Guest aot87 Posted June 15, 2011 Posted June 15, 2011 ITs been almost 5 yrs since i have had a stay in bkk. Could any one tell me what up market hotels will let you have a joiner with out too much trouble? Im hoping to stay around the silom area so as to be close to bars etc Quote
TotallyOz Posted June 15, 2011 Posted June 15, 2011 I had no problem with the Crown Plaza and that is a short walk to Soi Twilight. Register for 2 and if they try to make you pay, put the guy on your room list and then when he leaves take him off. I just walked my guys into the room with no problem. Quote
firecat69 Posted June 15, 2011 Posted June 15, 2011 I had no problem with the Crown Plaza and that is a short walk to Soi Twilight. Register for 2 and if they try to make you pay, put the guy on your room list and then when he leaves take him off. I just walked my guys into the room with no problem. Actually I cannot imagine you having a problem anywhere . If the boy is dressed decent and you just walk in like Michael says the chance that someone will question you is close to Zero. I have never had a problem at Marriott, Westin, Sheraton etc etc etc. I always make the reservation for 2 people just in case I am questioned?? Quote
Guest thaiworthy Posted June 15, 2011 Posted June 15, 2011 I don't see the need to patronize establishments that advertise themselves as gay or gay-friendly. If a hotel offers good service, that is the criteria that makes a difference, gay or not. The whole country seems gay-friendly to me, so I don't need to make that distinction go further when it comes to finding hotels. I don't like restricting my choices when I am normally discrete anyway. A few years back I took a look at the rooms at a place called Pantip Court in Sathorn. I went to booking.com and got a great rate for a month's stay from early Dec. to January at a rate of 2460 per day. These are for 97 sqm suites, which includes breakfast. This deal is NOT a prepay. I checked at Agoda, which was much more expensive, and latestays.com wouldn't let me book beyond year's end. I am very excited about this place and will give a full report. You can't even get into the Tarntawan at that rate in high season, even with a discount! Quote
Guest snapshot Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 There's four upmarket hotels in the Silom area and I have stayed in three... Dusit Thani and Le Meridien are both 5-10 mins' walk from Soi 2 (DJ Station etc.) and Soi Twilight (gogo bars). Sofitel Silom (nicer than other two in my opinion) is further from the bars - 15-min walk, 1-stop skytrain or 3-min cab ride. Crowne Plaza is 5-mins' walk from the bars but haven't stayed there as it was always more expensive the other three and doesn't seem to offer any advantage over them (maybe Michael can dispute). You should be fine bringing guests back to ANY upmarket hotel in Bangkok. Long as they're not outrageously dressed or something. Personally, I don't stay in the Silom area of BKK anymore as it's gotten a bit old for me (only visit at night). Quote
Guest ronnie4you Posted June 18, 2011 Posted June 18, 2011 At the Narai hotel I once bought a boy to the room. Shortly thereafter security came. I went to the door, he said he thought I had a woman in the room. I denied it. He insisted on checking, and there was that nice boy, albeit still in his undies. A $40 charge was asked, and I decided to pay it at that point. However, the boy had no ID, so he was sent on his way. I have been stopped at the elevator at the Holiday Inn Silom, and asked for the fee. Again, no ID. Finally, in a large Sukhumvit hotel, the name escaping me, the gay manager himself told me I could bring boys to the room. So I did. Later I showed the boy to the front door of the hotel. A security type in a suit followed me up in the elevator. he pushed a different floor, but that was a ruse. He followed me out of the elevator, saying that he thought I had a boy in the room. I denied it, but he insisted on checking, and, of course, I had just sent the boy home. So the guy left. The next day I told the manager about it. He inquired of all the security staff, and no one would admit to doing this. Additionally, he told me that his security staff did not wear suits like the one I described. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted June 18, 2011 Posted June 18, 2011 A short anecdote I posted some time before. Years ago, I knew the Executive Manager at the then Oriental hotel. Chatting with him in the lobby late one evening, I noticed a farang come in accompanied by a young lady of the night. You could tell from the difference in ages (although hang around many Thai hotel lobbies and that in itself is not an unusual sight) and her rather scruffy clothes that she was obviously not a hotel guest. A security guard suddenly emerged before they reached the lobby lifts. After a short, polite discussion, the farang ushered his lady friend out of the hotel. I asked my friend about the hotel's policy on joiners. Technically, he said, they are not allowed because hotels must have a list of all guests who stay overnight. This is partly for legal reasons, partly for the security of all registered guests, and partly in case of, say, a fire when they have to account for all staying in the rooms. But the hotel recognised that single guests would occasionally wish to have company. Generally, if the young lady or young man were dressed like other guests (i.e. more 'smart casual' than grunge) and it looked as though they knew the guest they were accompanying - i.e. chatting together rather than looking sheepish and overawed, they would not be stopped. Using the in-house security cameras, security would make a note of the room number, just in case something untoward happened. Generally, I reckon this is the rule of thumb adopted by most of the top hotels. It's the ones which have a fee for joiners that are more vigilant - perhaps because they want your cash! Quote
Guest Posted June 18, 2011 Posted June 18, 2011 1 As you have paid for a "double" room, why not stand your ground and exercise your right to register an additional guest? 2 I have never suffered such problems in the somewhat cheaper hotels that I use. However, if harassed in this way, I would be likely to check out the next day, complain to the manager and never go back. Quote
Guest badcdn Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 Crowne Plaza is 5-mins' walk from the bars but haven't stayed there as it was always more expensive the other three and doesn't seem to offer any advantage over them (maybe Michael can dispute). I've stayed at the Crown Plaza twice since they re-branded and a few times when it was the Pan Pacific. Most of the same staff stayed on. Beyond asking for my guests ID card, I have never encountered any issues with guest or friends coming in. Rough guess, more than 2/3's of the time the security guard wasn't even present on the upper lobby. The CP is in a great location as far as I'm concerned. It's halfway between everything on Suriwong and Silom, not to mention very close to the BTS/MRT stations. It seems like I always get a good rate when I stay there (2500-3000 baht/night) I've looked at the Tawana, but reviews are sketchy about joiners. For now I'll stick to what works. Quote
firecat69 Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 I It seems like I always get a good rate when I stay there (2500-3000 baht/night) I've looked at the Tawana, but reviews are sketchy about joiners. For now I'll stick to what works. Curious where you are getting such a good rate??? Quote
Guest badcdn Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 Curious where you are getting such a good rate??? I spend a lot of time reading travel forums. It's almost an addiction. Quote
Guest snapshot Posted June 29, 2011 Posted June 29, 2011 I've stayed at the Crown Plaza twice since they re-branded and a few times when it was the Pan Pacific... It seems like I always get a good rate when I stay there (2500-3000 baht/night) Amazing... I've never seen the PP/CP offered that cheap before. Must be timing. Quote
Guest badcdn Posted July 3, 2011 Posted July 3, 2011 Amazing... I've never seen the PP/CP offered that cheap before. Must be timing. and knowing where to look. http://www.travelzoo.com/au/hotels/asia-pacific/-126-Bangkok-5-Star-Hotel-inc-FREE-Breakfast-651343/ http://www.travelzoo.com/hotels/international/-79-87-5-Star-Pan-Pacific-Bangkok-w-Breakfast-720785/ http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/topic/47347-pan-pacific-bangkok-thb1766-ai-apr-thb2899-mar-2010/ All past promotions of course, ones that I was able to take advantage of. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted July 4, 2011 Posted July 4, 2011 I'd never heard of travelzoo before! I see it is virtually identical to www.hotelscombined.com in that both provide you with a list of sites and the prices of rooms at each hotel. So I did a quick comparison this morning. All the recommended sites seem to be virtually the same. But travelzoo has the advantage in that it provides on one page a much longer list of all the various room types and prices offered by all the sites. So it seems easier to make detailed comparisons. Thanks badcdn. I’ll register and start using travelzoo from now on. Quote
Guest thaiworthy Posted July 4, 2011 Posted July 4, 2011 I am not that loyal to any one airline, hotel or booking agency. I shop around relentlessly for the best price. Things are always changing. My belief tells me the good deal you got last time with one booking engine may not offer you a deal like that ever again. It's all about timing, diligence and luck. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted July 4, 2011 Posted July 4, 2011 I shop around relentlessly for the best price . . . It's all about timing, diligence and luck. That's the good thing about both hotelscombined.com and travelzoo.com. You get pages of comparisons from many sites without having to go directly to each site. So they save a great deal of time. It seems that travelzoo sends specials from time to time and I hope that works for cities I'm interested in. I noticed on both sites today that agoda had overnight dropped the rates for one hotel in Singapore I'd been checking for November. But I only found that out because I was comparing sites and rates offered by travelzoo and hotelscombined. Any site that can provide an email with that information would get a lot of my business! Quote
Guest Thor69 Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 I am not that loyal to any one airline, hotel or booking agency. I shop around relentlessly for the best price. Things are always changing. My belief tells me the good deal you got last time with one booking engine may not offer you a deal like that ever again. It's all about timing, diligence and luck. Other travel sites to use from the USA is www.kayak.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.bt-store.com and fly.com. Some of the best airfares become available Tuesday, about 2-3 am, eastern time. That's when all the reservations for the weekend fall off if they haven't been confirmed. Sometimes you can find real bargains. Also, empty your cache and delete your cookies before trying each website. This prevents you from being up charged when returning to a previous website. Try it, you'll be surprised what happens. Quote
