The Residence Garden

[tobutterflyornottobutterfly 0]

I'd like to stay at the Residence Garden in Nov/Dec. What about the road construction I have read about, will it be a problem? Any reviews? Is the pool any good? Does it have daily maid service (do they clean the kitchen, pots and dishes)? Can you really walk to walking street (as the website says)? Anything else I should know about before I book my room?

Edited September 14, 2007 by tobutterflyornottobutterfly

[Eneukman 1]

The Residence Garden is a good hotel and I've stayed there a few times.

 

They have daily maid service, but I think there may be an extra charge if you want them to clean your dirty dishes. Ask at Reception about that or get last night's tg to do it for you.

 

There are two good pools, though the back one tends to be used on some mornings for training sessios by Mermaid Dive.

 

Walking Street is withing walking distance, though whenever I stayed there, I used to use the baht bus to get to and from Walking Street. I would say it's around 10 to 15 minutes.

 

As for the roadworks, whenever I pass in the daytime, there never seems to be any work going on outside the RG. When the work will be finished is anyone's guess.

 

Remember when booking to mention the FLB board to ensure you get the reduced rate.

 

Alan

[marcortez 0]

It's a pretty fair hike to the Walking street area IMO.

 

 

 

A baht bus will be needed to go just about anywhere.

[fiferx 3]

I'm booked there for 20 nights from 13th. November.

 

I've seen consistently good reviews.

 

On another thread someone has posted an aerial photo showing where Residence Gardens is as opposed to Walking Street and, specifically, FLB.

 

Never walked there myself, altho I have passed by on a Baht bus.

 

Pretty sure it's only about a 10-15 minute walk.

 

Baht bus passes by on the road outside the hotel and can drop you off anywhere along 2nd Road from where it's a 2-minute walk to Walking Street.

 

Jim

[SOLOTREKKER 0]

I never felt the need to walk to WS from the RG, the baht buses are too frequent and cheap to make walking an issue, 20bht and a 150mter walk to WS is no hardship. The front pool is good, its more or less shielded from the main road by vegitation.

 

Room service is good, as is the maid service, maid will come AM or PM if you dont want to be disturbed, and dont forget to leave the maid a small tip each day, this will make her happy, have them empty the fridge of all the hotel stuff, ( exept the 2 bottles of water you get free each day) and fill it yourself with stuff from a 7/11 or one of the supermarkets.

 

The pool is out of bounds from 7pm each evening as the area around the pool is used for restaurant tables, as wll as the main restaurant.

 

No problem bringing back 1/2 BGs each night, they sometimes like to use the pool before they depart the next day, and drinks & food are brought to your pool chair if you want.

 

Ask for a pool towel at reception if you want, its free.

 

The all you can eat BBQ each night is good, and cooked to order.

 

Perhaps you might want to try an intro to scuba diving, its done at the, 'quiet back pool' and 'IB' the owner can make all the arrangements, gurgling around in the pool with the scuba stuff is fun, and then you can do an escorted 'open water' dive from the mermaids diving school boat, its an all day thing, and food is provided as part of the cost.

 

A good clean hotel with nice sized suites and balconies and very friendly staff and security, although a little expensive but I think worth it, for a hassle free time.

[mandajay 0]

sounds luverly :)

[nodleroh 1]

Last Oct when I stayed at the RG, a friend got it into his head that we should walk to WS for a seafood dinner. I had only been in Patttaya a day on my first trip, and I had heard how far out RG was. It only took 10 minutes to get from the hotel to standing in front of the FLB, and it was all downhill. Rode the baht bus back. I disagree with those who say it is far away from the action. Baht bus comes by every 30 seconds, and its only 10 baht to anywhere. By bhat bus, WS is less than 5 minutes, Soi 8 is maybe 10 minutes and Soi 6 is 12 minutes.

 

The suites were large, the furniture was modern and in fine condition, and were as good as any hotel I have stayed at in the US at $200 a night. Every suite has a balcony. an electronic safe in the room, a refrig and a microwave. The cleaning staff were friendly and did not bother iif I slept in after a late night. They would wait until I was up and out of the room before they cleaned it. They cleaned my dishes several times during my stay without my even requesting it. The hotel has a breakfast for about 100 bhat, and thai food for less, and a small, 2 or 3 stool bar, without P4P. The Capt. Table buffet at night is excellent, with way too much food. They have an Elvis impersonator one night a week. The staff were friendly and helpful, with never a question or even a sideways glance when a guest or two was brought in. The night security was also friendly and visible.

[1234 0]

I'm in a dilemma to choose between the areca lodge & RG. Ofcourse the room rate now is 1350 baht at the areca for a double room(pool view) and at the RG i think it is 1400 baht if booked quoting the flb rate. I think the RG scores in the area where even 2 TGs can be taken & is guest-friendly too, but the brekkie is at an additional cost whereas at the areca it is included with the room rate.

 

Mayb i'll have to pay extra for an additional girl (2nd) if taken in to the areca.

Edited September 19, 2007 by 1234

[SOLOTREKKER 0]

Simple solution, check in the Areca for a week and take a trip to the RG to check it out, if they have a suite available for you to book, have a beer at the small bar and get a feel for the place, and Im sure if there is a suite available, you will get a look at one. Or Vice-Versa

Edited September 19, 2007 by SOLOTREKKER

[soi unwise 6]

Or Vice-Versa

 

 

[SOLOTREKKER 0]

RG first and then Areca

[tobutterflyornottobutterfly 0]

I'm in a dilemma to choose between the areca lodge & RG. Ofcourse the room rate now is 1350 baht at the areca for a double room(pool view) and at the RG i think it is 1400 baht if booked quoting the flb rate. I think the RG scores in the area where even 2 TGs can be taken & is guest-friendly too, but the brekkie is at an additional cost whereas at the areca it is included with the room rate.

 

Mayb i'll have to pay extra for an additional girl (2nd) if taken in to the areca.

Breakfast at Areca ends at 10:00am, so if you don't wake up early you lose out. Areca does have two nice swimming pools and an excellent location. I'm booked at RG. I've never seen the place. I worry about the location and the road construction out front.

[Strike 0]

... baht buses are too frequent and cheap to make walking an issue, 20bht and a 150mter walk to WS is no hardship...

 

Not to thread hijack, but when did baht buses go up to 20 baht? I just left Patts in May, and always paid 10.

[Eneukman 1]

Not to thread hijack, but when did baht buses go up to 20 baht? I just left Patts in May, and always paid 10.

 

It's still 10 baht per person.

 

The location was never a problem for me when I stayed there and whilst it is possible to walk to the FLB, why bother when the baht buses are so regular?

 

As far as the road works are concerned, I've passed the RG a few times in the afternoon recently and work there seems to have ground to a halt. They're actually doing work close to View Talay 2 and leaving a right bloody mess behind!

 

I reckon the work will be finished by about 2012 - but again TiT1

 

Alan

Edited September 20, 2007 by Eneukman

[SOLOTREKKER 0]

Yep you are right Baht Bus is only 10 baht, But I nearly always had a TG with me, so hence the 20Bht. I have never gone ST, I always try and hook up with a BG/GG-girl and go for the GFE experience.

But 10 bht or 20bht, it makes no difference to me, the difference is pennies!!!.

 

Edited September 20, 2007 by SOLOTREKKER

[1234 0]

Thx everyone. Such knitty-gritty info will really be valuable to decide.

[Strike 0]

Yep you are right Baht Bus is only 10 baht, But I nearly always had a TG with me, so hence the 20Bht. I have never gone ST, I always try and hook up with a BG/GG-girl and go for the GFE experience.

But 10 bht or 20bht, it makes no difference to me, the difference is pennies!!!.

 

 

 

True, point taken...

[Stumpdog 11]

Anyone have a picture of the current road construction?

[crackers 0]

Hi I've just come back from Pattaya spent all of October at Residence Garden and can not fault the place very good staff and very guest friendly and as for the road works I don't think they've done any thing for the last two years ?

Have Fun.

[Mescalito 19]

I just checked out of the RG after 2 weeks there and I'm back in Bangkok. The construction in front isn't anything to worry about. The only time you might have a problem would be after a a heavy rain, and that's pretty much done for the season. There is still a fair amount of dug up ground next to the road that could get pretty muddy after a storm, but even that's easily avoided.

 

I've stayed at the RG on 8 of my 9 trips to Pattaya. Sometimes I'll walk into town (10 minutes) or hop a baht bus (5 minutes); it just depends on the weather and my mood.

[fiferx 3]

Hi,

 

I'm staying in RG right now.

 

In my room (4th. floor) I've never heard the traffic. You can hear it on the balcony, but inside the room with the balcony door shut, nothing!.

 

Jim

[piero 1]

Photos of Residence last month, it think that the work on the street will start soon.

[jackcorbett 2]

Tell you what guys, RG has one of the worse locations in all Pattaya. It's a real bottle neck for traffic in this area, and particularly at certain times it can take you 15 minutes just to get from RG to South Pattaya Road in a baht taxi or car. Of course if you have a motorbike you can slice and dice through the traffic of piled up cars. And it's pretty tough even crossing the street in front of RG. And there's not much around it for decent restaurants that are really close by. And the price at 1400 baht...well, fine.....those are pretty high. Certainly no bargain. YOu can stay at Plumeria managed apartments here at Wongamat Beach and these go for 1800 baht a night. But say you stay for just two weeks. The monthly rate is 21,000 baht (16,000 if you stay for three months or more). Do the math. That's 1500 baht a night and you are really staying at a very quiet, first class place with a great swimming pool. Stay three weeks and your price goes down to 1000 baht a night. Now this is for superior accommodations. Now you might not hear the traffic in your room at RG but with the swimming pool in front of the place, I'll bet you are going to be hearing it loud and clear and the road construction as you go through the motions of thinking you are relaxing at pool side. But if you really look around you can find some really good deals with a lot quicker access to most places than this "road blocked" establishment.

[Samsonite 181]

Just out of curiosity, how long does it take, by Baht Bus, to get from the

Plumeria apartments at Wongamat Beach to South Pattaya Road?

[jackcorbett 2]

I'd say ten minutes or so, assuming you were at Naklua Road to start with and that's about a quarter of a mile from Plumeria but here's the rub. One has to get to Naklua Road first. This means either walking or using other means. Now you can walk down the street just a ways to the Long Beach Hotel where the baht taxis are lined up but here the drivers prey on the tourists, particularly the Russians and try and get 150 baht. More and more of them are coming down the street past Plumeria now as well and it's going to get busier and busier. I own a motorbike. Some of my friends who do not live here full time rent motorbikes. With a motorbike you can very easily and quickly get anywhere you want. But I do not go drinking very far away expecting to ride my motorbike home without incurring a lot of risk to life and limb. So what I'll do is drive my motorbike up to one of my favorite bars close to Naklua Road and park it there. Then I'll just jump on the first 10 baht taxi I see and take it down to wherever I'm going.

 

Living at Wongamat Beach which is supposedly far away from places such as Soi 6, Sois 7 and 8 and Walking Street, and Plumeria's quite close to Wongamat Beach is actually better located than Residence Garden which is neither fish nor fowl as it's not in Jomtien and it's not in Pattaya. I play it safer than a lot of my friends who just take off on their bikes whenever they choose for a night's wenching and drinking and head straight to the bars wherever they are. I'd say Plumeria is not for the person who's not wanting to rent a motorbike unless he's willing to pay a premium price for taxi service. But the gardens and pool areas in the Plumeria complex are magnificent and it's so quiet here that you forget you are anywhere near Pattaya. Plumeria advertises itself as "Service Apartments".

 

Naklua (Wongamat Beach is in Naklua) is just North of Pattaya and once you are on Naklua Road you can get to most places far faster than you can from RG. There are many places either on Naklua Road or within a couple of blocks. Also, the restaurants in this area are for the most part substantially less expensive than they are in Pattaya. I have one American friend staying right up the street from me and he's here for 2 months. He's staying at a spanking brand new motel that is Thai owned and managed for 6000 baht per month. The floors in the hallways and balconies are kept so clean you can eat on them, and he's just 200 meters from Naklua Road so he can walk that in about the same time it takes to cross the street to grab a taxi from the Residence Garden. This place has security cameras and you cannot get to the stairways without an electronic key card. But it, like Plumeria, is not for everyone as there is no elevator. But so many other choices in this area abound. The reason I'm posting to this thread is I'm pretty tired of hearing Residence Garden continuously extolled as a great value with a viable location. It has the crappiest location I know of in the area and at 1400 baht a premium price tag is attached to it. Don't get me wrong, the rooms there are not bad and the staff might be accommodating and yes, there's a pool but if you are going to go spending this kind of money when you compare it to places like Plumeria it is comparatively a dump, the key word here being "comparatively" because it's not really a dump and it is upscale compared to places like Skytop at more than twice the cost, but compared to Skytop it has just 10 percent of the location.