Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam by IHG — Hotel in Wang Mai Subdistrict

This is my first time staying in the HIX series in Bangkok. Overall, considering the price, it is not a very satisfactory stay.

But first of all, I would like to thank the hotel for helping me upgrade to a room on a high floor. It is a relatively quiet choice. I can watch the Skytrain coming and going downstairs, and the stadium opposite has a pretty good view.

Advantage part

The hotel is very close to the BTS station, and the night market at Chulalongkorn University and the Lotus supermarket are also within walking distance.

Although there was a cockroach in the room, but the housekeeping guy was very professional to make my room.

Disadvantages

The hot and cold water supply in the bathroom is very unstable. You can only choose between very hot hot water and cold water. Although this seems to be a common problem in Bangkok hotels, this is probably the worst one I have ever stayed in.

The quality of the service staff at the front desk is good, but there are some differences among the duty managers. Some are quite friendly and some do not make people feel the enthusiasm of the service when answering questions. I'm a little surprised that an IHG hotel (even the lowest category) has such a problem.

The air conditioner in the room once broke down and made a terrible sound after we fell asleep. Although the hotel staff quickly solved the problem and prepared small gifts the next day, more efforts should be made to maintain the equipment.

The TV in the room should have Internet-related functions, including YouTube, Netflix, etc., but it is locked and cannot be used. It also cannot use the mirror output function of the mobile phone. After asking, no clear answer was given (I am not happy about this) )

Also, there are cockroaches in the room. It's really hard to imagine.

Finally, what dissatisfied me the most is that the hotel charged the first night's fee from the credit card used in my APP to guarantee my stay before I checked in, without any prior notification. Spending time the night before your flight to check if your credit card has been stolen can be very frustrating. Moreover, this made me feel that my Diamond membership status was not respected.

This has to be my worst stay experience since I started staying...

We chose to stay here because it was near to the places that we wanted to go to. But our stay was marred by one main reason which wife and I can't compromise with.

We are non-smokers and we can't stand cigarette smoke/smell as it makes breathing difficult. So I was hesitant when I noticed that this hotel has smoking rooms. But this is a well established brand, I thought perhaps the non-smoking rooms would be alright.

It wasn't.

We detected the unmistakable scent of stale cigarette the moment we entered the room. It was everywhere. And the irony is, there's a sign in the room that threatens a cleaning fee for smoking. This was a major disappointment. Needless to say this hotel is permanently off our list.

It's a shame because without the issue of lingering cigarette smell, this hotel does have it's good points. For instance, the staff are generally helpful and friendly. The room is showing its age in some places, but it's roomy enough considering it's prime downtown location.

The bed was comfy enough and there are two pillow types - firm and soft. Although I couldn't really feel the difference between the two. Besides being a place for rest, for the wife and I a good hotel is a place to get refreshed. This is where wife found her second disappoinment. The shower's water pressure was too low. It's odd because the bidet water pressure was way way too high. So I'm not sure what went wrong there.

Our stay included breakfast which was served on the 7th floor. The mostly Asian spread was generally ok in terms of taste. However if I were to book again (which I wouldn't), I would not have opted for the breakfast.

So in short, we expected a particular standard from Holiday Inn, but what we got was...

You may want to skip this hotel!

Been choosing this hotel for the past 3-4 BKK trips, but in recent years, the service and quality of the hotel has been unsatisfactory.

Came to the hotel for my recent trip in the wee hours of the morning and was poorly greeted by Tua-Lek. She allocated us a smoking room when we have paid for a non—smoking room instead even despite us showing her our booking details.

Despite clarifying everything, she wasn’t apologetic nor empathetic to our situation at all. To add on, the smoking floors smell really strong the moment you step out of the lift. Tua-Lek did provide us with a non-smoking room after both sides explained everything.

This hotel has a free breakfast policy and during peak breakfast hours, the food are not replenished efficiently. Many guests do enjoy the free breakfast, however, menu selection could be improved as there’s not much changes throughout the years.

Front desks staffs are unfriendly and selective. They are either ‘too busy’ to notice or greet you when you are right in front of them at the reception especially when you’re seeking help. Absolute language barrier although they do try their best to speak English but it may seemed completely lost in translation.

Overall, we did not enjoyed our stay at all and this would be the last. From the front desk to breakfast floor, everything seemed constantly chaotic. For those considering this hotel, there are plenty of other hotels within walking distances which provide better services and quality at the same costs.

Hope this hotel could better improve their services and quality and take into consideration this constructive...