The three Boyztown Hotels

[Guest Qualityonly]

Im considering spending a few nights in Boyztown on my next trip.

I have been going through the usual hotel sites for prices and trip reviews.

 

The three in Boyztown seem to be Le Cafe Royale,Copa,and The Ambiance.

 

Now I have stayed in The Ambiance previously and apart from the ownership most hasnt changed.

 

The cheapest price Hotel goes to Le Cafe Royale with average 934 baht a night for a Standard Room.

However the Trip Reviews on tripadvisor certainly doesnt do it any favours.

 

Trip Reports include they no longer have bottled water in the fridge, about change of management, no breakfast restaurant and noisy environment.

 

None of those things concern me except the bottled water.

 

It would be good after a long flight and Taxi ride to go up to my room unpack and drink water to refresh rather than go back out to shop for a 10 baht water !!

 

The Copa certainly has some very good reviews and a more expensive Standard room at about 1200 baht a night but the rooms do seem bigger going by the Hotel website pics.

Apparently you are entitied to discount Copa massages and drinks if you are a guest in their Hotel.

 

The Ambiance still Standard room at about 1200 baht , but I feel its outdated .

I do like their coffee shop however.

 

Whats your experience with Boyztown Hotels?

[Guest]

Whilst deleting the bottled water is a cheap & daft move, it should not affect your decision. All you need to do is walk about 50m to the 7-11 and buy a week's worth of water. In big bottles.

Issues like the noise, cleanliness & bed comfort seem more relevant.

 

Or is the water is the first sign of a wider deterioration? It's hardly a sign of good management.

[Guest Qualityonly]

Noise doesnt concern me as I grew up next to a Railway Line and can sleep through WWW3,and I do know its a "party area".

 

Im disapointed in the trip reviews of Le Cafe Royale,however how much weight I should give them I dont know at this stage ,I prefer to actually see for myself.

 

I think Copa may to be my liking.

 

If I do happen to stay in Copa or any of the three, I will do a review on here.

 

As for not having water,its just to me a basic necessity when arriving in a Hotel,same with soap.

 

 

I do however like a kettle in the room for my morning coffee and to my understanding all three of these do not have a kettle in the room as they want you to use the Cafes downstairs.

 

Im one of those that need at least 5 cups in the morning to get going.

[vinapu]

I stay few times in Le Cafe, last in Dec 2015 and then in July this year in The Ambiance, no issues with either one , room size similar , bathroom more spacious in Ambiance, no issues with noise.

 

Le Cafe was cheaper but breakfast more expensive ,  in fact in Ambiance  had it included in the rate, special for low season I guess. One can have   cheap breakfast in the Boat Bakery across  the Second Road if cost is an issue.

 

While removing water is  as z909 said cheap move , complaining about it is pointless as now we have both 7/11 and Family Mart flanking soi 3 from Second Road side not to mention that I'm of firm believing that only animals are drinking water.

 

But I understand kettle concern as I like to make my own tea in the room and ALWAYS carry immense heater , tea and sugar with me. Room in Ambiance had kettle though.

 

Basic toiletries and working room safe provided by both so if you ask me to pick up one I'd say doesn't matter , you will be happy in both , I'm bit tilted toward  Le Cafe since is bit cheaper.

 

A for Trip Adviser reviews I tend to dismiss them completely trusting  forums and Lonely Planet better. In hotel reviews on TA and booking sites lots of people are complaining about issues like water not wet enough, poor view from their 20 $ rooms  and so on.

 

Yes , whenever I will land in Pattaya again  I will try Copa just for sake of comparing all three so  if you will be there please let us know if they really give discount on massages to hotel guests  as some masseurs there are very attractive indeed, getting hot in here 

[firecat69]

I don't discount reviews on Trip Advisor but take them with a grain of salt. I find Booking.com reviews more reliable because you must have checked out and actually paid the bill in order to submit a review.

[Moses]

My point of view: you haven't to rent cage even when you like to visit zoo. 

 

About subject: I found all 3 hotels similar each other, but last time I had stay there in 2009. About TripAdviser: I almost never pay attention to their reviews - a lot of hotels buys 5 star reviews from copywriters at odesk.com for $0.5 per review.

[Alexx]

About TripAdviser: I almost never pay attention to their reviews - a lot of hotels buys 5 star reviews from copywriters at odesk.com for $0.5 per review.

That makes it even more remarkable to end up with an atrocious average score.

[firecat69]

I said in another thread that I am a voracious reader of trip advisor and booking.com  With booking.com you must have paid your bill and checked out in order to post a review. No such restrictions on Trip Advisor.

 

Yet I find no overall difference between the ratings on Hotels I have looked at. The overall scores are the same.  Trip advisor tends to have more business travelers  and they are members of various Loyalty Clubs that hotels have. Because of that I find much more information on how certain levels of Loyalty are treated on Trip Advisor and these kind of comments are mostly absent on Booking.

 

I suspect most of those payments for reviews are made to newly opened Hotels where the chain need to drive occupancy.

[gerefan]

I ignore all good reports (for obvious reasons).

I only read the bad ones (they wont write them about themselves) and base my decision on those.

If there are no bad reports then I'm good to go.

The scores are irrelevant in my book.

[firecat69]

I understand what you are saying but negative reports don't mean much when they are not current and I don't know what the obvious reason is to ignore good reports. Just as obvious to ignore bad reports. I have posted many more good reviews then bad reviews and consider them fair.

 

I would hope that it helps someone make a decision on where to stay.  I'm not talking about scores but detailed reviews. I have chosen many hotels around the world because of good reviews and have never been disappointed.

 

I have found some fabulous restaurants all over the world because of reviews and I would likely never have found them.

 

Found great Boutique Hotels in Hanoi which I never would have found except for the positive reviews.

 

And the list goes on. Best Steak restaurant I have ever been to in South Africa where 99% of the reviews are very positive. Luckily I did not pay attention to the 1% negative reviews.

[ggobkk]

Negative reviews...one person's negative review can be another's  plus.  I was booking a cruise to Alaska and trying to determine which cruise line was right for me and my friend.  Saw a review headline "Don't sail on Holland America Line".  Reading the review which was from a youth, I learned that Holland America was not for kids as there was nothing for them to do and there were few people their age on the ship.  This negative review caused me to book on HAL and take a restful cruise.

[vinapu]

Negative reviews...one person's negative review can be another's  plus. 

this is how I learned about Tarntawan years ago , somebody was complaining about many old men with young Thai companions at breakfast so I know that hotel welcomes both gays and visitors. It took few years before  I actually stay there but at least I had it on my radar.

 

I read reviews  and have great kick of reading negative ones about places I know first hand as it looks I'm easy to please but don't recall making ever decision based on statements by unknown users.

 

But I value advice on forums because at least from reading posts I can say I know the person. I learned here about charms of Nantra Silom and Raya and to avoid D'Varee because of claustrophobic rooms.

[Travellerdave]

Looking at the Tripadviser reports on the Ambiance I see that the majority are bad although the latest referring to a visit one week ago was very positive. I stayed there a few weeks ago and my experience was the latter. I had no complaints about the room and I very much liked the restaurant. Ok the location is not for those who like to turn in early but the same could be said for many Pattaya hotels.

I wonder if the bad reports come from hetro guests who were not aware that it is very much a hotel for gay sex tourists like myself and are embarrassed by others coming and going with young boyfriends.

[vinapu]

I wonder if the bad reports come from hetro guests who were not aware that it is very much a hotel for gay sex tourists like myself and are embarrassed by others coming and going with young boyfriends.

or from gay one who did not get good fuck and thinks it's hotel's fault.

 

I stay in Ambiance in beginning of June and can't say a bad word about it , particularly when I consider price paid.

[Travellerdave]

You have to consider the price !. I have stayed at hotels ranging in price from 6600 per night (banyan Tree Bangkok) down to 800. Inperfections I tolerate in lower price ones I would make a complaint in the higher.

The lack of hot water is a common moan in Thai hotels - but who needs it hot in a tropical climate. I have occasionally fixed minor faults in the room myself such as with curtains, rails or toilets not flushing properly. My multi function Swiss Army knife is very useful on holiday.

[ChristianPFC]

I often had to pierce the holes in bum gun and shower head with a toothpick to remove limescale in cheaper hotels in the provinces.

 

I neither read reviews nor book hotels, over 90% of my hotel stays are walk in. But I have a friend who is extremely fussy about hotel rooms, he even changed rooms in one night because an hour after checking in, he noticed something he didn't like.

[vinapu]

not that I'm fussy  but over all I recall only two times when I had problems with hotel rooms in Thailand.

 

Poorly flushing toilet in Om Yim leading to excessive water usage  and durian infused refrigerator smelling whole room after opened in Nantra Silom , even those hardly disasters. 

[a447a]

I've stayed at the Ambiance many times over the years and have no complaints at all.

 

Well, up until my last stay.

 

It never occurred to me before that the place is a fire risk, as there is only one way in and out. I don't recall seeing any emergency exits.

 

I was kicking myself after I decided to ignore negative reviews about a hotel in Vietnam, which I went ahead and booked through Booking.com. Needless to say, the reviews were 100% accurate as they pulled the same trick on me and many other guests as well while I was there. I wrote a negative review on TA after I returned home and also tried to post it on Booking.com. But they refused.

 

I think I'd be more inclined to believe reviews posted here than on any of the hotel websites or TA.

[Guest Qualityonly]

I have stayed in the Copa Hotel the last few nights.It averaged around 1200 Baht per night with their Tax included.

Check in was very quick,less than a minute and I took the lift up to my room.

 

The room was a " Standard " room, very very clean.

 

The only noise I heard was Friday night from outside it seemed to be a karaoke ?

My room faced onto the street with 2 windows.but the noise ,it really didnt bother me.

 

Tea, Coffee,sugar,powdered milk sachets,hotwater jug,and 2 bottles of water were provided free everyday.

 

There was a mini bar with drinks,chocolates,crisps,noodles,etc

 

Wifi was ok not fast but not slow either.

 

Hot water took about 5 minutes or more to warm up but it really didnt bother me although I did see reviews on other sites complaining about this.

Soaps and small bottle of shampoo were provided.

 

The TV was small and the old box type which I found a bit odd as all hotels nowadays have the modern type,they had cable TV.

 

I notice they have a sign/card you can put on the bed should you want your bed sheets changed as they do not change the bedsheets unless you request it by putting the sign card on the bed.

 

My bill was actually more because I used the mini bar and dont forget they add a Tax on your final bill.

 

 

As for the bedsheet sign I rarely want my bedsheets changed everyday anyway unless I have a lot of "visitors" through out the night.

 

I believe the Copa is ok if you want to be in the middle of the action,24 hour reception,Copa massage downstairs, they have a small lift.

 

As for a long term stay it doesnt suit me as I prefer a lower price Hotel plus I like a balcony.