Siam Bayview Hotel - Pattaya, Thailand     

When they say "keep your room door shut to avoid mosquitos," they mean it. If I left my room door open, even for a minute, my room was filled full of little blood-sucking mosquitos. Other than that, I didn't have a whole lot of problems with the place. The pool is nice, and the hotel bar is even a little classy. The food is excellent, too. I had a French Onion Soup one night, and it was accompanied by a basket of various breads. On another occassion, I had some of the best Thai food to date. I never had a problem with the staff, either. I was always treated well, and was even able to move from a smoking to a non-smoking room with-in an hour of my request.

The most dissapointing thing for me about this hotel is that it stated it was a 4 star hotel, it certainly charged four star prices but just did not deliver. The best thing about the whole experience was a reasonable room even if the bathroom was a bit small. All the hallways to the lifts reeked of stale tobacco smoke, the reception area and lobby appeared grubby and the much talked about gardens on the website were nothing to write home about. I found the staff pretty dis-interested in any problem you pointed out. When asked by the duty manager as to why I was unhappy I pointed out to her that when I booked a hotel that says it is 4 stars I expect it to be similar to The Landmark or The Amari Watergate (both hotels in bangkok city centre) and they had missed that standard bar by the proverbial mile, neddless to say I will not be using this hotel again unless of course it drops its prices down to the 2 star levels they should be at. David Knowles