Grand Inn Hotel

Palma has had a renovation, and the room design and bathroom are better now. I'm a halal-food traveller, and this has been my first choice for good value on my many visits to BKK. The location has traffic, but it's hard to complain much: the hotel is about 150 meters from Nana Plaza and 400 meters from Nana BTS Station. The front desk lady was friendly and informative, and they let me check out late. I was told a cafe and breakfast would be available in future. When hungry, you can get a nearby kebab downstairs for 100 baht or fresh fruit for 20 baht. There's also a pharmacy two blocks away, next to an old-fashioned foot massage parlour.

Don't stay here if you want to sleep. Traffic noise goes on constantly, and the cleaners were incredibly loud, even after I asked them twice to keep it down.

We had a problem with our booking, and they wouldn't refund my money. The room was on the fourth floor, but the main-road noise still made it impossible to sleep. There were lots of ants, and the shower was bad, which seemed odd since the place had apparently been renovated.

The room felt frighteningly old, with a dark, club-like atmosphere and no soundproofing. When we checked in, an older man followed us, opened the door, and came into the room even though we didn't need help. It made us uncomfortable. The area has ladyboy clubs everywhere and an Indian-Arab area. Before booking through Agoda, we checked with the hotel. The older woman at reception was nice and explained the cheaper way to book. We then reserved a superior family room on Agoda, listed for up to four adults, though there were three of us. At checkout, a different receptionist shouted at us and demanded more money, saying the price covered only two people. We argued until other guests were watching, then I paid 300 baht extra just to end it.