Asian Hotel Room

Amari is a well established chain of first class business and resort hotels in Thailand. I have stayed at houses of this chain in various Thai cities and always enjoyed it. About a year ago they invested into expansion in Pattaya, First they expanded theit beach resort with a new highrise and afterwards they errected a new lowrise suite hotel in a very quiet location in Central Pattaya: Pattaya Nova Suites. I stayed there 3 times over the past year. The one-bedroom suite was my choice. The house does not give you the feeling of being inside a hotel with people rushing in and out. It's more of a place for an extended stay. Since the pricing of the rooms is on a higher than average level for Pattaya it attracts a rather wealthy crowd. Stylish eople who enjoy comfort and peace. It's a perfect place for me as internet connectivity is pretty good for Pattaya where time outs and slow lines are always a problem. The interiour design is simple, stylish and functional. You have everything you need and ample of room to lean back and relax. Each unit has a small kitchen with all cooking utensils you ever need. The maids clean everyhting so there is no need to wash any dishes by yourself. There is a rooftop pool and a nicely equipped gym on the 11th floor. At night time they have 2 very nice bars in their basement. One is a bed club and the other one a cocktail club that is made out of ice. Yes ... and ice bar in sunny Pattaya to chill you down at night.
For me this is the perfect place in Pattaya. If I ever find enough time to get away from work for a longer time, I would stay there for weeks and months. Booking: Agoda Thailand

A look at the kingsized bed. There is a clothing and office area behind the wall before you enter the bathroom

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A great location right on Orchard Road, Singapore's most attractive shopping and banking mile was the most important reason for me to pick this hotel. Accommodation is expensive in Singapore just like anything else, but the LeMeridien is a bit cheaper than most other brand name hotels in this area. Maybe it is because the facilities are a bit aged and not as glossy as the the Sheraton or Marriott Hotel around the corner. It's still a pretty good deal for around 200 to 300 Dollars. As I hold a VIP SPG membership they were so kind to upgrade me to a junior suite, which was very nice. One thing that I like about Singapore hotels is that they keep the A/C running while you are outside of the hotel. When I come back to my room it is comfortably cool so I can switch off the aircon. It stays cool for a couple of hours. I don't like the noise that most A/C units cause and of course I always catch a cold from the heavy air circulation they cause. All together a pretty comfortable place to stay in a very central Singapore location. I would stay there again.

Connectivity was great via ethernet wire. They also offer WIFI, but I had no signal in my room.

This relatively new hotel is located right on P. Burgos Street in Makati, the financial business center of Metro Manila. Burgos Street is an eldorado for party people. The street is full of bars that are open all night. 2 bars are located with the basement of the Bellagio Hotel itself. If I remember correctly, one of the is called The Bronx and the other one is Bottoms UP. The famous 24-hour restaurant Filling Station is right next door.
They have 3 different type of rooms that are either standard, deluxe or themed. Pretty nice and well equiped, but the space they offer is rather limited. The bed are comfortable as long as you don't mind the noise from the street. It's no problem to bring guests into the house at any time, but security is very tight. All in all it is probably the best deal you can get for around 2000 Peso a night in and around Burgos Street. I did not try their internet connection as it was far overpriced. There are plenty of internet cafes around to take your laptop to and plug in an ethernet cable or use their wifi connection for less than half a Dollar per hour. You can book this Makati hotel over the Agoda website.

A deluxe bedroom in the Royal Bellagio Hotel on Makati's Burgos Street

I had a quick 2 day trip to Pattaya over the weekend. Pattaya is a well known beach and nightlife destination about 2 hours by car from Thailand's capital Bangkok. Pattaya is primarily known for it's affordable prices on food and accommodations as it attracts a lot of European long term visitors who rather spend the cold season in the comfortable tropical temperatures of the Gulf of Thailand.
Naklua Road in the north of Pattaya is known to be the cheapest and less crowded part of the city. Plenty of hotels are hidden quietly in the side street to offer peace and perfect privacy just like View Talay Place. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera along to take photos of their rooms. The room I got was a deluxe room for around 1100 baht (less than 40 US$). It offered around 30 sqm with a king size bed, tiled floors, a bathroom with shower and a small balcony with a view of the nice pool. Their website is pretty accurate so you do get a solid impression. It's basic, but it is clean and very quiet unlike the hotels close to Walking street in the south of the town where you have to cope with high levels of noise day in day out as this is the place of the infamous and vibrant nightlife quarter and red-light district.
Internet is available via cable on all rooms, but it takes a small effort to setup. They will need to plug a cable into their control panel on the reception and provide you with a modem that you will need to plug into the telephone line on your room. There is a technician on duty during the daytime to assist you. Their connection is rather slow, but worked all of the time during my stay. Generally, internet connections in Pattaya are not as good as in Bangkok. All hotels and condominiums that I stayed in over the past 2 years always have had some sort of issues with their internet providers.
Online Booking: Agoda Thailand

The pool area in front of the building. Courtesy of View Talay Place website.

The Clarkton is one of the few older Angeles City Hotels that keep on improving their premises with new construction and better services. Unfortunately, most other hotels in the Philippines just run down their facilities without any maintenance until they collapse. It is refreshing to see how the German management keeps a well maintained business. The Clarkton hotel consists of it's old main building, a side wing and a newly built 4 story annex in the back of the lot. The rooms are very tidy, have large custom built beds and are connected with high speed internet. I have stayed at the Clarkton many times and like it a lot because of it's remote location far away from the entertainment district on Field Avenue (they offer a free shuttle service with their Mercedes van from 6pm until 3am). It is peaceful with a great pool that can be used for swimming and is deep enough for diving. Their Panorama restaurant serves some of the best food in Angeles City including Sushi and Swiss specialities like Fondue. The dinner buffet is superb, but they also offer 24h ala carte menu with the option of room service for a 10% surcharge. I think I will always stay at the Clarkton again when visiting Angeles City in Pampanga. Besides the Oasis hotel it is the only place that offers a lot of privacy and comfort without being exposed to the noise and pollution of the bussier places of this bustling Philippine town. The only downside are the bulky and uncomfortable pillows that cause me neck pain. But that's not a problem since I always bring my own pillow when I travel to the Philippines.

Night view of the Clarkton from Don Juico Avenue on the border to Clark Special Economic Zone.

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