Originally Posted by
pablos
i need to head back to the states this coming january so am already considering my quarantine options for coming back (i live in chiang mai). i'm strongly leaning towards phuket (samui options are quite pricey) and the new courtyard hotel there which seem to have not crazily jacked up prices unlike the other "SHA extra+" hotels. even the f'n westin siray bay, a decent enough hotel for the normal prices of ~4,000 baht per night, is going for over 11,000 baht a night during the dates i need!
if phuket doesn't work out due to travel annoyances getting there and back home to CM, i'll probably just stay at the aloft in bangkok this time. it's cheaper than the LM and seems fine. i would go back to the LM if i hadn't already stayed there. i feel like i spent enough time locked in a hotel room there so a change of scenery wouldn't be a bad thing.
The new Hyatt Reg on Koh Samui is a decent deal, like US$100 per night. You are at the mercy of Bangkok Airways for flights there though and they can be pricy. I am doing a month back in the US late Sept through October, returning via Europe as AY has a non-stop ARN-HKT on their A350, and the business class award was only 60k AS. Can add on the feeder flights from AMS/MXP/FCO/ZRH and others for the same miles, though I'm trying to get AS to add on an IB MAD-ARN, instead of doing a separate ticket, as I'll have checked bags and don't want to chance not being able to check it thru on separate tickets.
I just paid for my 14 nights in Phuket thru Agoda. Using the HIX Patong as it has balconies and all the rooms are pretty much the same, so not concerned about elite bene's as a Spire/AMB member, as I saved about 30% versus booking on IHG.com. Cancellable/refundable until 3 days before the check-in date. I did look at many of the Samui+ deals, but the only one that seemed reasonably priced or good was the HR.