President Solitaire Report

[BrownFox77]

Decided to splurge a little on my recent trip and stayed in a Platinum Suite at the President Solitaire, herewith my mixed review:

 

I specifically arranged my trip around China Air's special flight that arrives at 1600 - to me giving me an extra day in LOS almost. It had been over a year since I stayed in any of the President properties (been staying at the Jasmine), however, upon arrival I was promptly reminded of one of the things I didn't like about them: my room wasn't ready.

 

Although not only did I book many weeks in advance, I even sent a "reconfirming email" prior to arrival so I wasn't too pleased when they said, as I've heard in the past, you can take your luggage in our lounge and have a free Tea on us, room won't be ready for 2 1/2 HOURS! Then they the offered to let me "hang out" in an empty studio room with my luggage and I went with that.

 

1930 came and I was feeling really "unsettled" sitting with my luggage unable to unpack and wasting precious time in LOS and still hadn't heard from them, called down and now they said I'll have to wait until MIDNIGHT (!!!) to move into my suite. I said I'd prefer to just stay in the studio overnight and move in the morning and didn't want to wait around doing nothing until midnight - but they said no, you have to move at midnight.

 

I fear I was very "non-Thai like" as I immediately went down in person and let the ladies have it in front of their manager saying either I stay in that studio overnight or I leave for another hotel right NOW.

 

They agreed, I unpacked what I could, showerd, changed, and rushed to Patpong where 3 regulars were already waiting for me and still managed to have a great 1st night indeed.

 

Morning came and I called down to say I was ready to move - they said sorry my suite is STILL not ready. Damn good thing I went down the previous night, made a scene insisting I wouljd not wait till midnght as even if I had waited would have been for nothing, wasting my entire 1st night! I actually didn't get my suite for a full 3 days...

 

When I finally did get my Platinum Suite it was really great, especially the full size jacuzzi. Not only that, the service was outstanding, they called offering free snacks from room service, and called often asking for feedback or any criticism of how they could be better. The suite was huge, 42" plasma screen TV with 4 poster bed - the bed was THE most comfortable bed I'd ever slept in, another flat screen TV in the living room, marble and hard wood floors everywhere. The room service food was actually very good - served 24 hours (although some nights hard to get ahold of them). They always gave me at least 3 towels - very convenient since this trip I had 2 or more girls more nights than just 1 girl. They are insistent about collecting the girl's IDs but the staff was very friendly.

 

There was a nearby store just around the corner and the Grand President's mini-mart nearby as well. Previously I shied away from staying here as I thought it was too far from the action. Actaully, I found its pretty much the same location as the Grand President with just an added few minutes walk. They also have a free shuttle to Robinson's, or anywhere in the vicinity really - usually give a 20 baht tip to the driver. Not much of a Taxi Mafia and soon as you walk out onto the side steet there's always plenty of taxi's going either direction. Attached to the hotel was the Ananda Health Spa - its a "legit" massage joint however they do give excellent massages, I had the 2 1/2 hour Blissful Journey which was a great way to start the day - I didn't know it was "legit only" and while the pretty young women massaged and bathed me had a huge "woody" half the time :-)

 

The only negative incidents besides the overbooking fiasco was that one of my regulars thought my suite had a Ghost! The 2nd TV turns itsellf on (due to the other TV's remote I think), this girl was POUNDING on the bathroom door when she said nervously "BrownFox, the TV turn itself on AGAIN". Then there was the high pitch "whistle" coming from somewhere in the cieling. Sounded like some sort of alarm, I turned everything off but never could isolate it. I did complain about it but they never could find out what it was either. Hopefully it wasn't no damn Ghost...

 

If one overlooks the overbooking it was actually a great place!

[Guest]

BrownFox77,

Nice report . What was the price of the room?

[BrownFox77]

MrT,

 

On the pricey side, a studio was 2300 baht/night and the Platinum suite was 2800 baht/night, and to this you have to add their 10% Svc charge and 7% VAT, and these were their "special" rates.

 

 

However I found it very great value for the money. The price does include free hi-speed internet which I found was pretty solid (and fast) most of the time - you can use either wireless or Cat V cable.

 

I went thru Asia Travel but I found you can get the same deal with the hotel direct, however, per their web site the rates (as of 1 JUN) may have gone up a bit. Below is a link for them:

 

President Solitaire

[Guest]

Hi,

 

>>>>However I found it very great value for the money.<<<<

 

Yes....but my God! What a waste of precious time waiting for them to get their act together. ::

 

Given your experience, would you book with them again?

 

HT

[Whitney]

Thanks for the info about this place.

 

A massage is great, but when "legit only", that sucks :: I like the "happy ending" massage, and it seems to always generate a tip from me to the masseuse Unfortunately, its a hit or miss kind of thing, but thats a fun part of the massage.

 

 

I would think a manager or somebody should have given you a discount or your 3 days no charge for screwing up your room stay. I can understand a few hours delay or something like that, but 3 days, somebody there in management needs to pull their head out of their ass.

 

I have had on a few occasions my reservations upon arrival either "missing" or "no have" in Bangkok, but fortunately I have my printed email reservations with me and inform the front desk their excuses are worthless.

 

So far, that tactic has worked to my advantage, as I will not debate the front desk about room availability, and move on pretty quickly to another hotel if need be, although not something I want to do, as I would rather be getting to the bars or go-gos without wasting any time

[Guest]

Hi BF,

 

I stayed there back in April and May for several days. I didn't have to wait for the room but have other times waited at RP. I like the PS more then RP now. Had a few calls from the front desk about the noise level. I find cigs, whiskey, red bull and baht mainly make up for this. I paid around 3500 baht per night for my stay.

 

SB

[tomc12]

I stayed there on my last trip and didn't encounter any problems. In fact, the reason I went there was because of similar problems at the JW Marriott. In the future, I will book the President Solitaire in preference over the Marriott.

[BrownFox77]

HIGH THAIED said:

Hi,

 

>>>>However I found it very great value for the money.<<<<

 

Yes....but my God! What a waste of precious time waiting for them to get their act together. ::

 

Given your experience, would you book with them again?

 

HT

 

HT,

 

I may well stay with them again. I'm very encouraged that no else has come forward to say, "happened to me too", so mine may have been an isolated incident - its just that the management doesn't seem to know how to handle these things very well (hopefully they do now). They eventually told me there was a guest, who stays frequently at monthly rates, in "my" suite who didn't leave on time due to some flight out situation or something and that's why it took 3 days to get my reserved suite.

 

They did waste about 2 hours of my time, when I waited as instructed until 1900 to get my suite. I wasn't too pleased at all, wanting to unpack, shave, and shower (after the miserable long flights that even included a crash landing at Don Muang) and hit the town. So when 1900 came and now they suddenly said I'd have to wait until midnight to move, "I was fit to be tied" and that's when I ran down to the lobby in person to tell them either they let me stay in an alternate room, immediately, or I'd leave right then and there (I was going to try for Jasmine Suites or even Nana if I had to). They did agree and I still had a great 1st night, and I ended up having a chance to sample their studio's too which were quite nice.

 

The odd thing is while they didn't handle my 1st night well at all, the rest of the stay was outstanding, even often asking me for feedback as to how they can be better, etc.

[BrownFox77]

Whitney said:

 

I have had on a few occasions my reservations upon arrival either "missing" or "no have" in Bangkok, but fortunately I have my printed email reservations with me and inform the front desk their excuses are worthless.

 

 

Whitney,

 

Couldn't agree more, I learned to bring hard-copies of my reservations from experiences with the Grand President (don't stay with them anymore) - especially the quoted price part...

[BrownFox77]

SkiBum said:

Hi BF,

 

I stayed there back in April and May for several days. I didn't have to wait for the room but have other times waited at RP. I like the PS more then RP now. Had a few calls from the front desk about the noise level. I find cigs, whiskey, red bull and baht mainly make up for this. I paid around 3500 baht per night for my stay.

 

SB

 

SB,

 

May have just missed each other then as I got there on 14 May. I didn't get any complaints from the hotel for noise, but whoever was staying in the suite above me gave me a subtle hint by pounding on his floor (my cieling) one night whereupon I kept the noise level down in the wee hours after that. ::

 

My next stay I'm hoping to stay for a month at a monthly rate which brings down the daily rate quite a bit.

 

I never did find a single taxi driver that knew where this hotel was, so each time coming home I (and the girl(s)) always had to play navigator. I found that if you tell them "Ambassador" not only do most know where this is, but I saw that there are many signs amongst the small Soi's off Suk that show shortcuts to the Ambassador.