Sofitel Angkor : still the best !

Another great and perfect 1 week stay at Sofitel Angkor (yes, one week is now my minimum requirement :-)), the best hotel in the world.

I was of course expected and I had of course some communications with the hotel before arriving. I was warmly welcomed and greeted by all the management and all the staff members I know after some many years and stays (this was my 14th). Back to family :)

The big new thing this year was the recent opening of the Club Millésime !! I will detail the Club in the Dining section below.

Early check-in was OK (at 12, arriving from Paris). A welcome drink (lemongrass cold tea) and cold towel bring during check-in operations (note : this is not the Le Club welcome drink).

Two drink vouchers were given + the usual welcome letters. As you can see, Plat benefits include late check-out until 17:00 (other hotels, please take note) and I even had it until 18:30. The other letter (in English) was mentioning 15% off for all spa treatments and 10% off at the hotel boutique, for “long stay guests”. So, not sure those are Platinum benefits or for all long stay guests, but for sure the 15% off at the spa was nice and I used it ;)

Formalities were quick and I was escorted to my Junior suite, upgraded from Luxury/King.

I think I already posted some pics of the Junior suite, but anyway…here are are some fresh ones. This is quite a large room with a huge dressing room and a balcony.

Very nice welcome gift/VIP treatment. A glass of wine available at the bath tub !

Complemented nicely by a trio of crème brûlée placed in room twice during the stay.

As usual, during the turndown service, some gifts were given twice during the stay:

• a Khmer scarf (I have now a nice collection)
• once they came with a tray having different big soap bars (different scents) and asking you to choose one (see picture). And they cut me a piece of the one I choose (lemongrass) and it was packed for bringing it back home. Nice touch.

Also to show you how seriously they handle the problems and the consideration they have for customers at this hotel : one evening, I had one of the bedside lamp which was not working (likely the ampoule). No big deal of course and I informed the front desk going out for dinner. When I came back, it was of course fixed and I had the below apology note along with a few sweets.

I can’t resist to share with you a new set of pictures of this beautiful property.

Pictures of the main bar. They created a small terrace at the bar (new).

A ceremony with monks to celebrate Khmer new year.

Last year when they explained me their plan, I understood they wanted to demolish the French restaurant (Mouhot’s dream) building, which is above the pond and rebuild a smaller building for the lounge. I obviously misunderstood because the former building is still there. What they did is to enlarge the base over the pond to create a terrace with outdoor seating. This has been nicely done as you can see on the pictures. To make it clear for you : the restaurant still exists (for dinner) but they use it also for the Club Millésime where you can have simplified breakfast, soft drinks all day, afternoon tea and cakes and the evening cocktails from 17:30 to 19:30. This new Club is more than welcome in this great property and they did a great job. Service is very classy.

Drinks proposed include all liquors, cocktails, Prosecco, 2 red, 2 white, 1 rosé wines. Warm and cold finger food items, changing every day for most of them.

I had a lot of discussions with the F&B Director who was very open to suggestions. I suggested 2 main improvement points :

• to have an additional daily warm item like a small cassolette, freshly prepared and bring to the guest at their seats (as they do in the Club in Sofitel Singapore City centre or Sofitel Métropole Hanoi for instance)
• To add some sofas and armchairs indoor. The reason is that, for outdoor seating, the atmosphere fits well for a Club Lounge. But inside, you feel more in a restaurant that in a Club Lounge because this is only tables and chairs, as the restaurant still exists for the dinner.

For the 1st point, he said they note my suggestion and will study it. For the 2nd point, he told me I was not the 1st person to make this remark and it is already decided to remove some tables and install some sofas & armchairs to have a real lounge part. This will be done in the coming weeks. Very good !

There is a private room that you can book in the lounge. I never had the BF in the lounge, only at the main restaurant as I didn’t want to be responsible for staff riots ;) (I mean that I know well the staff of the main restaurant and so they and I would not be happy to not see each other every morning).

Overall, another excellent stay. Service was top notch all the way, as usual and total care from the staff with plenty of special attentions all the time. A new Club Millésime to our list and this is always welcome. This property is definitely still at the top and extremely well managed and run. A big thank you to all of them for those great moments.