tad bit of everything: Siam Place Airport Hotel Review

hotel lobby...

Siam Place Airport
136 between Soi Lat-Krabang 14/2, Latkrabang Road, Latkrabang, Bangkok, 10520, TH
Phone: +6627275211

Accomocation: 3 nights, 1 room
Price: P3,167.49 (Hotels.com)

We arrived at the Siam Place Airport Hotel a little past 3PM from Pattaya through Cherry Taxi service. There was a downpour on our way to Bangkok so it was windy and cooler compared to Pattaya. Siam Place is located in Bangkok’s outskirts as well, same thing with our hotel in Pattaya, it wasn’t as easy to find because their signage isn’t too visible if you’re driving along the highway. The hotel was pretty dark inside and looked old. I showed my Hotels.com print out to the front desk onset because I’ve heard tons of bad reviews about the place (such as the hotel’s inability to find reservations booked from third party websites then ask guests to pay for their hotel room upfront even if it’s their issue with Bookings.com etc.) and we only booked it because it was the cheapest one online and its proximity to the airport. The front desk people weren’t even friendly not because they do not speak fluent English, they just weren’t friendly at all and it’s not the language barrier definitely as I’ve been to other hotels here in Southeast Asia and all of them were really nice and friendly despite difficulty expressing themselves in a language they’re not too familiar with. It was not so late in the afternoon and the hotel wasn’t even busy so I don’t see any reason for the lack of enthusiasm. They just handed us one keycard and it felt like it’s some cheap motel were checking in to the whole time we were down at the lobby.

the dark and spooky alleyway err i meant
hallway..

We scoot to the 3rd floor afterwards to check out what’s inside our room and found we barely had toiletries. We had couple of drinking glasses, a small fridge, 2 bottled water, one shower cap, 2 sachets of shampoo, 2 small soaps and looked to be somewhat half consumed roll of 1 ply tissue paper and that’s it. We were just lucky to even have a balcony to get some air and hang our freshly washed clothes to dry (although our room was so close to this residential building which somehow made me worried about our belongings safety). From our balcony we had a view of what looked to be an abandoned junk shop down below which was not a pretty sight really. The hallway was effin dark as well when we went up to our floor (at least they have lift) so it was really spooky walking through dark and empty corridors. The hotel gave me an impression they are on the verge of bankruptcy that's why could barely provide decent set of toiletries nor lit their hallways. I think they should sell their chandelier, that was the nicest fixture the entire hotel got in my opinion. We stayed at this hotel for 3 days and we regret we left our hotel in Pattaya because it was so much better and it’s anyways just two hours away from Bangkok geez. 😂 Another concern we had was, anyone could just sneak in even if they are non-guests because there are instances there’s no one at the front desk.

the hospital-looking toilet & bath...

the bedroom...

They have an onsite restaurant which was barely open. We’ve been in and out of the hotel premise to grab food and the restaurant seemed to be of no use. All they had were frozen meals in their freezer oddly positioned right next to the reception and a vending machine which sells cold beverages. They don’t even have those piece of laminated cardboards inside our hotel room which showcases what the hotel has to offer (e.g Menu, spa services, what number to call the front desk etc.) The wifi username and password is taped sloppily on the reception desk, Siam Place is a really sloppy hotel. They did not even supply enough number of toiletries for their guests the whole duration of our stay. I mean seriously? you will only supply us couple of shampoos and one roll of tissue paper for 3 days? We even bought our own 2 ply roll of tissue paper from 711 which helped us get by the whole time we were there. We also left a sign outside our door to have our room cleaned (one time we went out to explore Bangkok) but to no avail, we returned with our room still the same as it was, no housekeeping done. It seems this hotel have unhappy employees under their roof. I was even surprised they bagged a trophy for 3 consecutively years 2012-2015 (if I’m not mistaken) for being an ‘excellent hotel’ which I think is now all a history. I really do not have anything nice to say about this hotel because it’s the worst we’ve been. I think they should totally refresh everything from staff to a full hotel makeover or this hotel will shut down in few years according to my prediction.😤

the view from our balcony is not as
good IRL...

the food we bought from hawkers

taste better than it looks; 50 Baht

for the mixed rice whilst 30 Baht

for the watermelon smoothies.

To sum it up, this hotel is not a value for your money nor even close to the airport has their name ‘airport hotel,’ unfriendly staff (the only time we spoke with someone was when we asked the front desk to hail a cab for us to take us to the airport). In the spirit of fairness though, the hotel is anyhow walking distance from hawkers so there’s a lot of places to buy food from, convenience stores and endless cabs plying around. The only challenging part in the Lat Krabat area was, people barely speak English and the tarpaulins were mostly in Thai so ordering food was really a challenge although the locals were very friendly despite difficulty conversing with them. We managed to get by buying food in this area by simply pointing at food pictures every time we order.

If you’re looking to be as close from tourist attractions, then, this hotel is terribly far from downtown (40 minutes to 1 hour from downtown Bangkok). We spent almost 500 Baht for cab fare to downtown (one way) which was so impractical. To wrap this blog up, it would be helpful to always book a hotel with its own website because if they can afford to pay for a website, then they should be able to maintain the property itself. Cheap shouldn’t always have to be crappy and hotels should bank on customer experience to gain customer loyalty. Exemplary service will definitely draw more guests.