Having had a heart attack just 4 weeks before my visit to Thailand i needed a break & was expecting one here as my partner had stayed at this hotel on no less than 9 separate occasions in the past & she had always been able to relax here. As we arrived at the hotel from the airport in Bangkok ( approx 1.5 hours away ) the bags were unloaded from the taxi & sitting at the bottom of the steep steps that lead to the entrance of the hotel, Bell boys were just hanging around the steps, not one of them offered to take our bags into reception until they could see we were struggling !!. on arrival at the front desk there was yet another problem, our tour opperator had not included breakfast for all of our 9 day stay even though we had paid for it, not the hotel's fault in any way..... But the very unhelpful female Hotel assistant manager refused to contact Expedia for us back in the U.K as they said the call was expensive !! ,but they said we could use the internet only if we paid the extortionate £8 per hour hotel charge !! they refused to do it themselves !, after getting nowhere fast we decided to use our mobile to sort the problem which was expensive, this took 2 days of our holiday to sort out & only then with the help of Mr Pichikhan the male assistant manager who's manner & command of the english language is superb !!. We were also asked for a 2000 baht room deposit from our credit card which was not mentioned anywhere before & we had not budgeted for !.
The rooms we very spacious however, they were clean, tidy & had air conditioning, although rooms are quite dated, & no room safe except at hotel reception, it had a good sized bathroom, although the shower is very low, huge bed, T.V & tea / coffee making facilities, mini bar, but very few plugs in the room, which is a problem if you have mobile phone/ camera chargers/ i-pod, hair tongs etc & they only work whilst the door card is in the slot, remove the card to go out for the evening & everything youve left on charge will stop charging, so stick a Necter card in the slot before you go out !!, also dont be tempted to charge anything in the bathroom overnight using the shaver plug, as soon as you switch the bathroom light off the power is cut from the socket which i found out when i still had a dead phone in the morning !!. Hotel houskeeping is very poor too, on several occasions we had to call reception to ask for face flannels, water, tea & coffee refils, toilet rolls etc & dont expect the bed linnen to be changed everyday either. i would say the hotel is kept very clean generally though & lift access to all floors is very good with 3 separate lifts in use.
Breakfast is very poor with very little change each day which was a problem with my now newly aquainted low fat diet, The head chef however is fantastic & will cook anything you have brought with you or bought from the local shop, he'll also do you poached eggs if you ask as these are not on the menu, staff are superb in the breakfast lounge & the female breakfast manageress is fantastic !. From 10am in the lobby is a nice little shop with seating where cakes, tea, coffee & sandwiches can be bought & the prices are extreamely good £1 for a club sandwich !! ideal for an afternoon snack.
Outside the hotel, the grounds are very well kept, pool is superb & very clean, plenty of loungers & an outside bar & evening resturant, poolside Jaccuzi is excellent, outside showers & a play area for toddlers, the downside is the beach im affraid, its very small ( about 15 loungers total ) sandbags at the waters edge & no rubbish bins so its filthy, the beach is loosley raked over at night but not cleaned, & covered with ants, dont be tempted to swim in the sea either, its heavily poluted & has a sewerage outlet not far up the coast.
Heading into town at night can be a chore, the hotel minibus is 60 baht each for a return journey, cheap enough, but space is limited, so you have to book it early, it runs every 2 hours, you may get a journey to the town, but not guaranteed to get one back even though you've paid for it if the return journey is fully booked, a taxi back to the hotel from town will cost approx 250 to 300 Baht, dont pay more than this, there are plenty of taxi's to choose from so haggle !. Pattaya city is a very vibrant place, where you can buy anything & prices are good, steer clear of Brit theme pubs though prices are sky high !! Mc Donalds for the kids, KFC, Pizza hut are all here so you wont go hungry, local food is great too & plenty of indian curry houses to chose from. Walking street is extreamely vibrant but wouldnt reccomend it for kids, its very loud, very brash, & very busy, but has superb bars with excellent music & the people are very friendly, Tourist police have a well manned unit at the entrance every night & regualy patrol the long street if you should ever need them, its a happy party atmoshere there & everyone seems to have a great time, drinks are very reasonable too. Beach is lovely in Pattaya too, so is the Central Festival shopping centre, with very modern shops on 5 levels & a great supermaket on the ground floor. Baht busses as i call them are open backed taxi's that continuously drive around the main Pattaya city block, just hail one, jump on board & ring the bell when you want to stop & get off, all for the price of 10 Baht (20p) each, dont be tempted to get on one that has no other passengers aboard though as its deemed to be a private taxi & you will be charged 10 x the normal fare !!. so to cap it all off, its a well situated Hotel away from the hussle & bustle of the city, but its dated, internet access is very expensive at £2 for 15 minutes, £4 for 30 minutes & £8 per hour, clean rooms, again dated & housekeeping not up to scratch, food choice is limited although good, Beach is very poor, poolside & pool excellent, but city is a great place to be at night, oh & one last thing, go visit the Alcazar theater in town for the lady boys Cabaret its a fantastic show & well worth the money, you wont regret it !!.... i hope this helps.