When I decided to go to Bangkok after Hong Kong on my birthday trip, I’ve already been told about how cheap everything is in Bangkok. When I started to look at the accommodation options after Hong Kong, I agree.
To be fair, the rate for accommodation in Hong Kong is pretty much like Singapore, so of course everything was cheaper when I looked at the options in Bangkok. And being a cheap traveler as I am, I decided to book Sawasdee Bangkok Inn Hotel for my accommodation in Bangkok for a few reasons.
Jittima, my Thai ex-roommate when we were based in Jeddah, suggested me to find a place to stay in Khao San Road as that’s where most tourists stay when they come to Bangkok. And when I checked out the hotels in the area, everything was cheap and I could book superior queen bed with my budget at this Sawasdee Bangkok Inn Hotel.
Not to mention because my siblings were planning to come with me but they had not decided anything yet when I booked it. When I booked the hotel, my brother was only 80% to come with me when my sister was still 50-50.
I thought superior queen bed would be a great option since I could get all the bed by myself if I ended up going there alone, but then if one of them could come then we could save money by sharing the bed and the room. And even if all of them joined the vacay, we could just ask for an extra bed as the room looked quite big in the picture.
As it turned out, everyone could join my party in Bangkok! 😀
When it was confirmed that everybody was in for the vacation, the first thing I had to do was to manage my booking through Agoda so that I could change my booking into my brother’s name.
This was for the sake of everyone’s convenience since my siblings would arrive in Bangkok earlier. If I could change the booking into my brother’s name, then they could just go straight to check in and I could just go there later as my ETA would be at around 9PM. If they could check in earlier, then it would be more efficient as I have paid the rate for the whole day.
So I managed the booking through Agoda website with no avail. No confirmation whatsoever, so I decided to call the customer service only to find out that they couldn’t respond to anything as they didn’t get any confirmation from the hotel. And they said, even though I tried to contact the hotel directly, chances are they would refer me to Agoda too so there was nothing much they could do.
When I left to Hongkong, I told my brother to follow up but since the booking was still under my name, Agoda could not proceed the follow up either when they also had not heard anything from the hotel.
I didn’t hear anything from neither Agoda nor the hotel until our traveling date, so I told my siblings to just go straight to the hotel and take all copies of document needed.
Hotel voucher and the copy of my passport in case they asked for it since the booking was under my name.
Apart from the hassle about changing the booking name, this hotel was okay. I have paid IDR 516,492 or around THB 1,400 for 3 nights (11 February to 14 February). And since there were 3 of us, I paid THB 500 extra for the extra bed.
When arrived at the hotel, they asked THB 1,000 for the deposit although I have already paid through Agoda earlier.
We ended up not using the extra bed as the queen bed fit for the three of us, but for sure the extra pillow came handy. Despite our room, that was located on the 3rd floor and I brought a lot of stuff that I got tired of carrying around without elevator, this hotel was quite satisfactory.
Pros:
- The low rate, with only less than THB 500 per night for superior queen bed. It was great!
- Everything inside worked just fine. E.g. refrigerator, shower, air conditioner etc.
- The room was spacious. It was really convenient, especially because there were three of us sharing the room.
- Although not located exactly on Khao San Road, but Sawasdee Bangkok Inn Hotel is just in the corner of the road. Even better, because it is located in the quieter area.
- There are cute stray cats around the hotel which is a place for them to chill out in the breezy afternoon.
Cons:
- The staff was far from friendly. They actually served us without smile whatsoever. Like, what kind of hospitality is this? I thought it was just this staff giving me an attitude, but then when we checked out, another staff served us exactly with the same attitude.
- They actually charged us for THB 70 per bag for any item you want to put in the concierge.
- No elevator. And don’t expect anyone will help you with your bags even if you take a 20kg bag and get a room on the 3rd floor!
- I tell you what, the building is like a tale as old as time if you know what I mean.
- We got a room where we couldn’t close the curtain, which was rather annoying that we had to use my sister’s hairclip to close it.
- The water in the sink didn’t work, although thank God the shower worked just fine.
- It seems like housekeeping doesn’t exist in their dictionary.
- Their customer service in general.
Honestly, it wasn’t the most pleasant experience for me to stay at a hotel. The price would be the only consideration for me to choose this hotel again for my next stay, and with a lot of hotel/hostel options there is in Bangkok, I don’t think I would. Their customer service is sucky to the bone that I’m pretty sure I’ll find another accommodation
I’m pretty sure I’ll find another accommodation if I get a chance to come back to Bangkok. Hmm.
Do you have any hotel recommendation with similar rate and better customer service in Bangkok? Comment below, and cheerio! 🙂
-Marya the BeauTraveler-
