3rdworldresident

at this property, IMO, there is no need to use suite night award to guarantee room upgrade.

they (almost) always give it to all platinum members.

very nice property overall.

mario33

It's not the best property to use a SNA, but if you want to guarantee a Grande Deluxe and have no better place to use, the choice is yours.

Having said that, even if you miss the Grande Deluxe it's not a major loss. These are not real suites, just larger rooms which I felt is too bare and felt very clinical.

iahphx

Honestly, I was a little disappointed. It's more like a hotel than a resort. I think tripadvisor has the correct read on this property.

mario33

To be fair, the ground is quite pleasant and the concept of having a daybed overhanging the balcony is quite cool.

However the room decor is a disaster, whoever did the interior design for the rooms should only be allowed to design hospitals. And strangely, the design got through Starwood development team and the owners. Alright the owners are basically provincial car dealers, but the Starwood development team who are meant to be professionals should be sacked !

iahphx

Basically, the rooms have the same modern design as the Le Meridien in Chiang Mai, which is an urban hotel.

I don't really mind it -- it's something different. I assume it's an effort to make the hotel feel "hip", almost like a "W" property. For practical reasons, though, I'm not a huge fan of the open bathroom design. Like if you need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, you might very well wake up your partner. A classic "style over practicality" design flaw.

For leisure travellers, though, the biggest problem with the hotel is that the pools are arguably too cold to use in winter. It took great fortitude to go for a swim. Of course, you can have the same problem in Hawaii!

mario33

Absolutely not.

I am fine with LM Chiang Mai design; simple, modern and elegant.

LM Chiang Rai on the the hand just feels weird for a hotel room; white terrazzo floors, 'spiderweb' graphics behind the bed, 'spiderweb' coffee table stand, for the top floor the bedside lamps hang almost 10ft from the ceiling and very high bare walls. Basically everything in black, white or ......grey. Weird, just very weird.

andreirublev

I didn't mind the concrete floors too much. I generally came back at the end of the day either wet or covered in mud -- it made it easier to not care about any carpeting.

Dr. HFH

I’m traveling with some friends and we decided to go to Chiang Rai. Booked three rooms at LMCR for three nights, redeemed nine SNA certificates. On arrival at the airport, hotel representative was waiting just outside baggage claim, interestingly holding a LMCR sign with my first and middle name computer printed in big letters. The driver was pleasant, and it was about a ten minute drive to the hotel.

Very nice architecture, huge open air lobby, visually both striking and attractive. My friends sat in a sitting area while I dealt with checkin for all of us. I was invited to sit at one of the two checkin desks, behind which sat a young rep. She found my reservation, and said that we had been upgraded to grand deluxe rooms because of my platinum status. I explained that I had applied SNA certificates to this reservation, and asked her to see if there were any suites available. She replied, “We have no suites at this hotel.” “No one told me that when I made the reservation, -- I have reserved three suites.” Some tapping on her keyboard. “Oh, I see, yes, you used the suite upgrade certificates. We do have one suite in the hotel, but it is very large.” “That’s fine, we’ll take that one and two of the grand deluxe rooms.” “Well,… that suite is occupied.”

Obviously, there was nothing to be done, and this is Thailand, so I smiled and said that we would be happy to stay in the grand deluxe rooms. I asked if she would arrange to refund the SNA certificates back into my account. “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know if we can do that.” “But I haven’t used the certificates as I won’t be occupying any suites.” “I don’t know if we can do that, sir, I will speak with my manager.” Again, this being Thailand, I smiled and thanked her for whatever she and her manager are able to do. I’ll deal with my excellent PLT Concierge on that issue later.

Escorted to our rooms by one of the other youths standing around the checkin desks. I swear, no one working in the lobby could have been over 25. Everything got done, but there seemed to be a fair level of disorganization, or possibly lack of experience. Most of the routine tasks for checking in seemed to be very slightly baffling to them, as if they were not accustomed to doing them. Lots of baffled looks at her computer screen during the checkin process. I was watching the other checkin desk, too, and it was the same.

We have three rooms in a row on the fourth floor in the Grand Deluxe wing. The rooms are large and lovely. Huge and well-furnished balconies with table and chairs, a tasteful, wooden drying rack, insect repelling item with matches for lighting it, and a very long flat, modern (consistent with LM style) settee or daybed. Adjacent to and below our wing is the swimming pool. It’s large, and three tiered with different depths. The middle tier is perfect for laps. The deck and lounge area are very large with beautiful landscaping, all on a delightful and peaceful location next to the river. Nice personal welcoming note already in the room along with fruit and a cookie/brownie assortment.

We decided to hire a van to go to the White Temple. Went down to the concierge desk to arrange it. We explained to the concierge (who also appeared to be in his early 20s) that we wanted a hotel van to take us to the White Temple, wait for us, and return us to the hotel. He spoke English and clearly understood what we wanted. (Additionally, we have a native Thai speaker in our group; she was with us and also explained.) He was unable to handle our request himself, and had to ask for assistance from a colleague at the bellmen’s desk. Really? I find it hard to believe that we are the first group of guests asking to have the hotel van drive us to a famous local sight. How complicated could it have been?

After we returned and were walking through the lobby to our rooms, someone stopped us and explained that we had to pay for the van in cash. She went on to explain that if it had been a van from an outside company, we would have been able to charge it to the room; but since it was a hotel van, we could not, and had to pay in cash. Huh? Isn’t that backwards? It was definitely a hotel van; it had Le Meridien painted on the side in the appropriate logo lettering.

I’m feeling a bit under the weather today, so while my friends are off touring, I’m on my delightful balcony with my laptop. The pool area is just below. There are approximately 35 lounges (a few are hidden from my view by vegetation), with fewer than ten occupied. As I said, it is very peaceful here. One thing I noticed yesterday afternoon when we went to the pool is that there is no service. If you want a drink or some food, you must walk to the pavilion and order it. Much like F cabins on long haul international flights, someone should be walking around every, maybe, 15 minutes offering menus, drinks, dry towels, etc. While the staff is very accommodating when you make a request, they are not proactive, and they should be. This would undoubtedly increase revenue as well, from people (like myself) who might not get up for a drink but would be happy to order one if it was offered.

Room service for lunch on my balcony today. Again, the staffer who delivered the food couldn’t have been more pleasant, but he was very young, and very unsure of himself. He was so nice, -- while he was trying to make pleasant small talk, he got stuck (I’m not sure if it was a problem with his English or if he was just shy and/or unsure of himself) so I helped him out by asking him how his day was. He smiled, clearly grateful for the assistance.

I also note that with the exception of the F&B Manager (whom I know personally and who made an effort to find and say hello to me), management has not been in evidence at all, which may be part of the problem. I contrast this with SGS, for example, which has management personnel visibly assigned at every location, whether restaurant, bar, front desk, housekeeping, pool, etc.

Overall, I’d give this hotel a B+. This is a delightful property in a bucolic, peaceful and beautiful setting. I believe that with a relatively small amount of management attention to its soft product, it can easily increase that grade to an A.

yosithezet

When the place first opened the GM was very visible, visiting guests during breakfast.

What did the F&B manager have to say about why his staff is not approaching guests at the pool to take F&B orders?

mario33

How could you have done that when SNA would only upgrade you to a Grand Deluxe at this property, and there is only 1 suite in the hotel which is a specialty suite and not available for platinum upgrade

mario33

Anne is now in Langkawi, and Justin has recently moved to Bangkok.

Not sure if they have a new GM; but in the absence of a new GM, Chaiporn & Renauld are the top managers there.

Dr. HFH

F&B Manager was at breakfast this morning.


A fair question, -- haven't seen him since I made this observation and I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon, but if I see him, I will ask. One reason might be that there was no staff a tthe pool. Only staff in evidence was the young lady behind the bar.


Well, exactly, but I didn't know that. What I object to most here is 1) FD person at first told me that there are no suites in this property, which is not true, and 2) there seems to be some question as to whether I get my SNAs back. My rooms were upgraded based on my PLT status, apparently before anyone realized that I had applied SNAs. Also, Ts&Cs say that I'm supposed to receive an e-mail five days out, then again if they cannot upgrade. I received no e-mail.

yosithezet

Does your account show that the SNAs are back in the account? How did you go about applying them if suites aren't available online when applying them? Perhaps they were applied and this is what gave you the Deluxe rooms in the first place?

remymartin

Ask to speak to Khun Rénaud. He is very approachable as you probably know.

ps. I thought he was f&b director?

mario33

While the FD agent may be technically wrong to say there is no suite in the hotel, I believe she was just trying to simplify the explanation that there is no suite which a platinum would be upgraded to. Given your preference of doing things by the 'Thai' way (as highlighted in your report), I am surprised you would object to a minor slip.

And if your SNA cleared 1 day before arrival, it would not be returned to you. Whether you receive an email or not is another issue, and its something you have to take up with spg not with the hotel.