Originally Posted by
CJKatl
Avoid: LM Surawong unless you intend to primarily visit the nearby adult establishments, which you will need to walk through to get to the BTS. There are better hotels closer to transportation where you do not have to dodge bar workers trying to lure you into their ping pong and wrestling shows.
Originally Posted by
CJKatl
At the same price or less there are much nicer hotels in Bangkok. The service is meh compared to excellent at other Starriott properties and walking outside is not like walking outside near the other properties. The cruddy, sparse two hour Creative drinks and apps is an embarrassment compared to the all day full service lounges at the other properties and the breakfast is at best no better than those other properties. While I understand there are fans, for a first time visitor concerned about getting around it is absolutely the wrong property. And this is the only property where people showed me pictures of female wrestling contenders I could watch inside a bar as I walked to the BTS one night. Compared to the quiet, clean nice takeouts one passes between the Soi 57 Marriott and the BTS or the park-like wide sidewalks outside the StR and CY and it is hard to say that what happens outside the LM is like walking in any other street in BKK.
Originally Posted by
CJKatl
I am not offended by the adult entertainment, I just don't want to have to walk through it every time I leave the hotel.
Originally Posted by
CJKatl
During the day it is not as crowded and not as much activity spilling out on the sidewalks, but you are still walking through it. Why stay where you have to run that gauntlet when there are nicer hotels offering more at the same price in better locations? If on a second or third visit someone knowingly wants to stay in the area, no problem, but I would not recommend the subpar hotel in that area for someone's first visit unless they understand the particulars.
Wow. First, from reading your posts and knowing nothing about you, it appears to me that you had a bad experience at LM. Care to share?
Service meh? Not in my experience. IME the staff is always smiling and happy to try to meet any request. And although you say that you are not offended by adult entertainment, it's pretty clear to me that you are. You don't have to walk through any adult entertainment district to get from LM to public transportation. Go out of the hotel, turn left, and turn left immediately again. You'll be in a small soi which leads to the front of the famous Wat Hua Lamphong temple, directly in front of which is the Sam Yan MRT station. Note that you will be walking
directly away from any adult entertainment area. The walk is also shorter (in both time and distance) than the walk to the Sala Daeng BTS station.
You don't like the Happy Hour? Yes, like SGS, there is no lounge at LM. Happy Hour at LM is at the Bamboo Chic bar. I find it a visually appealing, slightly trendy, modern bar. The staff is always smiling and happy to assist. Want your standard drink made slightly differently? Just ask, and it will be done. If you don't like it, they'll do it again.
Hors d'oeuvres are served, on small plates of three different ones each. Want more? Just ask. And, speaking for myself, I'd much rather have Happy Hour in a real bar with bartender service and a full range of mixed drinks available. Can you be more specific about why you find LM's Happy Hour "cruddy" and "sparse"?