can't believe i missed Condition One, i was there at the same time! we spent five nights there, and i continue to love chiang mai, but my love affair with the LMCM may be coming to an end, despite what a great deal it is.

we got a lovely upgrade to a suite on the top non-smoking floor (so, one floor down from the top...is that 21? 20?) but unfortunately the floor above was smoking and the air conditioner fed smoke directly into our room two nights in a row, waking us up. i thought the hotel's response was fine, they sent up a couple of people at 10pm the second night to check it out, and agreed that our bathroom smelled like i'd been smoking in it.

they were willing to move us on the spot, but we elected to spend that night in the room and change the following morning.

we eventually moved down two floors...it was better, but we had the same problem (and didn't complain a third time). it's too bad for them, as it's clearly an insulation/batting/ventilation problem.

re: breakfast, i had steeled myself for the buffet based on posts here, but i was still disappointed. the hotel has become--or was while we were there, anyway--a haven for tour buses. there was a board in the lobby from 'gate one travel' listing the weekend's events, and another board for the japanese tour that was there. the lobby was packed with groups waiting for their tours each morning.

this meant that breakfast those two mornings was a ZOO, and that the food was kind of icky. seriously, a buffet charger full of fried eggs? yuck. bacon was soggy, (undercooked, i'm not talking not crispy) and several of the beverage dispensers were empty--it's like they weren't expecting such big crowds. i totally understand why they took away breakfast in the lounge as it was poorly attended when i was there several years ago, but if 'latest recipe' is going to be a madhouse, perhaps it's time to bring back breakfast upstairs for plats.

i'm not a fan of tours in general, and really enjoy being a solo traveler...but for two days at the hotel, i sure didn't feel like one except for the afternoon cocktails in the lounge.

in general, although i like the physical hotel, we didn't think the experience was as spiffy as several years before, and may well consider staying elsewhere next time we're in chiang mai.