Dr. HFH

IIRC the GM here is also the GM simultaneously at two other Starwood hotels, one of which is WGS, not exactly across the street.

seanthepilot

If that's true, wouldn't this make the other management more visible?

nongsom

IIRC
from staff at hua hin said
"In this year GM would like to stay/work at westin BKK"
As a frequent guest of this property i only see him at Songkran festival event.

Dr. HFH

Thus the problem with this type of arrangement. A GM can probably manage a property or three in this arrangement; but if the owners want leadership, it's going to take on-site presence of the GM. Just my opinion....

Land-of-Miles

Doesn't this depend upon the relative strength and seniority of the 2IC in each property?

yosithezet

Correct. A GM may manage a single property and not be visible to guests or managing three properties and be very visible to guests. Another GM may be managing just as many properties and be very visible. It is all about management style and what that GM is focusing on at the pleasure of the owners.

In this case the owners don't seem to be too concerned with how visible the GM is day to day. I assume that the Sheraton Hua Hin KPIs are being met, or they wouldn't have added another hotel to his management portfolio.

Sam P. Goodman

My wife, daughter, and I spent 5 nights at the Sheraton Hua Hin during a recent trip to Thailand. We went in with tempered expectations following an exceptional stay at the Pranburi Villas, but were pleasantly surprised with our experience. I received pre stay communications from the Club Lounge staff warning that there would be an Indian wedding during the last couple of days of our stay. That coupled with the fact that they were showing sold out on SPG.com had me less than optimistic about upgrade chances. I had gone against some FT advice and applied SNAs for a suite and was pleased with the Oceanfront Suite we received. It was spacious and well appointed, and had decent views of the sea through the palm trees. We were on the south end of the property in building 8, which was great. I probably would have been significantly less thrilled if in building 4 at the north end as those suites do look into Luna Lanai (and vice versa). The novelty of the pool access rooms didn’t appeal much to us and they seemed rather exposed as it was easy to see into them when swimming or walking through the resort. We felt we had the best of both worlds with a spacious suite, relative privacy, good view, and a very short walk to the pool.

The club lounge was great. PHATCHARAWALAI and MAGGIE were fantastic. We checked in and out there and enjoyed an occasional afternoon snack and evening cocktails and snacks. They probably could have done a better job of explaining lounge offerings at check in (a card explaining benefits would be nice) as we had to ask a few times to figure everything out, but all in all, very nice. I believe they had ala carte breakfast offerings at the lounge, but they told us we were welcome to the buffet, which we did each morning.

The Indian wedding was moderately amusing. Think excess…lots of excess. We watched custom displays being assembled, painted, and covered in new fabric by large teams of workers (sometimes 30 or more at a time). I’m pretty sure that most of the wedding group was from Dubai. It all seemed very Orange County. They took over a different part of the resort each day, but the resort is so large, it wasn’t overly disruptive. One day, they did have a pool party scheduled and hotel came through big time for us. In anticipation of this, they left a note in our room offering a trip down to Pranburi. Initially, we dismissed it since we had just stayed down there, but one of the lounge staff followed up with us and encouraged us to consider going. We did and were very happy with our decision. It turned out to be a semi-private trip for 8 guests escorted by two lounge staff. We went down to the Pranburi Mangrove Forest Park for a nice walk, followed by a fantastic and plentiful group lunch at Luna La Pran (Sheraton Pranburi Villas), swimming at the pool there, and a brief stop at Khao Kalok beach. It was all complimentary and made for a really nice day. It didn’t sound like they always do this, but we felt very lucky to have been included, especially as we were walking back through the pool area looking at the mayhem (and passed out drunk guy) left behind by the wedding pool party.

A few random thoughts:
We had a couple of dinners at Luna Lanai. Food was good and not overly costly. They offer a 20% SPG discount, which was nice.

They have a pretty nice kids club, but despite saying kids 4 and up can be left there, they’re not really set up for that. There was usually one or two staff, but they mostly just monitored the door/phone/computer. Probably a great place for older kids who can entertain themselves.

The beach was nice for walking during low tide. There’s a 7-11 on the main road. It’s probably a 15 walk from the hotel, though not very pedestrian friendly. There are a couple of restaurants on the main road too, one like a local lunch buffet, the other a little nicer and more dinner. Didn’t get a chance to try them.

We took a cab to Cicada weekend market (400 THB each way). Great market, excellent food, some local (and not so local) crafts. Also did the Hua Hin night market via hotel shuttle (50THB each way per person). Grittier, more typical night market with good food and more junk for sale. Still fun though. Got 30 minute foot massages there for 100 THB each.

Took a day trip to Sam Roi Yod National Park. Loved it…though we did get more than we bargained for with a fairly intense hike that wasn’t really included in the trip description.

TalkingPoint

Delete

EVA777

When did this property move to a Cat 4?

Edit: Nevermind. I see it got caught in the annual sweep in March.

jpdx

Like all properties in Thailand except Chiang Mai and Rai, this hotel is horribly overpriced on points, save for a select few high demand periods. For most of the year, it is not difficult to get a BRG in the range of THB2500++ ... less than the cash portion of Cat 4 C&P.

ftrichard

I agree that compared to the cash price these hotels are now not worth wasting points on. Christmas and New Year I was able to use points (28k for five nights) at each of the Sheraton Hua Hin and Le Meridien Bangkok. Both fine hotels with good Platinum benefits. Using points over peak Christmas and New Year periods was great. But now they've both been bumped up a category I would hesitate to use points on either of them as it would take 40k points for five nights which is the same as Le Meridien Phuket - a significantly more expensive hotel that I did use 40k points up over Christmas 2014 when the room rate was around Baht15k a night.

Actually, Hua Hin was a beauty over Christmas last year. Despite being packed with Platinums, they let me use Suite Night Awards for a suite upgrade and so the entire five nights in a suite with full Platinum benefits (breakfasts, daytime snacks, evening booze and food) cost just 28k points. Love the place.

3rdworldresident

just arrived today for a 3-night stay. A bit disappointed overall.

No welcome drink or towel offered at check-in (in main lobby). was escorted to the club loung downstairs, club staff did offered me a drink and a towel. No mention of club lounge benefit or anything else. Just informed me about the wedding that will take place during my stay.

Booked 2 rooms with very cheap rate (brg) and got upgraded from standard to lagoon access both rooms. Found welcome card with other's name on it. Tiny welcome fruit was like it was there for a week ago.

Club lounge is what disappointed me most. It is now the worst club lounge in any SPG hotels in thailand. no more generous evening offering or during the day. Now it's on par with most lounges in US, only alcoholic beverages are still free. I suggest you should avoid it.

I felt that hotel was more stingy and try to cut cost of everything. I also felt the service has gone downhill.

Personally i may not return to stay here. Hyatt regency or the newly-opened marriott will be my first 2 choices.

p.s. Sorry for my poor english.

estnet

Um, the offerings in the club lounge were pretty disappointing I agree, but are you aware that there is a special menu from after breakfast until 5:30 pm which changes weekly and has 4 or 5 snacks and 2 dessert items on it?
You may not know about it because they are doing a very poor job of putting the menus out on the tables and so if you don't know to ask I can see how you might miss it.

BTW what big rate did you get and where did you find it?

3rdworldresident

no clue at all. they just said nothing.

my rate was around 2000 thb plus taxes per room per nights. i can't remember which competing site is exactly.

remymartin

The menu is readily available on most (all?) tables. Knowing how much 3rdworldresident travels, it really sounds like this is a change in policy. 3rdworldresident - could you perhaps discretly ask the club manager if their policy has changed?

PS. I actually think it's great that they proactively told you about the wedding at check-in. This is a serious issue at this property - some people extend their weddings for 3 days and basically take over the place. Last time I was there people partying at the beach had me wake up around 5am.. Perhaps it's a hint to use earplugs or water guns?