Whitehouse Condotel v Sandy Spring

[guismo11 0]

Hi Everyone,

 

Just returned from a most enjoyable trip to the promised land!

Spent in total, a month in LOS with 10 days of that in Pattaya.

I have been to Pattaya many times & tried many different hotels but for me, soi 13 is the most convenient location to stay.

 

On this occassion, I booked Whitehouse Condotel in advance ( no deposit required, email confirmation sent) for the entire 10 days & I would like to provide the members with a full critique of this newish hotel....

 

WhiteHouse Condotel

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I arrived at the hotel to be greeted by a cacophony of construction noise - not from outside the hotel but eminating from within. At the reception desk, while checking in, I asked about the noise only to be told that a new lift was being installed and that this level of noise, a terrible racket consisting of heavy drilling & banging & the sound of metalworks, would continue for 2 weeks!

 

I should have turned around & headed out of the place there & then but was tired after a long journey & just wanted to chill a bit. The receptionist wanted full payment in advance but I hate this practise & decided to pay 3 days in advance as a deposit - and I'm glad that's all I handed over!

 

I asked for a room far away from the noise & was lead to a room on the second floor. I had booked a deluxe studio & the room itself was spacious & new and consisted of a nice large comfortable bed, an electronic safe, tv with ubc channels, a green leather sofa & lazy boy chair, a kitchenette with large fridge, microwave etc, and a bathroom with glass shower cubicle. For this I paid 1800b / night.

 

After a bit of unpacking, I tried to take a nap but the noise from the lift installation prohibited any sleep. I went to the bathroom & found that the toilet leaked everytime you flushed. I then decided to take a shower and found that the poor water pressure made it feel like you were showering ain a fine spray of mist! Went to the balcony and found that it overlooked a carpark. Dog tired by now, I decided to head to the beach to rent a deckchair & catch 40 winks! The hotel has no pool.

 

The next morning, I was awoked with at 9am sharp by the continuing lift construction. The girl keeping my bed warm decided she could not hack the din any longer & fled soon after the noise started. I went down to try the 1 free breakfast they include free & wished I had gone elsewhere! The brekkie was cooked to order but was barely edible - all cheap local ingredients used.

 

I endured 3 night of this before doing the sensible thing & checking out for the good old Sandy Spring.

My stay at Whitehouse had been a total loss - although the room looked nice, nothing worked properly, the management were dishonest & clearly don't give a shit about their customers and in my opinion, the place is overpriced. My main gripes were:

 

Why didn't the management inform me prior to check in that guests will experience high levels of noise due to the lift installation?

Had I known in advance, I may well have chosen an alternative hotel but I would certainly have re-visited the hotel on another trip & been impressed with their honesty & customer focus.

 

Nice room - cheap appliances

When I complained ( politely) about the room defects - this included leaking toilets & a/c, low water pressure & no hot water, I was treated by the English manager like it was my fault or that he was doing me a favour letting me stay & how dare customers complain!

 

[/b]Attitude to guests

Complaints / requests were dealt with with a frown / scowl

Lack of management honesty

In addition to this, some of their policies were ill concieved-

Joiner fee of 600b if taking more than 1 girl per day! why?

The room was littered with signs TELLING guests not to smoke in the rooms as "it is bad for the health of others in the room" this is despite asking for a smoking room. Who are they to tell me what to do!

Also, you've got to question the money grabbing attitude of the owner. Instead of openeing his hotel with all the facilities promised including a working lift & swimming pool, the owner has decided to be penny wise pound foolish by openeing before the hotel was complete & then pissing off customers with the inconvenience involved. How much disruption when work on the swimming pool starts. During my stay, I wasn't the only guest to leave early.

 

Would I stay here again...

not even if they paid me!

 

 

 

Sandy Spring

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After 3 nights of hell at the whitehouse, I made the short walk to Sandy Spring.

I was greeted like a long lost relative by Khun Oy, the reception manager, who remembered me from my last stay a year ago. I had reserved a deluxe room at the rate of 1400b a night. My room was on the 7th floor, had a spacious balcony with a great sea view, a bathroom that did not leak & a shower that had a decent water pressure!

 

The room itself was spacious, not exactly new but not really showing signs of wear & tear. The tv did not have ubc but there was a fridge, a hairdryer and a very large & comfy bed. At last I could get a good nights sleep!

 

The hotel has a lovely pool too, a bar on the ground floor & although breakfast is not included, room service is cheap & fast & the lek hotel buffet is right across the road. One of the plus points of staying at the Sandy Spring is the excellent staff. Nothing was ever too much trouble, service was delivered with a smile & no-one batted an eyelid when I brought 3 girls back in the middle of the afternoon!

 

All in all, the Sandy Spring is the friendliest & most accomodating hotel I have stayed in in Pattaya. The whitehouse could be a great place

Edited October 26, 2006 by guismo11

[Scoot 1]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your troubles at Whitehouse. I stumbled onto whitehouse last February. I was already checked in somewhere else but decided I wanted a change in scenery. I walked around a bit and asked people walking into various hotels if they were staying there and what they thought of their accomodations. When I came to Whitehouse, the guy I asked turned out to be the British manager. He showed me around, the hotel was new then and in great shape. I inquired about joiner fees and the guy told me straight out that "we don't really care, the only stipulation is that if you bring 10 girls back with you then you have to call and invite me!!" No pool, but I could use the Lek's pool right across the street. What really had me sold was the double paned windows which effectively blocked ALL outside noise- including that of jackhammer construction accross the street! I liked it so much I came back in July.

Alas, based on your message, chances are if they are doing a little interior construction now, they will be doing more for some time to come, and apparently the soundproof windows don't doo much for interior noises, and I'll be back in Patts in 3 weeks....how is Snady Spring for Exterior noises? ...as I have business and personal phone calls to make where I cannot have ambient outside noise wafting in....

 

Best,

Scoot

[guismo11 0]

Hey Scoot,

 

It seems that the British manager is most pleasant when everything is running smoothly. However, as soon as he encounters any problems, he morphs into a Basil Fawlty type charachter who blames everything & everyone else rather than taking responsibility for his establishment!

 

I never had a problem with noise at Sandy Spring.

Inside the rooms, especially if you are on a high floor, you won't hear a thing from outside. However, if you are on your balcony, then there may be some noise from a few of the bars located on beach road. But this is more minor background noise rather than the constant hammering of construction noise!

 

One negative point regarding Sandy Spring is that they do not provide in room safes, they only have safety deposit boxes at reception.

[player 1]

I just got back from staying a few days at the Whitehouse last week. The elevator was still not working, but no noise from construction, so that was a plus.

 

My room was nice, furniture was fine, shower worked good, the staff was friendly, breakfast was decent, not outstanding.

 

On the down side, the safe was big enough for an IPod, but not a PC. I had to ask to get a telephone put in my room and then had to go through the operator to call out, not sure what that is all about. When you close the door, it does NOT automatically lock, you have to turn the key. The first time I did not know this and left my room unlocked! For some reason sound does really seem to travel in this hotel. The sound of high heels can be heard all the way down the hall! Absolutely no view from balcony.

 

All that said, my first choice would also be Sandy Springs, but I would use the Whitehouse if nothing else was available on Soi 13.

[blacknight 5]

I have also just checked ou of the Whitehouse yesterday and I can mirror alot of what has been said already.

 

I had a deluxe suite on the second floor and was also made to pay in advance and because I had had a long flight and transfer to Pattaya I didn't argue. I paid for 1 week instead of 3 and after the second night I asked to be moved room. I was told that i could only be moved up 2 levels, but would still have the same view, noise etc.

 

My room balcony overlooked the new hotel that is being built behind the Lek and they worked on it from approx 0630 until 2300 at night some times. The room was very dark at all times and you needed to have the lights on just to move around.

 

2 working tv's but the dish required moving as most of the channels had shit reception. Like already mentioned the lift was out of action until the night before I checked out.

On joiners fee I returned to my room one night approx 1800 to shower and change along with my girl. Her friend accomponied us as we were all going out to eat afterwards. The hotel would not let second lady into room to waite until she handed over ID and I paid the additional joiners fee. In the end her friend sat in the lobby until we were ready to go.

 

Only went to breakfast once and would not reccommend.

 

All in all the place looks great but it is prevented from being a class hotel due to the way it is being run, ie some stupid rules. My lady also noted that on a least 1 occasion the sheets had not been replaced.

 

I will not stay here again. For 2550 baht per night I can get way bettere value elsewhere