Centara Avenue Residence Apartament

The pool is open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and the building has eight floors. Sometimes you can’t get the elevator to respond with just one button press.

We arrived around 3 p.m. and first asked the security guard whether we were in the right place and where to park. He said it was the wrong location and sent us elsewhere. We looked around and found nothing, then asked a motorbike taxi, whose directions brought us back to where we started. So we had been right the first time. The guard changed his story and apologized. Maybe he was bored and amusing himself. Then we tried to park, but even after we showed our reservation, we weren’t allowed in. The front desk told us we couldn’t check in because the room we booked had a broken air conditioner and there were no other rooms available. Nobody had called to let us know, which would have saved us the drive from Bangkok. To make matters worse, they sent us to another property with a room that was completely unacceptable, but that’s a separate review. We ended up with no room and no help. Agoda also refused to refund us because this place wouldn’t approve a fee waiver, even though they had said they would. Bad service, a dishonest host, and poor customer service from Agoda. I won’t do this again.

I stayed in this serviced apartment and found the condo fairly new, with a modern, clean interior. It’s convenient for getting around on foot, about a 5-7 minute walk to the beach or dinner.

The room is nicely decorated and the beds are comfortable, but we’ve run into quite a few problems during our Airbnb condo stay. The sinks are blocked, both shower mixer taps are broken, several lights are out, and the master bathroom is dim. There’s a 10-digit door code for entry. The windowsill said there was a safe in the room, but there isn’t one. The master bedroom air-con remote doesn’t work, perhaps it just needs batteries, and we can’t use the other remote. They did install a new router for me, so the high-speed Wi-Fi was decent, especially since two other guests had complained about it. There’s only one TV in this two-bedroom condo for six people, and it’s in the lounge, so no late-night movies in bed.