Malin Residence

I wouldn't recommend Malin Plaza. I spent three months here and found it uncomfortable and expensive. My unit faced the night market, so it was noisy at night. The manager sold me a motorcycle with lots of costly problems. I thought he was helping me, but it felt like he was looking out for himself. It also took him more than a week to provide a letter of residence. I moved to Baan Thai Residence in Nimmon for the same price. The people there were friendlier, my manager printed the residence letter in 15 minutes, and it had 24-hour security, a beautiful pool, and restaurants, 7/11, and Tesco nearby.

Room 4417 had a lovely view of doi suthep, plenty of drawers, and a good-sized TV. The king bed was hard, and the wifi was close to useless. The location didn't suit me. Apparently there are no bars because Chiang Mai University is nearby, which I thought was stupid. I only stayed a month. Checkout was the worst part. They charged 350 baht as a cleaning fee, then asked for another 200 baht over a dirty towel. After I complained, they dropped that to 50 baht. I gave up arguing, but if guests are meant to wash towels for the next person, what was the cleaning charge for? Electricity was listed at 5 baht a unit, which sounds cheap, but my bill came to 1.742 for the month. That's the highest I've had in four years in Thailand, even though this was the smallest room I've stayed in. I suspect they inflated the bill and wasn't told the real cost. Checkout left me with a bad impression. I wouldn't go back.

The room was clean and decent, though the bed was hard. Staff didn't speak English, and there wasn't a kettle in the room, but one was available in the lobby. The night market is just a short walk away, with plenty of fun food and shopping.

The room felt cozy, and Malin Plaza is very close by, so there's lots of street food to sample.