I'm sure that it's possible but I would think the cost would be at least $150 and the ride would probably be quite miserable with the roads the way they are.

BKK-REP RT can be much less than $500 pp - 3 of us went on this trip and the total cost was $1,007 which means about $335 RT each.

Did this in search of adventure in June of this year. Cost for a cab from PHN to REP was $100 after haggling. The trip took a long, long time but it certainly was a remarkable experience. If you the time to spare or want to see a bit of the real Cambodia, this is by far the best way to travel. Adventurous spirit required though!

When booked in advance, you should be able to fly BKK to REP return on Bangkok Airways for under $200 per person.

The key is booking in advance...I am going in a couple of weeks and all the flights are expensive, flying into PHN is cheaper and I don't mind doing that, but then it's 6-8 hours drive/boat/bus ride away. I've been thinking of the second option, I really want to see Angkor Wat and the rest of Cambodia while in SE Asia.

Car from PP to Siem Reap usually costs me around $50 us, you can haggle to $40 if you try.

From Poi Pet to Siem Reap going rate is $30. No need to pay more, although I usually tell them $40 if they stay below 90 kph.

Hotels seem reluctant to send cars to border. The hotel owner where I usually stay explained that the taxi mafia at the border are prone to violence and there's potential for police shakedowns to extort cash from drivers.

Stayed as plat guest at LMA last year and was given corner suite, very nice. I left after one night as the wifi in the hotel was so poor and I needed to be in touch with work whilst away, otherwise would have spent the week there.

Probably well worth it vis-a-vis the bus, which we took a few years ago. It wasn't as uncomfortable as the bus we once took from Alexandria to Siwa Oasis in Egypt, but I wouldn't want to do it again.

Just completed two nights here, though easily could have done one
night since I arrived at 9:00am on the first day.

Cons:
-Shower temp continues to be an issue, exactly as described in this
thread over a year ago. All the way right is very cold, and all the
way left is very hot. In the middle, tiny movements in either
direction take the temperature to extreme levels and you have to avoid
the water (not easy given how small the shower is) while trying to
adjust. Water temp also changes significantly during the shower, even
if you don't move the handle.
-Pool water is still green, I didn't get in because it did not appear
to be properly maintained.
-No suite upgrade, just a king room on 2nd floor overlooking the pool.

Pros:
-Check in was great with GM welcome, sit down, cold towel and welcome drink.
-Staff were awesome and seemed genuinely interested in helping
throughout the stay. -Hotel seems to have aged well, room felt very
fresh and was in great condition though I'm assuming it's at least
five years old now.

Breakfast got the job done but was not a highlight for me. Among my
visits, LM Khao Lak breakfast was the clear winner. Next was a tie btw
LM Chiang Mai and Sheraton Krabi, with LM Angkor bringing up the rear.

Overall a solid stay and would recommend to any SPG member. However,
the property is far from a "resort" and you would be well served to
consider Angkor Wat rather than the hotel as your destination.

I'm puzzled that the shower temp and pool continue to be problems
given they have been mentioned to management (I added my voice) and
staff generally aims to please.

Used my 2 FRN at this hotel last week, and had a wonderful stay. Personally greeted by the manager as reported here. He was very apologetic about not being able to give us a suite on our first night, but said he would make sure we got one for our second night. Barely made it to our room and got a call from front desk saying someone was checking out early, and they would have a suite for us in 20 mins. ^

I thought the breakfast buffet was awesome. Service not so good though. No one ever brought us coffee/tea without having to ask. :confused: No issues with the pool. However, the water in the shower did go off while in the middle of my shower. When it came back on, the water was scalding hot and burned my foot. It was fine after 20 mins.

Wrote a nice note to SPG saying how I was truly made to feel like a valued Starwood customer.

I got the following reply:

Before I proceed to gush about the GM, we only had to minor problems with the hotel, both stated in prior reviews. 1) Difficult to get coffee at the bfast (minor problem) 2) the pool area could use a renovation (although the bar service and attention from the staff at the pool was good - my beer was never empty!)

The GM here really sets the standards for GMs at all hotels world wide. Never at any property have we felt so welcome and personally cared for by the GM of a property (not at even at an Aman).

Upon arrival, he spent about 20 minutes with us asking about our personal needs, making restaurant recommendations, shopping recommendations, touring recommendations. My family felt so welcomed. When he would see us in the lobby or the restaurant for breakfast, he practically ran to great us to make sure our stay was excellent.

We had a drink in the lounge one evening and saw him and his wife there having dinner one evening. I mentioned to him that we were a bit concerned because we were headed to Bangkok the next day. This was during the floods in October. He assured us that all was well. When we returned from dinner that evening, there was a note in our suite from him indicating that he had called his contacts in Bangkok and that all was well.

The next morning during breakfast he came to find us in the restaurant, still in his bike cloths, to reassure us that Bangkok would be fine. Even saying "well, if there are any problems, since your staying at the St. Regis, just demand more champagne." Love it!

He was right that things were fine at the St Regis in Bangkok and our stay there was also flawless so no need to demand champagne....

He was always visible and buzzing about the property. Even when using the business center late one evening, he was in his office (prominently off the lobby with a glass wall - not tucked in some back area with no visibility of guests) and then we saw him again early in the am the next day.

Overall, the great Plat recognition, the great pool staff, and the incredible personal attention by the GM make this a great option in Siem Reap.

recommendations on how long to stay?
 

I'm traveling to BKK for work in late March, and want to squeeze in a trip to Angkor Wat while I'm so close. When trying to organize it all, I wonder if anyone has a recommendation for how long to stay in Siem Reap? will 2 days be enough? I also want to make sure I see some of BKK before my conference kicks off.

Any advice would be welcome!

I did three nights. We arrived early on the first day and left in the early evening of the last day. If you buy your ticket on the first day late enough you can get in to see sunset at one of the sites without it counting against your 2-day ticket. We also took a morning on the day we didn't go to the sites and did a quad tour through the villages to see a more rural atmosphere than the main city. I think that if it is a choice of 2 nights or not visiting at all, two nights is fine.

By the way, check out the link in my signature to the Thailand meet-up thread. There are always FTers in BKK and you can meet some great people.

Random Impressions After a Three Day Stay
 

After reading the reviews here, I wonder if there are actually two Le Méridien Angkors.

Travelled with two friends, reserved two rooms. We arranged to be picked up at the airport. Smiling hotel rep was waiting for us, couldn't have been nicer or friendlier. Offered routing for the drive through the city or by Angkor Wat. Nice touch. Arrived at hotel, to FD for checkin. Again, staff very friendly, but they were disorganized/inexperienced. Didn't seem to have a firm and easy grasp of how to check us in. Everything seemed to be complicated for them. But, as I said, they were quite nice, smiles all around.

No suite upgrade offered. When I asked, I was told that the hotel was nearly 100%, and that explanation was fine. (I'm not one to go to my room and check SPG.com to see if there's a suite which I should have had.) Up to the room, bags delivered promptly. I don't know what others here are talking about regarding a sitdown with the GM. It wasn't mentioned during my stay. Since I don't know what he looks like, I have no idea if I saw him around.

The room was perfectly nice, not outstanding, but no problem, either. I did not encounter problems with changing water temperature as reported by others; however, the hot water seemed to be odd. In the morning, when I would guess that demand is the highest, there was plenty of hot water. In the late afternoon/early evening, the best I could get was tepid. This was the same every day. Water temperature was constant once I set it.

Pool area was very nice, I liked the architecture a lot. No problem with the green water, I think that the tiles are green. The water had a slight chlorine odor, enough to satisfy me of its cleanliness for swimming, but far from offensive or overpowering. There didn't seem to be any service, however. There was an umbrella/table combination between each pair of lounges; and on each small table was at least one, and usually two, menus. They were for drinks, lunches/snacks, and dessert. Not once, however, did I see any proactive activity by staff. (We went to the pool every day in the late afternoon.) When I walked over to the little window next to the fitness center to order drinks, staffer was very friendly. (Note, you cannot really see this window from the main area of the pool. So, when you're sitting at the main area, it appears that the pool is unstaffed, as staff does not walk around, make regular circuits of the area.) Drinks arrived after a moderate wait. Interestingly, he brought the check with the drinks and waited while I signed it. I prefer the open check approach to this. For the hotel, I imagine that open checks also encourage increased spending/refill orders. Bloody Mary had no ice. Bartender must have forgotten, though I thought that ice was a standard part of that drink. Whatever, not worth complaining. Next day, same thing. Went to the little booth and ordered. Drinks arrived. No ice in the Bloody Mary. He also brought bottles of water, but they weren't cold. He explained that the refrigerator they have at the pool is too small to keep much in it. Drinks, he told me, were sourced from the main bar in the hotel. Huh? Apparently, it hasn't occurred to management to solve the problem by buying a larger refrigerator for the pool bar. I did, however, ask for ice in my drink and received it.

One afternoon I ordered a snack from the lobby snack area, a Mediterranean sandwich. Staffer said that they didn't have any. Huh? I pushed a little, and she said that they were out of one of the ingredients (out of five), salami. I asked if I could still order it with the knowledge that it would be sans salami. Apparently that required consultation with management. After 5-6 minutes she returned and said that they could substitute ham for the salami. That's fine. Eventually the sandwich arrived and it was quite good.

The local currency most commonly used apparently is USD. Be forewarned that the hotel takes a 5% fee to cash USD travelers checques into USD cash. Wrote some postcards and went to the FD to have them stamped and mailed. At most other hotels, I give them to the staffer, along with the required cash for the postage. Here, it took two phone calls to figure out the amount of postage required (I'm the first guest to mail postcards to the U.S.?). Then I had to wait while a staffer from the gift shop delivered the stamps to the FD. Again, nothing seemed to be easy. Perhaps that was supposed to be done in the gift shop. I wish that the FD staffer had simply told me. I recognize that perhaps she was just trying to meet my needs (postage and mailing) without sloughing me off onto someone else. I used to be a regular at the RC at APF. One of the service standards there was that staff never gives directions to a guest when asked, -- they are to escort the guest to wherever s/he is headed. Even if that was the case here, it was incredibly inefficient.

While standing at the FD a few times, I observed the work of the staff dealing with the various normal guest issues which arise. Nothing, and I mean nothing, was easy. Each guest request/question required at least two staffers (more, if there were more available) with much hand-wringing over how to do this or that in the computer. Again, everyone was very friendly, with smiles all around all the time, no complaint there. But these people all seem to be massively inexperienced.

Breakfast was very crowded, tour bus people, mostly. Quality was good, food tasty, items refilled promptly, and very good variety of items available. Personally, I think that the LM approach to Illy coffee is a bit pretentious, but I do like the coffee. We also had dinner there one night. Staff was very accommodating; I wanted something from the Italian restaurant menu, but we were sitting in the other restaurant. No problem, service was with a smile. Staff was very hesitant, never seemed to know what to do next. Nevertheless, the food was good, the staff friendly, and, once they figured out what to do at any given point, the service provided was good. Lack of experience did show, however. When we hesitated on the menus, staff didn't interact at all. She just stood and waited for us to decide. Perhaps that's the way LM wants to do things. I prefer a more interactive approach. "Having trouble deciding, Dr. HFH? I've been told by several guests that the XXX is quite good tonight." OTOH, perhaps it's just my personal preference about the way that the service should be, running into the way they want to do things at LM.

Overall, I'd give this place a B for hard product (nice, but not spectacular), and a C for soft product. This hotel needs to give some attention to training. The occupancy levels are consistently high enough that the staff should be getting experience more rapidly than they apparently are. I also never saw any management. At least I never saw anyone who gave off the self-confidence which management personnel usually do. If management was, indeed, around, they should be a bit more proactive in meeting guests.

Having just read what I have written, I also note that many, perhaps most, of the other posters in this forum have had very different experiences from mine. Certainly, guests experience things differently, and sometimes things just don't go as smoothly as planned or desired. It's a nice hotel; and with a bit of experience and training, it will improve greatly.

Finally, I recommend that you obtain entry visas for Cambodia before you go. You may be eligible for the VOA at the airport (U.S. citizzens are), but that's what most people do, so the line is very long. I got my visa before I left the U.S., and there was no line at Immigration when I walked by the people in the VOA line.

Arranging Tours through the Hotel (Preah Vihear in particular)
 

Has anyone recently had any experience booking a long day tour (in other words, when a car is necessary, not a tuk tuk) through the hotel? Specifically, I am looking to do a day trip to the Preah Vihear Temple. There is a fair amount of information on tripadvisor about how to book a day trip there, but many of the reviews appear fake as they seem to go out of their way to praise their guide. . . and thus I may try to book through the hotel if that is a reasonable option. I have sent an email inquiry to the hotel, but I wanted to see if anyone had any feedback regarding car tours arranged by them. Also, since the security situation around the Thai/Cambodia border is far different from a couple years ago, any recent experiences would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

I didn't book through the hotel but you should try the Asia forum. There are a couple of threads on Siem Reap guides. A couple of shills post there but you can tell who the normal posters are.

We booked through the hotel last year, and had a good experience with the driver and guide. The smaller car was fine for two people, but we only did Angkor Wat and the Tonle Sap River/Lake tour.

We did a one day tour of Angkor Wat booked through LM Angkor in June and it was phenomenal. I highly recommend the tour guide Mao (Mow? Don't know what the English spelling would be) and the hotel's driver Koon took us around for the day in the hotel's Land Cruiser. It was phenomenal and, in our opinion, fairly affordable.