Originally Posted by
CJKatl
My plan was going to be to get myself to the bus station and leave from there. My concern with being picked up at the hotel is that's where I've read there can be some unreliability as you go from hotel to hotel. Should I not worry about this and just get picked up at the hotel? Or is it actually the same bus that leaves the bus station, drives around to pick everyone up and then goes to the airport?
The Bell shuttle is a small van, not bus. They have multiple vans picking up (or dropping off) simultaneously at different parts of Pattaya. Van drivers have a list of passengers usually clustered in same area for ease of pickup. The Bell bus leaves from the North Pattaya bus station, right in front of the Bell office.
They are pretty reliable and usually come at the time the say they will. Since they pick up and drop you off at the North Pattaya bus station with plenty of time to spare, even if they don't show up at appointed time, you can then call a taxi and still get to bus station (from where Marriott or CY is).
I don't think you have to worry - Bell has been doing this for a while. The only confusion that might arise is if you are staying in an obscure hotel or apartment.