Thailand Bangkok Tawana Ramada Silom

[Chris26WI]

I was very surprised in Priceline.com, when I got this hotel, as I thought "3-star-Riverside-silom" was sort of a free rebid... and I was almost tempted to skip this PL-deal and book an additional night in the JW Marriott where I was staying the night before and after the Tawana. But I remembered the words of "thereuare".. saying to test it, maybe it was a good cheapie deal... - and I did... and it's true... it was indeed a fine and excellent deal!

The location is very central (if you want to be in Silom or near to Patpong). Patpong is just opposite of the hotel, Skytrain Sala Daeng or the MRT station Silom are around 10mins walk away; the service level was the thing that impressed me most in this hotel.... I can say I felt it was not below the level of the 5-star houses as the JW Marriott, the Sheraton Grande etc., excellent! The staff makes your stay as comfortable and easy as possible, just after you left the taxi in front of the hotel. Check-in easy, friendly and efficient.

At first, I felt a bit disappointed when I saw the room number (349) as I was hoping for a higher floor. But after entering the room I had the feeling that I got upgraded (which wasn't the case as it was just a "standard room" - I asked for it during check-out) as we got one of only 13 garden-terrace-rooms, which are very nice with their little terraces towards the hotel garden (pool area) and not noisy (as the rooms facing Surawongse road might be). The room decor and the furniture looked really a bit old-fashioned (years 80 Thai-hotel style) but however charming in some way... especially as everything was very clean, polished and in working order. There's even such a command post near the bed (what I used to know only from the 5-star-hotels in Bangkok) which lets you centrally control all lights, and - in this case - even included music lines (in unsual high sound quality for hotel rooms). The TV was a flatscreen Philips (CRT), quite new, and offered enough international channels (even Star Movies, HBO und UBC). Minibar well-stocked and cheap (60 Bt. for a Singha beer), the bathroom looked outdated as well, but everything was working there too, and enough towels and bathroom amenities were provided.

Chances to get a garden terrace room are much better for smokers, by the way, as the 3rd floor is a smoking rooms floor. So don't ask for a non-smoking room if you're into a terrace room ;-).

They informed me about the breakfast buffet, it sounded almost as if they gave me the breakfast for free on a PL stay, but not sure about it because I didn't check it out (slept too long).

I felt so comfortable in this hotel, that I am tempted to go for it next time again.. but I might prefer to book it via regular travel sites instead of Priceline (verry difficult task for Priceline-addicted guys!) as the risk to get "upgraded" to 4-star level and to end with the Holiday Inn Silom seems to be too high! (And rates on other travel sites, e.g. hotelthailand.com, are not much higher than what I payed via priceline).