Thai Akara - Lanna Boutique Hotel — Hotel in Chiang Mai Province

This is a well located hotel in the old city. You can walk to a lot of places, like the international night market at Warowot. It’s fairly new with lovely grounds and decent rooms. The bathrooms are very nice with a large bath tub. We had a second floor with a balcony.

The breakfast is okay, it is basic but you can get eggs and there is some cereal and toast.

One thing left a bad taste in our mouth and I think it reveals the true character of this hotel. It’s a minor issue but customers should know how they will be dealt with on minor issues.

The sheets got stained due to an eye mask- don’t know how it happened but it was slept on during the night and left an imprint. I honestly thought it would come out in the wash- but I was wrong, as the hotel explained by email when I complained.

Nothing was said about this stain until check out when I received a bill for 930 Baht. Embarrassed and wanting to get to the airport, I paid.

I regret paying the whole amount now (roughly $40 AUD)- but that’s my issue.

What it tells you is that this is one of those places that, for all its outward appearance of luxury and its claims of being four star quality, is willing to overcharge its customers for minor infractions and to deal with it in a defensive, last minute manner.

We emailed the hotel when we left and they advised us that, having tried to clean it the stain, it was permanent and it was the “cost of our extremely high quality linens and we do apologize that our staff have charged you with no explanation.”

There’s nothing wrong with their linen but it is not high quality- it’s thin cotton, hardly finely threaded, and 930 Baht ($40AUD) is not representative of the cost of buying a new one (which they claimed it was).

I would have thought that an accidentally stained sheet is the cost of doing business in a hotel. Others may think differently. Charging for a dirty sheet is like a taxi driver charging for a bust tyre.

Given the exaggerated cost I’d say there’s a degree of profiteering in the way the hotel has charged us.

(What if I broke a plate at breakfast? Do I pay for that?)

To bring this to our attention as we left is also bad customer service, which the hotel seems to have acknowledged and apologised for in their email.

All of this goes to the character of a place and whether it is really as good as some of the reviews suggest. The way the hotel has dealt with it, despite their apology (which is very easy to offer after the fact), demonstrates how they really value their customers. Customer service goes deeper than nice looking grounds and well designed rooms- and when there is an issue, customer service really matters.

We will stay elsewhere in the future. There are plenty of alternatives...

Finally an actual good hotel. After traveling Cambodia and Laos, staying here is a dream.

We were greeted and checked in immediately and welcomed with a drink and treat. It was all a bit rushed, so we didn’t finish the drink, but it was still good. We were then guided to our room and our bags were also brought to us. The front desk explained the vicinities to us and provided us with a map of the surroundings. There are also a lot of tourist pamphlets of activities to do around the area.

The room is very large and spacious. The minibar is complimentary (mainly water and two coca colas along with some sweets and tea). The bed is very big and comfortable. The washroom is large! A lot of counter space and shelves to hold things, which is always never available at other hotels. The shower is also very big. The only downside was that the shower door didn’t shut completely and leaked into the bathroom floor.

There is also a balcony to sit outside or dry your bathing suit after taking a swim. The fitness area is also good, but no free weights.

The WiFi connection is very good in the room, as well as the tv channel selection. They even have Netflix! There is a complimentary hair dryer and flashlight.

The Sunday night market is around the corner, as well as some restaurants and bars. The hotel location is very ideal being in the old city. I was worried about the loudness as there is a bar next door with a live band which was very loud, but I did not hear anything when I went to bed. I did however wake up to the Alms giving drum, but it is like hearing church bells in Europe - calming and then you don’t even realize it is on anymore.

The breakfast buffet is good, as well as the menu. They even have a proper espresso machine to make cappuccino or other coffee drinks. The fruit juices are actually fruit juices and not some fake unnatural liquid.

The staff is very friendly and always willing to help.

Again, coming from Zurich, my expectations are always high - and this hotel met all my expectations. I am so glad to stay here after coming from Cambodia and Laos. It is like a dream here, compared to all the other hotels I have been to in...

Deluxe pool access room: 3 nights We booked the deluxe pool access room because we wanted a swim up pool direct from our room. The room was great - the pool access is at your terrace, but there is a walkway between your terrace and the pool which the other 2 pool access rooms use to go to their room. If you want total privacy you need to ensure you get the room furtherest along from the gym so no one is walking by.

The room was terrific - large space everything perfect.

Guest Pool area: the all guests pool, is heated (and it was 21C when we were in Chiang Mai) with sun loungers and bar serving all drinks from Mocktails to Cocktails, nice towels. Make sure you read the bar menu - all drinks include at 17% surcharge (7% VAT and 10% Service Charge). It's printed on one side of the bar menu but easy to miss if you are only looking for the beer and cocktails because it's not printed on that side.

Staff: All of the staff we came in contact with were absolutely outstanding.

Breakfast: The breakfast staff were delightful - in addition to the regular breakfast we were also offered an additional "typical Thai dish of the day" on top of our choice from the regular menu. Breakfast also had numerous options to help yourself, western and Thai. It was really really good.

Front Desk: The front desk staff were awesome. They assisted us on a number of occasions, including where we left some of our property in our hire car - they rang the hire car company on our behalf and arranged for us to collect it. It made a stressful situation very calm as they could speak in Thai and explain our predicament.

Bar: The bar is small but the barman (Earth) was the best ever!: we wish all bar people across the world were so easy going and helpful and polite and understands...