Chinatrvl

This was just confirmed to me by email. However, with the addition that upgrades will only be given when suites are available. I booked a Deluxe pool access and was told that over christmas/ new year no upgrade is available at the moment.

IC seems to have a bad day today on FT. Apart from the IC BKK minibar scam, IC Hua Hin seems to be just as stingy and we decided to change all our holiday plans to avoid all Thai ICs to prevent being annoyed and any arguments during our holidays.

kats

Does anybody have the e-mail address of this hotel? I want to make some requests for my stay this weekend.

d3vski

I can understand that they may not be able to guarantee the uprades as they only have 10-12 suites but how about if you do it the other way round, book a suite and they can not upgrade so they should downgrade the rate to the deluxe pool access room.

Chinatrvl

I used the service center and also got the reply back from the service center... Sorry.

That's a good idea, indeed. However, there's no availabilty online (over new year's eve) at all right now

flying MD

Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams will be staying over the NYE at the resort, playing here on Jan 2nd.

The GM of the hotel is the nicest guy you can think of. Very friendly and extremely considerate.

TOS_EBG

Nice stay so far. Still work going on at different places - the villas are not ready.

The staff is very friendly, smiles all over. Pool area is very nice, one big pool and several other smaller, shallow ones, and a jacuzzi with three temperature areas.

They are struggling a bit with procedures, time of cleaning/turn down, paper delivery.

Not the normal American buffet breakfast. Buffet is a small selection of bread, salad/veggies, fruits, cereals, smoked salmon, one cheese. All hot food are made to order.

And the Internet connection is very unstable, struggling to post this message. WiFi is no problem but the connection out to the world goes up and down every minute (or less).

kats

I booked the cheapest rate of THB3,900 deluxe room and was upgraded to a deluxe room with direct access to lagoon pool.

The room itself is not very spacious but we like the extra space by the lagoon with a table and chairs, large bed and a couple of deck chairs. With the sliding doors open, it's good feeling to be taking the bath in a bedroom instead of being in a small bathroom.

This is my 3rd IC hotel staying as a RA and I am still not sure what's normally offered to RA guests. I have been told free minibar for RA does not include snacks and chocolates. Included in the fridge were lots of soft drink cans and 6 cans/bottles of beer, but no wine was there with disappointment. I was also told that breakfast could not be included as RA benefit. Well, that's okay for this stay because my package includes breakfast anyway.

Wifi is free although it is not working properly. I complained about wifi at the receiption and was told to go to the business center. There were a few people already complaing about connection problem. One man told me he has been complaining about the problem in the past 5 days and no progress. I finally ended up in the hotel office using wired connection. I found out later that I could actually use wired connection in my room too. I doubt the hotel advises guests to use a LAN cable to connect internet. I guess I will let some folks know about LAN connection tomorrow. Some were almost screaming about the wifi problem.

We had dinner at the Thai food restaurant in the hotel. Although the service was often awkward and slow, their food was excellent. We live in Thailand for 8 years and their food tasted much better than what we usually eat at Bangkok restaurants. We ordered a bottle of Italian Merlot for THB1,750++. The bottle had a THB730 price tag from a supermarket on the back of the bottle. I did not say anything because the staffs were already out of control of more basic things. The seaview restaurant will be opening tomorrow.

demue

Thanks for the updates from all you currenly staying there. I'm still negotiating about my upgrade to a King Pool Access room from a satndard Deluxe one. Overall they are willing to upgrade me for 4 out of my 5 nights (New Years Eve is not possible for now - okay then) but the fun part is that the King Pool Access rooms still bookable on the web site area actually not all with a King Bed but what's left are actually Two Twin Beds which is not reflected on the website at all. So what now?

I actually feel a bit sorry for the reservation folks that have to sort out all this, but I also think that if overall the management team had spent a bit more time in the earlier prep phase thinking about the upcoming RA situation (based on early bookings) and how to cater for it they would be in a better position now and could avoid some of the aggrevation and cancellations. I booked months back when it became available on ICHG.com and so did many others here. It would ahve been much easier to take care of the upgrades then and adjust inventory to reflect that.

Two extra points. No info yet on the supposedly planned shuttle between the IC BKK / IC Hua Hin. Plus when the reservations team touches the online booking to reflect an upgrade I guess it makes the reservation become unreadable / unretrievable online. I hate that part as it forces you to call up the service center or the hotel for any modifications or cancellations.

Cheers ...

mtresc

We are also staying here at the moment and we managed to get a Deluxe Suite. The suite is actually not two separate rooms (as per definition of Suite), but just one very large room (size of two normal rooms), but with a large seating area, magnificent bathroom and jacuzzi on the balcony. Unfortunately most of the suites are in the main building close to the busy street, but my initial worry about the noise was unjustified, because the heavy room doors are blocking it quite well. We would actually prefer the pool access rooms over the suite when travelling just with my wife, but with the two little ones we are worried about their safety.

The hotel is really beautiful and after a quite bad start on the first day (several problems with technical things in the room) they are improving really day by day. Staff is also still very much on the learning courve, but they are all very nice and friendly.

The WIFI is not working properly, but the cable connection in my room (also free) is robust and fast.

d3vski

Can i ask, what room did you book to get the suite?

It seems that they are doing 2 level upgrades for RAs, which is good news!

Ive booked the deluxe pool access room and am wondering whether i should contact the hotel in advance or chance it at check in regarding upgrade?

Opinions would be welcome?

mtresc

Two level upgrades for RA and one level upgrades for Amb is confirmed, however, this does not include suites. Suite upgrades are only granted in case of sufficient availability of suites (and they do not have many suites here).

kats

When I returned to the hotel around 5p.m. yesterday, my room was still not cleaned and I had to call house keeping twice to get done. I also had to ask the minibar to be restocked after the cleaning.

I tried the seaview restaurant last night. Sea bass fillet was lovely. The restaurants at this hotel are definitely good IMHO. They did not charge corkage for the wine bottle I brought in.

There are not so many restaurants near the hotel. 7-11 is across the street from the hotel entrance.

Yes, he's cool. I met him this morning when I was having breakfast. He told me he was with another hotel chain in Japan before he came to Hua Hin.

d3vski

This morning i had an almighty scare......logged into my PC account and realised that room type had changed into Deluxe pool terrace. I thought to myself, here we go again, phantom upgrades.

To my relief, i soon realised that the deluxe pool access has been renamed into deluxe pool terrace.

demue

I ahve also been upgraded to one of these. Nice. But I cannot access my reservation any longer. Oh well.

d3vski

A brand new room category has appeared in between Deluxe Pool Terrace and Deluxe Oceanview Suite.

Let me introduce you to:

Deluxe Garden View
RELAX IN OUR FIRST FLOOR RM WITH PRIVATE SUNDECK CLOSE TO POOL 55 SQM 40 INCH LCD TVS DVD PLAYER IPOD DOCK COMP WIFI AND BROADBAND ACCESS SPACIOUS MARBLE BATHROOMS WITH SEPARATE SHOWER AND BATHTUB LUXURY AMENITIES IN ROOM SAFE MINIBAR TEA AND COFFEEMAKER. EXTRA BED AVAILABLE AT CHARGE.