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Martin do you have any information on the contract renewal? Seems like you told me the current rates were good through October this year.

From: Front Manager LK Renaissance Hotel (fo_renaissance@lkpattaya.com) Sent: Thu 1/08/09 8:17 PM To: Dear Mr. Jon FLB Room Rate Room Type Daily 1-6 Month 6 Months Overs Superior (40 Sq.m) 1,750/Night 45,000.- 37,500.- Deluxe A (60 Sq.m) 2,450/Night 63,000.- 52,500.- Deluxe B (60 Sq.m) 2,100/Night 54,000.- 45,000.- One Bed

I was wondering the same thing. I am there for 3 weeks beginning 14 December and got the FLB rate. Even so, I cannot imagine doing so for 2 months.

I agree. Used to use Mr. Toom - sometimes the cars were OK, sometimes not so OK. Tried Pattaya Limo and they were a no show. Walked out to arrivals, dickered for a bit and agreed on 1400 baht all in, and ended up in a Toyota that had only 200 kilometers on it. Lady driver was great and, if anything, drove a little faster than I would have asked for. Ever since I don't bother with pre arranging.

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I would say that they are statistically equivalent - all way too small to do anything more than wading.

Good luck if you ever have reason to cancel a reservation (with more than 2 months notice) and actually receiving the deposit back (5,000 baht by credit card). After several attempts and communications, some not always so understandable, they said that they have processed the refund but that the bank of thailand has not done their thing and Metropole doesn't know when they will. After waiting 5 weeks now, me thinks that refunds are not part of the program. Maybe if and when the $US somehow recovers some day.

Last April was my 1st stay there. I simply walked up in the middle of the afternoon and asked to see their various rooms. I chose the 1 bedroom suite. While filling out the paper work I asked if I could get the FLB rate. After about 5 minutes of their talking amongst themselves they said fine.

I stayed in a 1 bedroom suite the last 10 days of July this year. It was my 2nd visit here and I have a reservation for the same suite in December. This 2nd visit left me feeling somewhat empty about LK Metropole. Much of what lajimmy said rang true for me. What I liked best about the room was the balcony - plenty of room and decent chairs, table and pool view. What I like least was the constant lack of water pressure throughout and the frequent lack of sufficient hot water. Additionally, for as much room as there is in the suite, the sofa could and should be far longer than what i

Yes - smoking in the rooms seems to be no problem.

That's pushing it. The gym is pretty damned basic.

Thanks Alex. See you again this Wed.

19 hours to push back - Denver/LAX/Narita/Bangkok

The distinguishment for me is the "living" in LOS versus visiting 3 or 4 times/year. A never ending choice, from what has been posted by a few expats, becomes far less interesting over time. Yet when making a few trips/year, it is impossible to imagine it getting boring or less attractive. So for this point in time, I can't see "living" in LOS for the same money as being necessarily much better than at home.

I disagree - especially with the "much better" part. Add together the trend of the exchange rate and the rise in costs/inflation that we have seen in the past 2 or 3 years, I think that it is difficult to assume that you will get as much value for the $ as in your own country. Sad really. When I started coming to LOS in '98, your perspective would have been more accurate.

I stopped in and looked at their rooms and facilities during my trip last April. Nice enough place, but in my opinion there are much better values for the $. Pretty expensive and the rooms are not all that big/nice. For the money I would rather stay at Whitehouse Condotel, any of the LK properties, RG, Mariott, etc.

Can you advise if there is any internet service in rooms?

I stayed in the relatively new suites twice in the past year. The rooms are huge, service good and I happen to be a fan of the restaurant in Nana Hotel. All in all, I felt the suites were a great value. Now the bad part. The suite I got was located on the 2nd floor. The vibrations and noise coming from the disco are very distracting. So if you are up until 3:00 AM, no problem. If you try to sleep before the disco shuts down, good luck.

Another huge issue for me is getting past the psychological barrier of thinking about living with a cash flow that would be substantially less or even negative compared to how I have lived my adult life. Saying goodbye to a career and/or retirement is in all practicality a one way avenue in that I would not be able to return to the same job/income. There is an old saying aroung here about "be careful what you think you want, you may get it". If it then turns out that the grass wasn't greener, the emotional impact could be overwhelming. Having said all that, the alure is still quite str

I can identify with your shower experience. I learned to finesse the control and made out fine after the 1st couple of days. Usually turned to full hot for about a minute and then could adjust fine. Whenever that didn't work, I would rotate the handle to full cold and then back to full hot and that always worked.

Thanks cowboy. I have stayed at Whitehouse twice earlier this year. I agree that the double paned glass makes a huge difference to silence the outside noise. Nonetheless I appreciate your opinion. I was thinking of moving over to SS this time, but instead will stick with Whitehouse.

Thanks Martin - see you in a little more than 3 weeks. Thanks to you too blacknight. Bummer - my room will be up front facing Soi 13. Will just have to make do. Jon

Can anyone tell me about the status of the lift, pool & construction noise? Thanks in advance.

I actually did this successfully earlier this year - at the rate of 1 mile / $2. There is a 5,000 mile per year limitation on cash advances and you do have to pay the cash advance fee - $75 if I remember correclty.

Thanks much Martin. The rooms and general facility looked very nice when I stopped in a few months ago. By the way, are you still staying at LK Metropole? What would you say is the downside, if any, of staying there? I am currently arranging my stays in a suite at the Whitehouse for about the same $. Thanks and see you again in 5 1/2 weeks. Jon from Denver