abraxis

I'm here now. Flew in on the redeye from HND. Arrived 0530 local time. Taxi costs about 160 baht plus 50 baht airport surcharge. Best to have the address written out in Thai plus have the cabbie call the hotel to confirm directions.

The area around the resort looks industrial and very not built up. There is some signage; be sure to follow the arrows. The area outside the hotel/golf resort is not developed a whole lot.

Once you get here...

Excellent platinum recognition. Got the choices and took the points. Staff was very chipper at dark o'clock in the morning (closer to 0600).

As of today, the hotel has been open for three weeks. Basically, their soft opening. One tower is open and the other two are under construction. No lounge or spa yet. Compensated with beverages and cocktail hour at the lobby bar. And as usual with a soft opening, there was some hiccups. First room I was assigned, was recently occupied. Looks like they did the early check out (probably to catch an early flight). Second room had no power. Eep. Third room on the 6th floor at the end of the hotel was fine.

Room has new hotel smell and AC that works great. New beds! ^

Since I was up ANYWAY, I decided to hit the breakfast buffet. This is the earliest I've been up for breakfast. They had western and Japanese breakfast and a very complete bread area with vegemite, different kinds of honey and toppings. The waffles and pancakes were fine with the usual toppings. ^^

Keep in mind that the fare to the airport should be the same as coming from the airport. The hotel called a taxi for pickup at 0600. He had no meter and tried to ask for 300 baht. I told him that the fare should be 150 and gave him such along with the 20 baht call surcharge.

Photos forthcoming...