I stayed at the Grand President http://www.presidentpark.com on my trip last November and was pretty satisfied overall. I got the Royal Suite. The room was big and nice. You can see the pictures I took of my room here.

I recently inquired about rates for this year and this was the email I was sent in reply.

Dear Mr. Xenono,

Thank you for your email. We are pleased to offer you a special as below:

Please find herein our room rates for 2002:
(Thai Baht)
STUDIOS Sq.m. Daily Weekly Monthly
Topaz 26 1,650 9,500 31,000
Executive 32 2,150 13,000 41,000

SUITES
Royal 50 3,300 18,500 61,500
Grand 60 3,650 22,000 68,000
Diamond (2 Bed Rm.) 75 4,500 28,500 92,000
Sukhothai (3 Bed Rm.) 135 7,500 45,000 155,000

*Remark : We are pleased to offer a 20% discount on the above rate for
TSM.

American Breakfast avail at, (THB) 160.- nett per pax per day.
Airport pickup (car) avail at, (THB) 600.- nett per one way.
Airport pickup (van) avail at (THB) 1,000.- nett per one way.

You could get more information and our floor plans and our location
on our site www.presidentpark.com

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need any further
information.

Look forward to hearing from you soon and having you at Grand
President.

Best regards,

Kwan
Secy. to RM
Tel : ++ 66 (0) 651-1200
Fax : ++ 66 (0) 651-1260/1

Those listed prices are their full (rack rate) price so the TSM discount is probably just a standard discounted room rate. Perhaps I can get them to make that a Club Hombre discount as well. The Royal Suite turns out to be about $50 a night with the discount if you buy for a week. I don’t think that is bad at all.

I liked the Grand President because of its location, the larger rooms, the friendly staff and the overall good experience I had the last time I was there.

I also stayed at Majestic Suites http://www.majesticsuites.com the last time I was in Bangkok. This place is right around the corner from Nana Plaza. I also had a very positive experience here and would recommend it. The rooms are a bit smaller, but the price was reasonable.

Then I also started hearing really good things about Omni Tower. See this page http://www.the-ascott.com/OurResi/ResiGeneralInfo.asp?p=80&r=4&t=Other or this page http://www.asiatravel.com/thailand/omni/index.html Omni Tower is short distance away from Nana Plaza right down Sukhumvit Soi 4.

So which one did I choose? Well. My criteria is probably a little different from most. But here is why I made my decision. The safes in the Grand President are big enough to store my laptop. And having just bought the thing, I want to try and keep it. Majestic is a little too small for my tastes and their room safes are not big enough to store a laptop. When I go on vacation, I like to splurge a little bit. I seriously considered Omni Towers but gave up after about 3 or 4 emails went un-returned.

In Pattaya I had stayed at both Eastiny Inn and Eastiny Place with Eastiny Place the clear winner in my mind. Eastiny Place was cheaper, nicer, newer and not as exposed to the sounds of the street. The staff was also a bit more knowledgeable about how not to leave luggage unsecured. Here is my post on the Eastiny Inn with pictures and here is my post on Eastiny Place, again with pictures.

But I am pretty sure I am going to spend my next trip in Pattaya at The Residence Garden. After reading many good things about the place on the board here I decided this was a place worth checking out. Their webpage is available here: http://pattaya-hotelrooms.com/TheResidenceGarden//index.htm

While Eastiny Inn and Place are right in the middle of the action on Soi 8, The Residence Garden is off the path a little bit past 3rd Road on Thappraya Road. But the baht buses are cheap and nothing is really that far away in Pattaya anyway. You can go to the Freelancer Bar's home page http://www.freelancerbar.com/residence/pricing.htm and get the 1300 baht deal as well which really makes the place an attractive option. The pictures of their suites online look just incredible and they also have room safes which again, are a must for me and seemed to be rare in Pattaya. Most hotels had safe deposit boxes in the reception area but this is one of the few hotels I have found that actually has an in room safe.

So there you have it. Where I will be staying on my trip and why. I have not made definite plans for Cambodia yet. I am just going to play that one by ear and see how things end up.

(Xen)

Xen: have you seen Ankor Wat? What is the best way to get there and what does it cost?
Have a good trip!!
Send photos.

I have not seen Angkor Wat yet. But I will definitely go should I make it to Cambodia.

The one thing I read from the State Department website was don't take ground transportation anywhere in Cambodia. Bandits and crooked cops line the roads and railways. So if I go I will probably fly into Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat and then catch another flight to Phnom Penh. Beyond that I cannot offer any other advice.

Angkor Wat is definitely worth seeing, one of the wonders of the world... I flew into Seam Reap from Bangkok, then back to Bangkok on Bangkok Airline, nice plane, etc.

If you go once a year, then splurging a little on hotels is not a bad idea BUT $50 a night for ahotel is a little unreasonable for mongering activities in September. September is the slowest month of the year for tourism and all hotels are at 25% capacity. With this in mind, the best deals can be had by lining up several hotels and get a discounted rate when checking in. Paying ahead of time is only a good idea if it's during the high season and the hotels are booked. Omni rates for a suite are 1600 but can be had for 1200 during September...been there, done that. All hotels will give you at least a 25% discount and more for long term stay if you make reservations on the spot....they need you business and you have huge leverage. Preparation is exciting but is not necessary for September reservations.

The Omni suite can be had for about 40 dollars and is much nicer than nearly any hotel in the area. Majestic Suites is tiny and overpriced.....the walk-in closet at the Omni is bigger than the entire bedroom at Majestic Suites.

For Pattaya, it is also best to make a reservation on the spot. Flipper Lodge, Resident Garden and Sunshine are all excellent choices for the price. My only complaint about Eastiny, FLipper, etc. is that they are too close to the action on Soi 8. Not much fun bringing your pooying home and having her walk the entire alley in front of her drunk peers. She loses face big-time and might get a little unnerved. Not to mention the possibility of hooking up with one of the Soi 8 girls and having to walk by her every night with another girl in tow.