Thong Tarin Hotel

The friendly staff and cleaners were helpful as usual, and Tony at the concierge desk is pleasant to talk to and speaks perfect English. It’s nice to see the hotel still being looked after and remaining a popular venue. My February 2022 stay was a good one. The room had recently been renovated, and I gave the hotel five stars then. But in October 2025, six weeks before the Surin elephant festival weekend, we booked three nights at Tong Tarin Hotel to attend the festival and were given an older room with poor lighting. I later found out that tour agencies bring busloads of people, who get the renovated rooms for the first couple of festival nights. The breakfast buffet had tour groups arriving as early as 6:00am, leaving limited seating, and the elevators were full in the mornings. For individual bookings, it wasn’t the best time to stay at a large conference hotel that caters to tour groups. 😒

There was noise at night from the restaurants downstairs, and the room got cold. Even with the air conditioning off, the blanket wasn’t warm enough. Probably fine in summer, but I wouldn’t choose it for a winter visit. The place is old, and the bathroom needs updating. There’s only a handheld shower in the bath.

The “Deluxe” room felt very run-down, even though there seems to have been some kind of renovation. There was no safe, and the hair dryer was fixed to the wall in a room without a mirror. The internet didn’t work either. The beds were the worst part: hard, with metal springs poking into my back and no top mattress. Staff moved us to another room, but it was the same problem in a different room, as they say in Thailand :) Sorry, but I’d avoid it. That’s not a comment on the friendly staff, of course.

The room was spacious, and the staff were very helpful. They even arranged transport to the MotoGP in the next province. I’ll book here again next time I go to the MotoGP.