KC Guesthouse — Hotel in Chana Songkhram Subdistrict

Good:||||I like this location and I also like old style Thai hotels/guest houses like this. It reminds me a little of when I first came to Bangkok in the early 1990s. But for the negative factors I will set out below, which ultimately undid all else, we would have enjoyed staying here quite a lot. It’s simple accommodation, but we are simple people and don’t want or need a sterile soulless five star hotel experience. This place certainly has the potential to provide a simple accommodation option, in a good location, and with a certain charm/character. I also really liked the night staff. When we came back in the evening there was always the same older gentleman (who always kindly gave us each a bottle of water). He was just the sort of person who inspires trust and who makes you feel at home and welcome. His spirit should be the essence of this place. [See below for the counterpoint.]||||||Not Good:||||Two members of staff at this property provided what was one of the worst experiences I have ever had travelling (and I have done a great deal of travelling which has included some pretty hairy experiences, e.g. the time in South America when our room was entered by a relation of a staff member at the hotel, in the middle of the night, with the intention of robbing us and who I had to subdue by force, although I was fighting to wake up and it was pitch dark). So what did they do? Well, one of the first things you will see if you were to stay here is that the room has something I have never seen in a guest house room before and that is a locker (just like a school locker). And there is a nice sign saying in big bright red lettering “LOCKER” (indeed there are “nice” little signs like this all over this guest house). The sign then tells you to use your own padlock (and that the hotel will take no responsibility). This did not exactly fill me with confidence. So when we came downstairs I asked the lady on the front desk, a young woman, whether we needed to buy a lock? If so did it need to be a large one? I asked her if there a serious problem with security at the guest house (or were they perhaps proceeding from an abundance of caution). She then proceeded to respond in a quite incredible way. At first she said that yes, I must get a really large lock (as it was very dangerous). At one point she even claimed that one should lock one’s things in the room while one was asleep not just when one was out. She however also turned around almost instantly and totally contradicted this advice, claiming that it was safe in fact and a lock was not necessary. Now one could assume that she was having a language problem or something like this, but in fact I don’t think that was the problem. I think she was being extremely rude and trying to suggest it was a stupid question and she imagined that flippantly responding in contradictory ways would make this point to her satisfaction. I believe she also imagined that this was a “smart” way to behave. This and other things led me to believe that she had little respect for, or regard for, the clientelle. I explained to her, as she did finally suggest that the question was one she did not feel she needed to answer, that it would make a big difference to me if she said either that yes, she knew of cases where things had been stolen from the rooms, or - alternatively - that she in fact had never heard of this actually happening. On this question she simply refused to answer. What she did was to double down on what appears to me to have been her “ridiculing the client” behaviour. She took my girlfriend and I out to a desk just near the reception at the front of the hotel where there was a young man, apparently also staff at the hotel (although I never saw him again during our three days there). He opened a drawer and showed us what appeared to me to be a replica metal pistol (of decent size), but they clearly intended us to believe it was real. They both ran with the notion that this was (of course) part of their protection required at this guest house - that’s how dangerous things were. They suggested this was normal in Bangkok. Unfortunately for these two very smart young Thai people, I have lived in Bangkok and even spent a semester at university there. I know Thai society, and their little act did not impress me one bit. There are two options here. Either this was a real gun, in which case security surrounding it and their willingness to show it to a guest, both suggest an operation that no sane traveller would go anywhere near. The other option is that this was a little act which these two young individuals enjoyed playing out on their (new to Thailand) guests. I think it was the latter. I simply shook my head and walked away - showing my lack of regard for their performance. What these two individuals thought was smart behaviour was in fact poor on so many levels it’s hard to know where to begin. This is already long enough so I will simply say that these two are disgracing Thai society, which is a well-ordered society in the main, full of many hard-working and honest people. In all my time in Thailand, over three decades, I have never had any bad experiences (aside from the odd taxi driver who thought he might have hit the jackpot and had to be talked down to a reasonable fare ;) What they did was not only a dishonour to Thailand, it was also dangerous. Either they are playing around with a real firearm (myself, I would never stay at a hotel which keeps a firearm) or they are playing around with a fake (which is very dangerous in its own right - just ask anyone who knows anything about the proper storage and use of firearms). Would I stay here again, or encourage others to stay here? No way. There are a million other good options nearby (one which I stayed at two nights ago, when coming back through Bangkok). Stay at one of them. Until this place sorts out its problems avoid it...

Staff here provided what was one of the worst experiences I have had travelling (and I have done a lot of travelling, including some hairy things - e.g. having my room broken into while I was asleep in South America). So what did they do? On entering our (private) room we saw a large school-style freestanding locker and a red-lettered sign telling us to put our own lock on it, and disclaiming responsibility. This did not inspire confidence. So I asked the young woman at the front desk if we needed to buy a lock. First she said yes, we must get a really large lock as it was very dangerous – indeed she said we needed to lock our things when we were asleep, not just when out. She then turned around almost instantly and totally contradicted this, claiming that a lock was not necessary. Language problems? Apparently not. It seems she did not like the question and imagined that flippantly responding in contradictory ways was smart and would make her disregard clear. I responded that it would make a big difference for us if she could say, for example, either yes, she knew of cases where things had been stolen from the rooms, or - alternatively - that she in fact had never heard of this happening. She refused to reply. Instead she took my girlfriend and me to a drawer at the entrance and it was pulled open to reveal a metal revolver. There are two options. Either she was playing around with a real firearm (this drawer was not properly secured, and such things should not be shown in any case) or it was a faux wild west act with a fake (which is very dangerous in its own right - ask anyone who knows anything about the proper storage and handling of firearms). I assume it was the latter. I have lived and studied at univerity in Thailand, and it is a generally well-ordered society full of decent, kind, hard-working people. They deserve much better than this. The whole episode was disgraceful and dangerous. Until things here are sorted out I strongly advise staying elsewhere. [This is a shortened version of a longer review posted on Trip Advisor - Google seems to require shorter, less informative...

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If we notice. There was no waiter, people who took your order and one who provide a bill at the time were not a same person. At the end you paid exactly what you had at 165 thb (approx 4€). We normally have sometimes as a set with softdrink total 195thb (approx 5€/ as a plat de jour set). For your dish 80 thb (approx 2€) if you were not happy with the revisited, then feel free to come to collect your payment back. not to invent a fictitious comment and having another revisited again. Ps. You rate us a room without stayed in any night Ps2. We need to use another mail to response as a problem of KC’s mail sign-in

—————— Philipp Matina a day ago on Google 2/5 (Translated by Google) If you go out to eat in a restaurant, check your bills. A waiter gave us a small piece of paper with numbers and a sum. He charged 40 bath more for my dish and added a fictitious drink to the bill. And after I corrected it, he added it up incorrectly. So three errors on one bill...that was definitely on purpose.

(Original) Wenn ihr im Restaurant was essen geht checkt eure Rechnungen. Ein Kellner hat uns so ein kleinen Zettel gegeben mit Zahlen und einer Summe. Er hat für mein Gericht 40 Bath mehr genommen und noch ein fiktives Getränk auf die Rechnung gepackt. Und nach dem ich es korrigiert habe, hat er falsch zusammengezählt. Also drei Fehler auf einer Rechnung…das ist garantiert mit...