The Chess Hotel

The room felt old and smelled a little, and even the toilet paper roll was already used and wet. The toilet seat cover was loose and couldn't be fixed. When we asked to move, receptionist May told us to get a refund and find another hotel, and came across as arrogant. The front desk eventually offered us a different room, which we left for a conference soon after, so a room had been available. Coming back after midnight, we found lots of cockroaches and killed seven ourselves. We were too tired to ask to move again. While killing them, we both hurt our legs on the exposed wooden bed base, which wasn't covered by the mattress.

The location is decent and the staff were friendly. They offered to move us, but the next room had crawling bugs all over the floor and a dirty sofa too, so it wasn't an improvement. The first room was dirty, with stained sheets and a sofa that looked like somebody had died on it. I killed two cockroaches the first night and one the next; another slipped under the door into the hall before I could get it. It seems like there may be an infestation. There was no hand soap in the bathroom, and breakfast was pretty sad, just rice soup, some bread and jam.

The location worked well, and the price felt like good value since I paid relatively little. Daily cleaning was great, and the laundry was quick, good quality, and reasonably priced. The soundproofing was basically nonexistent, so I could hear everything in the corridor and next door. The pillows were laughably bad, and a 150 baht one from any shop would be better. The shower pressure was awful, and the air conditioner mysteriously switched off overnight. Breakfast was rice soup, plain toast and instant coffee. I didn't expect much, but still found it interesting that this was advertised as complimentary breakfast.

At 650 B, this was easily the best room we'd had on our last few trips for that price. The breakfast was a letdown compared with the rest of the experience, though. We'd still recommend the hotel, even if you have to pay more.