Hotel Sidney

It’s about 30 minutes from the airport, in a quiet area. The meeting room was nice, and their exchange rate was much better than a 5-star hotel’s. Just fine.

I went for dinner with friends, and the food and drinks were delicious. Bar Castle is on the fifth-floor roof and is open to people who aren’t staying at the hotel too. The decor is good, and from the bar you can look out over the Yangon area around the hotel. There are craft beers, cocktails, and wines to choose from.

We brought 19 Brits to Yangon for a performance at Myanmar Conference Centre and stayed two nights at Hotel Sidney. The owner designed and built the place, and it’s great. Rates are good, the service across the board is excellent, and the staff are outstanding. The food is mostly SE Asian, very tasty, and has plenty of vegetarian options. The spa massages were out of this world. Go up to the 5th floor bar too, with its open terrace looking over forest and a temple’s golden roof. They sell souvenirs for the same prices as the market. One person in our group had a birthday, and management arranged a brilliant cake after 9pm, even going out in pouring rain to get it. It had candles and her name written in icing. A great personal touch. Top score from me and everyone who stayed with me.

During my mandatory 21-day quarantine, the two things I most needed were food and WiFi. I had no choice of hotel, even though the rates were really overpriced, and it felt like bad luck to end up here when better places were listed. The WiFi in my room didn’t work from day ONE. I spoke to more than 3 staff about it, then after two weeks I was mysteriously told my room was the only one with the problem. I had to use my own mobile for the whole 22 days. What a great hotel! I’m allergic to all kinds of fish, so I asked them not to send any. Meals were mandatory here, though a friend in another hotel could choose whether to take them. For four straight days I got the same Chicken and Pork Curry for lunch and dinner. I asked for salad and vegetables instead, even without meat, and from then on they mostly sent salad and rice. After three days of the same salad, I was tired of complaining. They insisted meals were required to make revenue from them, but showed little willingness to listen or consider guests. Even someone without a culinary background knows there are at least 5-6 ways to cook a dish. Quarantine had already stressed me out, and I’ve never experienced such a lack of consideration or empathy. I could say more, but won’t waste any more time. If WiFi and service don’t matter much to you and you just need a place to lie down, maybe it’ll do. If you care about cleanliness, good service and getting value for your money, DO NOT STAY. And yes, it really can be that bad. They also charged me an extra 4% of the total for paying by local MPU card. After paying 875k MMK for a room with terrible food and WiFi, they added another 35k for reasons only god will know.