The hotel had a great location as it was situated opposite a temple. From our balcony, we were able to witness the monks' alms-giving ceremony. As the hotel is situated towards the end of Sakkarin Road, restaurants and night market were walking distance, yet we didn't have the trouble of dealing with all the noise in the main street. The rooms were also big and the beds were comfy.

The only problem is the staff. We booked the hotel through an online agency (a reputable one). At the time of booking, the agency had a promo of book 1 night and get 2nd night booking for free. We paid a small amount for deposit and we were issued a voucher which stated the details of the booking. The voucher said that balance shall be paid upon check out from the hotel.

Upon check in, we gave the voucher to the hotel staff. He read the voucher and didn't say anything. Upon check out, however, we were being charged for 2nights regular rate! I argued saying that we presented the voucher which included the details of the promo held by the agency upon check in and they did not say anything about it. The staff just said the voucher is invalid and they cannot honor it. I was so mad I insisted on calling the online agency and had their representative talk to the hotel staff. I think the hotel staff never realized I'd take time to call the online agency and bring this to their attention. In the end, the hotel honored the voucher and accepted payment as clearly stated in said voucher.

Beware to those who want to visit this hotel. Better to set things straight with the staff even prior to check in. I am pretty sure they are aware of the discounted rates offered through online agency, but pretend that they don't in order to charge tourists their rack rate.

We booked 2 nights at the Villa Senesouk guest house, Luang Prabang through hotelclub.com and on arrival we were told that they had no record of us booking in. We had the booking confirmation printed out and the lady firstly told us we must have cancelled it! We informed her we definitely did not cancel it and I even logged on to my e-mail account to prove we had booked it and had a confirmation e-mail there. After another few minutes looking and checking she told us that she had no record at all, and that she had a room for us that night but the only room they had the following night was a deluxe room at $50 per night. We explained we were back packing and could not afford that much and could she subsidise the rate because of the circumstances and we were told no. We asked could our deposit of $7 be refunded or taken off the amount we were paying for that one night and we were also told no! The room itself is fine apart from a very hard mattress and location is good but the service is terrible and the worst we have experienced in our travels. They were very unfriendly and not even so much as an apology or any help what so ever was offered which resulted in us spending our first night here looking for alternative accommodation which luckily we found and it is nicer than Villa Senesouk at same price! If your booking here it might be best to ring them or e-mail to confirm you have a room.

We stayed here for 4 nights and enjoyed a very relaxing stay.

The hotel itself is very well kept with a beautiful teak wooden reception area and stair case. We had a room upstairs with a fantastic view overlooking the temple over the road and I often spent time watching the monks come and go. The room itself was cosy and finished again in the teak style and included a fridge with bottled water, comfortable beds, a mosquito net and television with full cable access. The bathroom was nice as well although the shower wasn't hot enough for my liking, but it did the job perfectly well. The staff were really friendly as well and no request was any trouble for them. The Hotel is only around a 10 minute walk from the centre of town and the night market, which in the evening time is beautiful. And all for $30 a night.

However the WiFi didn't work at all during our stay which is fine as its a little shaky in Laos and I was woken up each night by the Monks banging their drums every morning at about 4am, but again this is all part of the experience isn't it? So I won't complain about that. However I did think about going over there in my dressing gown to shout 'I'm trying to bloody sleep over here!'.

So if you don't mind dodgy WiFi and loud Monks, Senesouk is the place to stay.

Four days in LP and in all that time staff were indifferent to everything - never enquired about our stay, room, if they could help with anything - when asked, they told us they had no map of the town but could get one for $10US! When we wanted a telephone book they had none and didn't try to help us get in touch with the agency we were fixing up a trip with. They key was handed over at night without a word spoken -great ! There are far better and numerous B&B level places in the main 3 streets. The room was clean but very dark, mini fridge had nothing in it but water, definately no wow factor. Location good for the alms but so are others at that level of cost -c$50US a night should command a thankyou !