pogonation

Continuation of report:

Had a bath last night.. The tub is very very large and really nice to relax in. The TV at the foot of the bath is a good feature as are the bath salts in a small pot next to the bath. Bed is very comfortable and managed to get a good sleep until I heard a pack of dogs somewhere in the city having a fight.. and was then woken up again in the morning by the sound of cars and construction on a building nearby. Note to future guests: Always request a room facing the courtyard as the soundproofing in the rooms is pretty poor (I am on the top floor and can hear every motorbike/horn/drill etc.).

I ordered 2 deserts from room service last night. Unfortunately the folder in my room was empty, so there is no hotel information or menus etc. Room service apologised and personally delivered a menu to the room ^ The deserts were very tasty and well presented ^

Breakfast this morning was very good (some confusion about diamond breakfast as I was told my b'fast wasn't included but all sorted out in the end ^). I was told that I was entitled to anything on the menu so went for the eggs benedict and the continental buffet. Eggs benedict was delicious and better than the PH Paris and the continental buffet spread was good and very tasty ^ Coffee was very nice and lots of options available. The only place that was a bit patchy was the juice as they had no fresh orange, pineapple or grapefruit available as they had either run out or don't include it in the menu. I asked for just the normal pineapple juice but it must have gone off as it tasted like alcohol and was very acidy and unpleasant to taste. Service throughout breakfast was very good and very friendly but still lacking a bit of the refinement you expect at a PH. So in conclusion, the breakfast is done very well and the service was very friendly although they need to sort out the drinks situation, which I am sure they will do as time goes on ^

The communal areas in the hotel are decorated beautifully and furnishings are very luxurious. The courtyards are very nice and there are plenty of outdoor areas to chill out (swinging chairs, deck chairs etc.).

All employees in the hotel are very friendly and will go out of their way to help you. I am very impressed that all employees I have come into contact with have remembered my name and address me as Mr. Pogonation whenever we meet ^

yosithezet

Thanks for the great report. I stayed at the Le Meridien when I was in Siem Reap. When I heard a PH opened I thought this might be a good reason to plan a return sooner rather than later. But from your report, it seems there are still too many teething pains and poor construction (i.e. soundproofing, cracked plaster).

bearbrick

Thks for the insight into one of my more highly anticipated openings .

But the HAIR and BLOOD STAIN is truly beyond belief !!....and unacceptable.!!
Did they offer to move you ?
The lounge in your suite looks very cluttered.

I remember the road beside the hotel is a very busy and chaotic junction ...has the area been improved ?

Is this a worthy PH ? At least hardware wise .

pogonation

They did not offer to move me, however I asked to be moved and was told there are no other suites which overlook the courtyard as they are all under construction or occupied. They said there is a suite available directly below and would see how the wi-fi signal was there and get back to me the next morning... Unfortunately no-one got back to me (they were very slow to respond to requests like this and sometimes forgot entirely)

I dn't know if the junction has improved as this is my first visit, however it does appear to be a major junction and there is a lot of traffic.

Hardware wise this is definitely a PH. The decoration throughout the hotel and the quality of the materials used are of a very high standard however there are still some things that need to be sorted (e.g. Lifts didn't work this evening so had to use the employee stairs also when asking about the changing rooms when at the fitness centre/pool was told there aren't any and I can change in one of the toilets). I have written a long email with feedback for the general manager that highlight the things that I feel weren't satisfactory or need to be improved. This is more help for him than a complaint from me.

I think in the future when everything is sorted out this will be a great property but at the moment I feel that it wasn't worth the $300/night I paid (before using the points suite upgrade).

bearbrick

Sounds like a nightmare .
Perhaps you should meet the GM instead of emails.
You really should , you will be doing him a huge favour !!

antonius66

Yeah the blood and hair would really, really dampen my experience. Sounds like a lot of issues to be worked out before it is worth calling a PH.

Red259

The price is excessive for that part of the world. I've stayed in town for $10 a night with air conditioning and breakfast (granted it was spartan but still). Years ago I did the JW Marriott in Bangkok and that was only $75 a night, they have raised their rates significantly, but still nowhere near $300.

SeamasterLux

Hm... Your experience makes me realize that I will have to follow-up pretty closely how the property is improving over time. I have four nights at the PH Siem Reap in Jan '14. Rates are 350 USD per night (Virtuoso) + points to upgrade myself to a Suite. I'm still holding a reservation at the Privilege Floor of the Borei Hotel for 200 USD a night just in case. I was looking at Amansara but that would bring me to 5000 USD for 3 nights so we're not talking the same kind of experience.

mingster23

Just completed 3 nights in a Park Suite King on the 3rd floor.

As per the OP's suggestion, asked for a courtyard facing room but was told all the suites face the street so did have to put up with a little street noise but to be honest it wasn't too bad despite our room having a lovely view of the local KFC.

Agreed with the internet not working in the bedroom - was patchy at best but service was fine in the living room.

Staff were extremely friendly and could not fault any of them as they really went out of their way to help.

Still putting finishing touches as the lap pool was not open to the public yet but the pool on the first floor was lovely and we were the only ones to use it all 3 days we were there.

My one issue with the hotel which I'm currently trying to get sorted is they took a pre-authorisation charge of USD 1200 for my 3 night stay on the first day however I have just returned home to find out that it wasn't done as a pre-authorisation but as an actual purchase. Have just written an email to the generic email address to ask them to sort it out while cc'ing the assistant director of rooms who gave me his card while I was there.

SeamasterLux

That's quite a serious mistake

wolf539

Was that $1200 pre-authorization charge in addition to the room rate charge, or inclusive?

Reisen

Looking at this, and I'm kind of sketched out by the lack of pictures on their website. This thread is not giving me much confidence.

I'd be doing a points stay for 30k for two nights. I can book at Le Meridien for $80 a night, and have SPG gold status (no status with Hyatt). I'm not sure I'm going to bother with the PH.

ukguy78

I spent two nights at the PH Siem Reap during the first week of September. I was quite impressed with the hotel's facilities. The rooms were nicely appointed and very comfortable, and IMO on par with other PH properties I've visited. The pool was also quite nice, and basically deserted far as I could tell. As I walked around the property on the first afternoon, there was only one older gentleman at the pool. Likewise, when I went down to the pool on my second afternoon during a break in temple touring, I also had the place to myself.

As you would expect from a property in Cambodia/Thailand, the staff was incredibly friendly and polite. I did not have any meals or spa services on site, so I cannot speak to either of those areas.

The most significant negative I experienced related to the internet service. While the wireless seemed to function fine in the mornings or early afternoons, it was quite worthless in the evenings. At first I assumed it was an issue with the wireless signal so I requested a cable be brought up to my room. However, even plugging directly into the wall outlet did nothing to help the problem, which leads me to believe it may be a bandwidth/capacity issue and not a broadcast signal issue, if that makes sense.

The only other issue I would note is the hotel's concierge could not provide any recommendations for guides or drivers in the area. Instead, they only offered one package for temple tours, which did not depart until 8:00am. I asked on two different occasions, first at check-in and later during a call to hotel services, and both times was told the hotel was not able to provide any information beyond this package. Considering I wanted to be out the door between 4:00-4:30am well in advance of the sunrise at Angkor Wat, this would not work. In addition, when it was time to depart for the airport, I did not elect to use the hotel's somewhat overpriced car service ($50 for a 10+ minute drive), so it was up to me to go online and use Google to track down my own driver (at a cost of $10). Certainly neither of these issues are major trip-derailing problems. But not up to the level of service I think one would expect from a PH property either.

dw

Thanks for the trip report! I also read some references on Tripadvisor to issues getting cars back to the airport that are not the overpriced hotel car. Are there no cabs that the hotel can call or hail for you? And how were you able to find a driver on your own?

ukguy78

Based on my experience, traditional cabs don't really seem to exist within the city. There are plenty of tuk-tuk's around, but I didn't want to take one of those to the airport with luggage, etc. There are taxis of sorts that are available at the airport, so if you use one of these upon arrival, it may be a good idea to hang-on to the receipt (phone #) or simply make arrangements then for a return trip. I foolishly threw mine away, not realizing it wasn't really possible to "hail" a taxi from the hotel.

I ended up hopping on Google and searching for something like "Siem Reap Car Service." Called a couple of phone #'s via Skype and was able to get one driver, who was quite happy to have the fare.