johnk

By no means am I an expert but I have been to Thailand 10 times (3 business trips) and have paid for my own accommodation on 7 trips of which 5 have been to Pattaya. I may be naive but each time I have been asked to pay the whole amount by credit card before arriving and I have never had a problem with either the payment or the reservation. I have used booking agents Sawadee, AsiaNetOnline, Precision Reservations and AdviceHotel to name a few.

Peak season the deluxe room is 1990 baht/night (only 300 baht/night more than high season) but the gala dinner for 2 people at 1700 baht/per person is overpriced. I am staying alone but I have booked double occupancy (same rate as single) so no hassles when the g/f visits. By staying for 4 nights at Dynasty Inn (1280 baht/night) I save 4600 baht on peak season surcharges alone. I don't know much about the Dynasty Inn so did not want to commit for a longer stay.

Sawadee or AsiaRooms did not have availability. I received a reply from Areca Lodge a few days ago and it took a few days of e-mails back and forth to sort out details. I have made a booking for a deluxe room (no king size bed only twin beds unfortunately) from Jan 1 - Jan 8. They requested a deposit of 3,000THB due to peak season. I am really looking forward to the stay based on the glowing reports for Areca Lodge I have read on this site. I wanted to stay there for the duration of my trip but the rates leading up to New Year's Day were ridiculous. I am staying at Dynasty Inn for 4 ni

I sent an email for information 4 days ago and no reply from Areca Lodge yet. I want to stay there from Jan 1 - Jan 8 which I believe is a very busy period for Areca Lodge. Have sent request for deluxe room at Areca Lodge to sawadee yesterday and reply today was no room available. Have asked if there is any availability for any of the days I specified. Is it likely that Areca Lodge is already fully booked for New Years 4-5 months out?

I have stayed there on my last 5 visits, with my last stay in July. Nice views of the bay if you get deluxe sea view room. Rooms are overpriced and I think you can find better value hotels away from Walking Street. Breakfast is very ordinary. With every visit I see the state of the rooms deteriorate and room service get worse. Carpet is very dirty and bathrooms filthy. One time I checked-in at 3:00am and just crashed on the bed. When I woke up noticed that bins were not emptied from previous occupants. Lucky I just crashed on the bed and not between the sheets as I think these were not cha