Shangri-La Chiang Mai — Hotel in Chiang Mai Province

A family with kids 10-15. Chose this hotel because of its 5-stars rating and water slide at the pool.

We stayed 8 days.

Pool, very good. We went 4 times. Beware, it may be closed if rain. Slide unexpectedly well designed, even adults enjoyed very much.

Room, fair. We had connecting room. Free bed for my 10 year old. Spacious, clean. Each table clock at each room stopped running. Empty tissue box has been unattended during my last 4 days. Small bottoms of shampoo, body soap etc were replaced every 3 days or so( by random)

F&B. Breakfast ok. Lobby lounge food average, but very slow, once waited more than 40 mins.

Here are my bad experiences sharing.

Arrived on Weds, no solid plan on what to do. Saw a poster about wine pairing 5 course Italian dinner on the next Monday. Asked about further information at lobby lounge on Thurs while having lunch. The waitress was helpful, coming back and forth to validate details. Questions llike, can kids go? a-la-carte can be ordered? any discount with hotel membership? (all answers were yes) I was happy and confirmed my booking for 5 persons that day. I planned going to Tube Trek water park that Monday, as would be too tired to travel outside for dinner. That very day, sharp at 630 at the resturant door, the manager said NO booking from us... could not add us in (no extra food)...and kids could not be allowed... and no a-la-carte could be provided. Solution suggested, free wine at their Chinese resturant, or ... Finally we took their suggestion to go out to dine at their recommedated resturant with a bottle of free wine from the hotel. Travelling was tiring, food was eventually good, wine was fair.

Last day of my trip, went to the lobby lounge again for late lunch after 2 hours' spa at hotel. Sat down at 315, resturant half full. Ordered Chicken rice set and a dish of fried rice to be shared among 3 girls and me. Chicken rice served first, no eating utensils. Asked, the waitress two metres away, cleaning the next table, said,"wait a moment please" with a mean face. We waited, no body bothered to help. I asked another waiter, we were given two sets of folk and spoon, for four persons... I was pissed off. Went to the lobby to complain. In- charge person came to my dining table nicely to offer help. We had four sets of utensils then. But not sharing plates. Is this a five stars hotel??? Eventually 30% off from the bill...

Location, fair. 10 mins walk to the night market, 5 mins walk to Big C. No many nice resturants around. Fair choices of massage places.

Spa, fair. Not worth the price. Went directly to the centre to book as late and not clear email responses. I asked if my 10 years old can have adults' treatment, answer was yes if I would be responsible for anything. Booked 2 hours' treatment for kids and me.On the very day again, I was asked if my 10 years old would be expecting kid's treatment... Well, is this 5 stars again?

Afterall, if I had paid less and expected less, I would be happy...

This was our second stay at this place, and while it was still a decent experience, it did feel less impressive than on the previous occasion.

The positives: This place has a good range of facilities and amenities, and feels almost like a resort. We stayed at 3 different places (Bangkok, Chiang Rai, and Chiang Mai) on this vacation, and this hotel had the most to offer from this aspect. The room was spacious and comfortable. We liked that they placed children's beds in the room's sitting area - which was appreciated by everyone in the family. The breakfast spread was also good - again, the best spread from among the 3 places we stayed in. The offerings in the club lounge were also pretty decent. Not much to complain about. Service was generally good. Most of the staff members we encountered were trying hard to be friendly and helpful where possible.

It was however a mixed experience as there were other areas where it did feel somewhat disappointing: As we booked 2 rooms for 2 families with 2 children each, we requested connecting/adjacent rooms when we made the reservation several weeks in advance. We still ended up on different levels. While there is a good range of facilities and amenities, many of these close way too early for our liking. By 8pm, almost everything, including the gym, spa, kids club, swimming pool, etc., are closed. Too few power sockets in the room. In our family we had 4 mobile phones, 3 smart watches, 2 cameras, and 2 power banks, and each night we had to rotate these among 3 charging points - one of which was on the ground. While the people in the club lounge were all friendly, they did feel under-resourced. At every meal, we were stacking used bowls and plates as there was hardly anyone available to help remove those. There were a couple of evenings when literally every single food tray was empty 20 minutes before the end of the evening cocktail session. The first time, we asked the chef if these were going to be refilled since there were still 20 minutes to go, and he replied, "if you want, I can go make more food. But it will take a long time." There was royalty checking in on our last night, and not sure if they ended up prioritising resources and manpower towards the related preparations, at the expense of other guests who were there over the same period. The spa experience was disappointing. The therapist could not speak a word of English. I was not sure if the reason my massage was literally only skin-deep resulted from her being unable to understand my request for more pressure, or she was simply too tired to bother. All 4 adults in our group went for massages here as well as at the other hotels we stayed in through our holiday, and even went to another massage place near this hotel (because the hotel spa was closed after dinner and we had no choice but to venture out), and everyone unanimously agreed the experience at the Shangri-la spa was most...

Great Hotel - Could have been better. We stayed at the Shangri-La Chiang Mai in July 2025 with my wife and daughter. We arrived at the hotel and were whisked up to the Horizon Club Lounge to complete our check in. Staff were more than capable in letting us know that our daughter was not included on the package deal that we purchased and that we would need to spend extra for the additional dining inclusions. This was our mistake but was explained well to us by the Club Lounge Staff. The Club facilities are really good. Not the most extensive food selection that we have had in a Club Lounge but the quality of the food (Especially the pastries) was really nice. Our Horizon Club Room was huge with plenty of room for the three of us. My daughter is quite tall and her bed was just enough in length for her to sleep well. We spent most of our days out and about exploring Chiang Mai's Old City and markets but we tried to get back to use the Club facilities when we could. Unfortunately, there was a large family group that was staying at the hotel who allowed their children to use the Club Lounge as a play area and never educated their children in how to handle food at buffets and be considerate of other people. Several times we either had to speak to the kids when the ball that they were playing with in the lounge went under our table and we suddenly had one or more kids crawling under our feet in a battle to be the first to retrieve their ball. More importantly was the lack of instruction from the parents of these kids when picking up food with their hands and holding it to their faces to sniff, then placing it back. If it wasn't at the Club Lounge we would encounter the same family at breakfast and sometimes at dinner. It made a lot of guests uncomfortable and we decided to inform the Club Lounge Staff as we could not put up with it and would leave the lounge. Staff were accommodating to us and stated that they would inform management. However unfortunately, nothing appeared to be said to the family as their behaviour continued to disrupt guests up until we left. On a more positive note, the hotel grounds and pool area are great for families. The hotel has one of the largest pools with a decent water slide. We had a great day relaxing after our tours. The location is quiet as the hotel is positioned about a 10 min walk to the night markets and about 20 min from the Old City. We would catch Tuk-Tuk or Grabs depending on where we went most of the time. We did appreciate the hotel. Rooms are nice and big. The views from the club lounge are great (as long as you dont look too long at the condo apartment building next door - its not very aesthetic) and staff are more than helpful (Especially Babe at the Breakfast Service who recommended us to visit Baan Kang Wat and Jing Jai Markets. We went back to Bann Kang Wat twice as it was so lovely. Maybe we would have appreciated it more if people would respect...