Royal Orchid Resort - Pattaya, Thailand     

The hotel is good, but breakfast is not good. About 100 m to the beach. To reach the beach, you have to go down stairs. The beach near the hotel is not good. You can not swim there. Because there are rocks near the beach. The odd thing is: when we need a taxi (taxi in pattaya is more like tuk tuk, not a real taxi as we usually know) to go to Mini Siam. The reception staff, offer us to help us to call a taxi. She said, it is more safe for us, if we let her call the taxi, than to stop the taxi by ourselves by the street. So, she said, the taxi will cost us 300 THB one way to Mini Siam and we have to pay through her instead to the taxi driver. So, we did pay 300THB to her. After we got down at Mini Siam, we asked the taxi driver, if he can pick us again and take us back to the hotel after we have finished at Mini Siam. He said yes, and it cost us only 200 THB. So, the question is: why do we have to pay much more expensive to the hotel's staff ?

My partner and I stayed at the Royal Orchid Resort in December for 11 nights and overall I've got to say we were very pleased with the hotel. On arriving, check in was swift and they didn't mind that we got there very early and way before check-in. They showed us to a room just off the reception on the ground floor and I think the girls could tell from our faces that we weren't happy with where we were put. Without us saying anything one of the girls returned to our room and said she will upgrade us to a room by the pool. I must add that they did this at no extra charge which pleased us immensely. The room was beautiful and overlooked the lovely pool area. The bed was huge and very comfortable and the bathroom had everything you needed. Flat screen tv's are provided with a good selection of channels. The only thing we did notice was that all other rooms seemed to have dvd player and we didn't but that didn't bother us as we weren't there to watch dvd's. The rooms were kept clean and tidy but they weren't done everyday. Pool area is fantastic and the guy who works in the bar was very friendly and helpful. Prices for food in the hotel are quite high. Go out and try some of the restaurants. If you want a great meal, eat at one of the small stalls for a few baht. They're the best meals you will eat. Overall, I would recommend this hotel to anyone going to Pattaya. However, I would say that if it is your first time in Thailand I would go to Cha-Am or Hua-Hin where you don't get all the go-go bars etc that can put first timers off Thailand.