S Lodge Pattaya (formally known as Sabai Lodge)

The location is good, the staff are friendly, and the pool is great, easy to get to and a nice spot to relax. But the rooms are old and dated. The bed felt very hard, and I itched all night. I woke up with red marks on my body, and could see tiny insects, barely visible, crawling over the pillow. The walls are thin too, so you can hear the people next door.

For the price, this is a great hotel. The location is handy, about a five-minute walk to the beach and Central Marina, and ten minutes to Terminal 21 mall. The main pool was great, and my room was spacious and super clean. There was also a large safe, big enough for a laptop. The reception staff were superb, both professional and friendly. It's clearly an older property, but the price, location, and pleasant service make up for that.

I was disappointed by the value. I paid 1800 baht without breakfast, and I've stayed at much cheaper Pattaya hotels that offered a lot more. The room was clean, but the hotel is old and it shows. The air conditioning took over an hour to get to the set temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. There's no elevator, just stairs, and the Wi-Fi was slow and kept dropping out.

The welcome from reception was friendly, but we had to carry our own suitcases upstairs when we arrived. After coming back to S Lodge, formerly Sabay Lodge, after three years, I found it in poor shape and badly in need of maintenance. Our room smelled musty, the shower had mold, and its tiles were yellow with dirt. The shower mats looked at least ten years old and were completely worn out. They had only two cleaning staff, and the cleaning wasn't done properly. Around the pool, grass between the tiles had grown to at least 10 cm. The pool bar was disgraceful, with drinks kept in boxes on the floor for taking orders. Coffee and breakfast were brought across the street. You could sit there too, and it was just as poor for cleanliness and service quality. We stayed in a range of hotels and resorts during our five-week vacation, including some cheaper ones. This was the worst impression. Absolutely avoid S Lodge.