The Inside House — Hotel in Chiang Mai Province

5* Breakfast. Very tasty eggs benedict and juices. A la carte but they do let you order many dishes.

Great pillows. Great housekeeping.

However, the rest of the hotel was lacking for me. Now admittedly we just had the regular rooms - not the ones with the personal swimming pools. But they were very small and ill designed. A lot of space is given over to a balcony which you can't really use with the bathtub in it that looks onto a wall. For example, the wardrobe drawer and doors blocked the entrance and could get entangled with the front door. There were not enough outlets near the bed. There was no desk.

I found the front desk lacking. They couldn't really provide much information to us (for example, where to get late night food) and just highlighted the Sunday night market when we were not staying here on Sunday night. Also check out was very chilly. No luggage assistance offered. Instead it was mainly focused on making me pay for a broken bubble bath container (be wary - this is a glass bottle situated on a precipitously small high stool on top of tiles). I would suggest that if you are a guest here you remove it from its precipitous perch and put it somewhere safe!

I was surprised because the reviews suggested a focus on customer service.

However, perhaps I am reacting a little bit to the fact the other reviews effusive and positive and we had a different experience.

In terms of location, it is away from most of the very touristy areas of Chiang mai, and instead in an area mainly given over to homestays and hostels. As a result there are many pleasent cafes nearby but perhaps not many eating options. But given you are in Chiang Mai getting a Tuktuk to food markets is probably always going to be the best plan.

We booked direct, which I often try and do but wanted to warn you that the perks which sound great for booking direct are maybe not so great. I regret not using booking.com.

-The laundry didn't manage to get our clothes clean though they did come back nicely folded.

-The airport transfer was not great as it is one-way TO the airport and they do not offer airport pickup. And I bet most people would much prefer airport pickup! I don't imagine the extra cost of doing airport pickup would be that much.

-The free dinner is a very limited set menu and I am guessing that they make money on it because most people will end up ordering additional food. And sadly it didn't work for my kids at all so we...

I am properly in love with The Inside House :D

I had booked for a stay about 6 months in advance and periodically reviewed photos of TIH, getting more and more excited for my stay but was not prepared for the absolute luxury and pampering I received.

I arrived earlier than my check-in time and the staff were gracious enough to store my luggage and allow me to have afternoon tea at the pool ...which was a sumptuous 3 tiered wonderland of sweet and savoury treats. I also ordered a Tom Yum vodka cocktail with my afternoon tea which was absolutely divine (I still think about this cocktail several months after my stay).

I was then taken to my room and it was so much better than I expected. There was a welcome message on the TV screen with my name and a lovely hand-written note, which I still have, and a cute map of Chiang Mai. Along with these gifts, I got a pair of elephant pants, a bottle of sparkling wine and some fresh fruit.

Everything in the room was perfect

From check in to check out, Inside House provided an exemplary 5-star service (even though the hotel is rated as a 4-stars). We are already anticipating our visit back the next time we visit Chiang Mai!

Check In: We were greeted with a welcome drink and a cold towel upon arrival and they even brought our luggages into our hotel room for us. Our hotel room was beautiful and had a complimentary mini bar with snacks and drinks. There was even a free bottle of sparkling champagne and sweets waiting for us. The hotel even has a turn down service every night.

Breakfast: The complimentary breakfast we had every morning was simply heavenly and we would go back just for that alone. Coming from New York City, we are no strangers to good breakfast places, but the food we had at their restaurant deserves applause. Everything we had from coffee and smoothies to the omelettes and traditional Thai breakfast were nothing short of perfection. We also dined at their restaurant for dinner one night and it also exceeded our expectations! My husband's fork dropped on the ground one time and before we can even ask for a new one, a waiter had already came out and given us a new fork without asking within the span of a few minutes.

Afternoon Tea: The hotel also offered complimentary afternoon tea with delicious sweets and small bites every day you're staying there. We've had afternoon tea in many places before, such as London and New York City, and we have to say this was one of our favorites.

Check Out: Check out was easy and simple. The reception handed us sandwiches for our airport journey which was so sweet.

Inside House was the best part of our Chiang Mai trip. If you're even considering,...