing. They’d advertise a low rate, but when you called you were told that rate was only for 1 year rentals. The rate for just 1 month was typically 2x or more, plus wanting a 1 month deposit, so you were actually looking at over 4x the price �" and you had to pay with a wire transfer! Plus you had to fight to drag out of them the details of various hidden charges (electricity, water, etc). So once I got educated on the game, I concluded that DanceWatchers’ prices were in fact very fair and only suffered from the fact that they were honest prices without hidden charges or other scams.

 

Even more frustrating with other websites was the waste of time when you found that their websites were woefully out of date with most listed properties “no longer available”. Or if they were available, they would only accept long-term rentals (despite being described as “monthly”). Again, using Fair Properties as an example, they listed a bunch of properties, but after nearly an hour on the phone struggling through broken English, only a few were truly available for a 1-month rental.

 

So, we rented from Dancewatchers and took advantage of their broad inventory in different parts of town. We each did a couple condos, some in Jomtien Beach (View Talay 2A & 2B) as well as View Talay 6 in Pattaya (next to the new Century Festival Mall). View Talay 6 is a new building and my condo there supported USA grounded plugs, so I could directly plug in my computer and other equipment no problem (most adapters support the 220v output there). All the condos had nice, modern décor and 42” LCD TVs that we could directly plug into our computers with HDMI cables �" so we could easily play all the USA & Thai movies we had on our computers (tip: "Som Tum" is a fun Thai movie based in Pattaya that all my girls seemed to love).

 

The service from Dancewatchers was also excellent during our stay, and Tik saved us a lot of time & hassle by taking care of a lot of little things that otherwise could have quickly consumed a lot of our trip, for example:

1. Providing cell phones with pre-programmed numbers.

2. Being able to tell us where to find things around town, etc.

3. Pointing us to the better providers for laundry, massages, etc. in the buildings.

4. Immediately getting a replacement for the cable modem’s power adapter in my condo

5. Tik’s husband showing us around WS (wow, he even volunteered without us asking ;)

 

Plus Tik lives in VT2A, so if you’re a dumbass that likes to lock himself out of his room (like I did on occasion), she's around to quickly let you back in. The fact that live live on-site is also a nice help.

 

Bottom line: I highly recommend you check them out first and use them as a baseline for comparing the others. We not only plan to rent from Dancewatchers again, but I was so impressed with Tik's professionalism that I’m hoping to invest in 1-2 condos in the future and have Dancewatchers manage them for me. Feel free to PM me with any questions. You can find their website at:

http://dancewatchers.com/

 

The first pair of pics are from the roof of View Talay 2A, looking down on the large bar complex across the street (Jomtien's version of Walking Street). The second pic is looking up the road towards WS. Note the Big Buddha hill in the upper right corner; you see it in the upper left corner of the first View Talay 6 pics which helps orient you.

 

The second set of pics are from the roof of View Talay 6. Going clockwise, the first shows the view down Beach Road to WS, the next a zoomed version (about a 15 min walk). The 3rd pic shows the view up Beach Road with the last pic showing the back overlooking Beach Road. The building under construction next door is the Century Festival Mall.

-Smelly

[Alex the Hedonist]

Ive been thinking about a monthly rental in VT6...but ONLY if i have a great seaview....what side were you on? what floor? what is your opinion of the views from the balconies? Any other thoughts on VT6 that you might add would be great...Im heading over in July/Aug. What about security and parking for a scooter?

[yeaialwayswearone]

nice report m8 i been looking at renting a condo!for next month.

[SmellyFarang]

Ive been thinking about a monthly rental in VT6...but ONLY if i have a great seaview....what side were you on? what floor? what is your opinion of the views from the balconies? Any other thoughts on VT6 that you might add would be great...Im heading over in July/Aug. What about security and parking for a scooter?

 

I was on the north side midway up, so my balcony view was the mall next door. But as I was leaving, Tik mentioned they just got some new units on the other (South) side. It's an empty lot on that side, so all the floors have great ocean view. Below are some more roof shots of the empty lot & view on that side.

 

They always had guards posted in the parking lot (which is the entire ground floor of the building), so the security was good. Plus, the entrance to Beach Road is a private walkway with an automatic, locking gate that you trigger with your room card. The only negative with that was that I sometimes forgot to warn my girls that they couldn't get out that way (they had to go out front to 2nd road), and a couple of them ended up having to sit & wait for another guy to open the gate with his key.

-Smelly

Edited April 12, 2009 by SmellyFarang

[gazman100]

How much did you pay for rent

[SmellyFarang]

How much did you pay for rent

 

We each tried a couple different units during our stay, and the prices ranged approx 25k-35k/month. They also have some nice high-end units that I was considering for my next trip.

-Smelly

[wetwillie]

hey smelly,

 

Did you by chance stay in 563 in VT6? I have that rented in a month. How was the noise level? Any pics of the condo?

Edited April 12, 2009 by wetwillie

[ROIDFREAK]

I have booked with Dancewatchers VT6 in June, very easy to book and he answers all questions if you call Michael..

[Muadib]

You don't have to worry about noise in VT2A at all...

 

I've always stayed on the south side of VT2A when renting from DW & Tik... Great view of the sea from most floors on the south side of the building...

 

It's nice having DW & Tik living onsite in case of the unexpected circumstance... I inadvertently tripped a breaker one night and DW was their to reset it quickly, once I sobered up and tossed out the BG anyway... On another occasion I got severe food poisoning and DW & Tik went to the pharmacy for me and picked up the farang cure... Then they wouldn't take any $$$ for the trip or the medicine... Great couple...

Edited April 12, 2009 by Muadib

[SmellyFarang]

hey smelly,

 

Did you by chance stay in 563? I have that rented in a month. How was the noise level? Any pics of the condo?

 

Sorry, wasn't that one. My pics probably wouldn't have done you much good anway, they're all too cluttered with sexy TG nymphs in the way to see much of the "loom"

 

My room faced the mall next door, which was running construction 24 hrs. So there were some nights when it got annoying, but luckily I was usually too distracted by above said nymphs to really notice. Dancewatchers is pretty good about warning on stuff like that (again, very honest on their website), so I'd check with them on the latest news in that regard.

-Smelly

[wetwillie]

Sorry, wasn't that one. My pics probably wouldn't have done you much good anway, they're all too cluttered with sexy TG nymphs in the way to see much of the "loom"

My room faced the mall next door, which was running construction 24 hrs. So there were some nights when it got annoying, but luckily I was usually too distracted by above said nymphs to really notice. DanceWatchers is pretty good about warning on stuff like that (again, very honest on their website), so I'd check with them on the latest news in that regard.

-Smelly

 

 

So quit holding out and post them up.

I just received an e-mail from Tik and she acknowledged some noise but first hand accounts are given more weight. The room I'm in is on the 16th floor facing the mall and I just hope it doesn't affect sleeping since I figure it to be in short supply anyway.

[SmellyFarang]

So quit holding out and post them up.

I just received an e-mail from Tik and she acknowledged some noise but first hand accounts are given more weight. The room I'm in is on the 16th floor facing the mall and I just hope it doesn't affect sleeping since I figure it to be in short supply anyway.

 

Unfortunately I'm just a lowly member of the "Member+" unwashed masses with an infinitesimally small upload limit, so more pics will have to wait.

 

Last month the noise was periodically loud enough during the month to bug me sleeping, but using some foam earplugs that I always take on flights was enough to address the problem for me.

 

A final tip I'd offer is take advantage of Tik's translation service. I ended up having misunderstandings with two of the top hotties I dated, and now regret that I didn't give Tik a quick call to help straighten things out.

 

Oh, how I envy you as I'm stuck back here in cubicle land...

-Smelly

Edited April 13, 2009 by SmellyFarang

[THguypattaya]

nice report, but isn't jomtien a lil far to WS soi 7 etc...and the agogo and beer bar scene in jomtien is pretty small?

[noodles]

nice report, but isn't jomtien a lil far to WS soi 7 etc...and the agogo and beer bar scene in jomtien is pretty small?

 

yes jomtien is a long way from the action unless you are into the gay scene -- jomtien is like mini Boyztown with lot of homosexual bars and a dedicated gay beach as well. A lot of girls are reluctant to go to Jomtien for ST because its a good 20 minute return trip.

You will also be paying more for the moto taxis and baht bus to get out here.

[SmellyFarang]

yes jomtien is a long way from the action unless you are into the gay scene -- jomtien is like mini Boyztown with lot of homosexual bars and a dedicated gay beach as well. A lot of girls are reluctant to go to Jomtien for ST because its a good 20 minute return trip.

You will also be paying more for the moto taxis and baht bus to get out here.

 

It wasn't that far in my experience, but maybe there are times of bad traffic that I always managed to miss. Depending on how many passenger stops, I think it was usually more around 10 minutes (not much longer than catching a Baht Bus the other way up to View Talay 6 by the Century Festival Mall off Soi 9). I never had a girl turn me down when I stayed in Jomtien and I always paid the same price of 10B for the bus and never had a driver bitch for more. I never used a taxi bike, so no feedback there.

 

I didn't monger in the Jomtien complex much, so I can't report a lot of details. But I do only recall one stretch of a handful of gay bars adjacent to each other, the rest seemed to be normal. It was a bit of a shock because you walk around the corner and suddenly have all these dudes whistling at you.

 

One of my reasons for later trying a View Talay 6 condo from Dancewatchers was that it was central between WS & Soi 6, but despite that I never managed to make it up to Soi 6 - too many (pleasant) distractions along the Coconut Bar & WS.

-Smelly

Edited April 14, 2009 by SmellyFarang

[badboy15001]

I'm staying in one of there one bedrooms next to central, the noise to me is not as bad as i thought it would be since i consider myself a light sleeper, the mall and the new Hilton being built has got to be an eye sore for the people living on the lower floors since before the mall came up they had a nice view of the beach. the room is spacious(will probably post pics later, got water in it from the Songran festivities) but i like the room and the high spped inter and private wireless. will use them again

[farang1]

I contacted Dancwatchers about VT 6. They don't accept credit cards, and want $300 up front and the balance when you arrive. However, I found it strange that the up front amount was cited in dollars, not baht, and I was not told how much in dollars they wanted upon arrival. Also, it is not clear from the website exactly what cleaning services were offered. I was told to contat the cleaning service directly, but I am hesitant to do this because of the language problem.

[farang1]

I contacted Dancwatchers about VT 6. They don't accept credit cards, and want $300 up front and the balance when you arrive. However, I found it strange that the up front amount was cited in dollars, not baht, and I was not told how much in dollars they wanted upon arrival. Also, it is not clear from the website exactly what cleaning services were offered. I was told to contact the cleaning service directly, but I am hesitant to do this because of the language problem.

[SmellyFarang]

I contacted Dancwatchers about VT 6. They don't accept credit cards, and want $300 up front and the balance when you arrive. However, I found it strange that the up front amount was cited in dollars, not baht, and I was not told how much in dollars they wanted upon arrival. Also, it is not clear from the website exactly what cleaning services were offered. I was told to contact the cleaning service directly, but I am hesitant to do this because of the language problem.

 

When I rented a couple months ago I was able to pay through PayPal (reservation deposit & balance on arrival) which lets you use a credit card.

-Smelly

[badboy15001]

I contacted Dancwatchers about VT 6. They don't accept credit cards, and want $300 up front and the balance when you arrive. However, I found it strange that the up front amount was cited in dollars, not baht, and I was not told how much in dollars they wanted upon arrival. Also, it is not clear from the website exactly what cleaning services were offered. I was told to contat the cleaning service directly, but I am hesitant to do this because of the language problem.

 

 

right a $300 deposit, i used paypal, when i used paypal they sent me a confirmation email along with how much in Baht i owe upon arrival, theres a cleaning service downstairs(honeys) they cleaned a lot of my clothes and sheets for under 200baht did not have them clean the room yet since i had the BG of the evening always seem to volunteer : ) , if you do not like them i noticed 2 more cleaning services in this building, i'm staying there now, no problems with the room and plan on staying on extra week i like there out door too

[THguypattaya]

any recommendation for nice condos like OP's condo in or near Pattaya?

[Slacker]

nice report, but isn't jomtien a lil far to WS soi 7 etc...and the agogo and beer bar scene in jomtien is pretty small?

 

I stayed at a View Talay condo last year as an experiment. The ride to Walking Street was relatively easy although the long-winded 'improvements' to Thapprya Road contribute much to a bumpy, dusty and at times laborious ride. IMO you are better off taking a couple of trips to Jomtien to see if the area suits.

 

 

...Also, it is not clear from the website exactly what cleaning services were offered. I was told to contat the cleaning service directly, but I am hesitant to do this because of the language problem.

 

Cleaning services are readily available from businesses based on the Ground Floor and can include laundry, etc. You pick the level of service you want.

 

 

As I stated above, I have stayed on a short trip in one of the View Talay 2 condos on a 'scouting mission'. A couple of things I noticed that future renters may want to bear in mind, although I stress that this is no reflection on Dancewatcher's rentals which may differ...

 

You pay up front, which puts you on the back foot if you encounter problems or misunderstandings. No easy solution if you find that the room isn't up to scratch, noisy neighbours, etc. A hotel may have other room options and your CC may be a good bargaining tool.

 

Rooms on Pattaya side are considerably cooler. Rooms on higher floors may suffer water pressure problems. Some rentals only have a hot water supply on the shower, not the kitchen or bathroom sink - a pain for shaving, washing-up, etc.

 

Swimming pool is large and appears well maintained. If you plan on sunbathing however, the lounger rentals are appalling - ancient, rusty, hard to adjust, sag almost to ground level and are made of towelling material...just think how much sweat those things have soaked up over the years ! Best to search out one to buy.

 

Better for long term stays and those who are not going to be trawling Walking Street every night. The new VT6 looks more promising in that respect.

[SmellyFarang]

theres a cleaning service downstairs(honeys)

 

Honey is great and also is very fluent in English. I had all my laundry done at her shop and was always happy with the results.

-Smelly

[farang1]

right a $300 deposit, i used paypal, when i used paypal they sent me a confirmation email along with how much in Baht i owe upon arrival, theres a cleaning service downstairs(honeys) they cleaned a lot of my clothes and sheets for under 200baht did not have them clean the room yet since i had the BG of the evening always seem to volunteer : ) , if you do not like them i noticed 2 more cleaning services in this building, i'm staying there now, no problems with the room and plan on staying on extra week i like there out door too

 

Does this mean Honey's charges 200 baht everytime sheets and towels are changed? I am tring to find out exactly how this works.

[wetwillie]

Does this mean Honey's charges 200 baht everytime sheets and towels are changed? I am tring to find out exactly how this works.

 

Taken from DW's website.

 

Honey's Room Cleaning and Laundry Promotion

Once a week deep cleaning with Unlimited Laundry

Single Studio 750 baht per week

Double One Bedroom 900 baht per week

 

Deluxe Service

Daily Room Freshen & Weekly Deep Cleaning with Unlimited Laundry Single Occupancy

Single Studio 1,250 baht per week

Double One Bedroom 1,600 baht per week

[email protected] or 0868154278