Buddy Lodge

The rooms were fine, and the cleaners were lovely, but the rest of the service was some of the worst and least welcoming I’ve experienced in Thailand. Check-in felt awkward and unpleasant. The pool was available, but closed at 8, and they made me throw away my Coke Zero. I guess they hoped I’d buy something from them. Khaosan road is an awful tourist trap. Every time we tried to get back to the hotel, we got badly heckled. There’s no useful public transport nearby, so you have to use Grabs and taxis everywhere. I really wish I’d stayed elsewhere in Bangkok for the same price.

The hotel has nice rooms and a lovely swimming pool, but I wouldn’t choose it if you need a quiet night. Noise from lively Khao San Road carries in, including loud karaoke that goes on until 3am.

We stayed three nights and couldn’t sleep properly. The rooms are nice, but the windows don’t shut properly and there’s no soundproofing. That’s a problem with a club right above the hotel playing incredibly loud music until 4am. The water also stopped working for the whole day on one of our three days. We got a refund for only one night.

The night manager was extremely helpful and accommodating when our room lights began flickering at midnight and left us in total darkness for a while. They moved us to another room where the lights worked. Unfortunately, before that happened, we’d seen a cockroach run across the floor. We booked a different hotel afterward and hope to get a refund for the night we didn’t stay. As other reviews have said, don’t stay here if you can only sleep somewhere quiet. Our room itself was nice.