A grand dame of a hotel that transports you back to colonial times with its comfortable four-poster beds in spacious rooms with ceiling fans hanging from high ceilings, landscaped grounds and a vast, dramatic pool area. Classic public areas, an antique wrought iron lift, and doormen in helmets and puttees complete the picture.

But it's not all pretty. At dawn, the guest is greeted not by rooster crows,but rather the peeping from adjacent rooms of clearly heard alarm clocks and wakeup calls, and loud flushes from the dated toilets. The charming rooms are inadequately lit. Exiting the bathroom entails a struggle with a crotchety period doorknob. The ubiquitous staff speak good but not always easily understood English.

The food is quite good, and the in-room WiFi, reasonably priced by usage hours rather than 24 hour segments, works well. In my view, the ambience is well worth putting up with the few flaws.

I don't know if this is a normal feature, or was just laid on for our tour group, but we were treated to a lavish outdoor buffet, dance performance and "street market" at the back of the pool area. In any case, I'll include a few photos of it.

Tip: Cross the street (if traffic permits) and check out the Buddhist temple at the far right corner of the garden. It's a happening place.

Stayed at this gem of a hotel for two nights on 28th of Jan, everything about the place was fantastic, the staff were very friendly and helpful, the food was excellent, the pool was outstanding and never too busy always plenty of sun loungers, we had a deluxe terrace pool view room whitch was devine, just like having your own pool next to your room.

Arrival at the Raffles is a pleasure. Reception staff will invite you to sit down in the lounge and sip a cool welcome drink while they are copying relevant information from your business card and a passport. The hotel is beautiful in its simplicity and style reminiscent of old colonial times. Rooms are relatively small, furnished with old fashioned, unsophisticated desks and chairs but items like these create a special atmosphere of understated elegance so different from more opulent hotels. The swimming pool is said to be the largest in Siem Reap and is beautifully set in the inner courtyard. Service was impeccable at every step. In the morning you will enjoy a fantastic breakfast buffet and in the evening you can see a colorful Cambodian dance performance in the garden. My only minor complaint would be that, perhaps naively, at the Raffles I would not expect to see guests having their breakfast in the dining room in beach shorts, sloppy T-shirts and sneakers. For comparison, at the Singapore Raffles you will not be allowed from the street to even peak at the lobby in shorts. Overall great experience. Hotel is worth the price if only to experience the unique aura for one night.

Chris from Buffalo, NY, USA

I had booked this hotel through a travel agent having previously stayed at Raffles hotel in Singapore. My stay there was very pleasant in that hotel is worthy of its five star rating. Raffles grand hotel d’angkor is totally different story.

In short I found the hotel to be dated, we ate at the main restaurant in the hotel the night we arrived, the menu and wine list read very well. We had two bottle of French wine which was well priced. The food was ok only. The bar closes at 11.30pm to everybody including residents.

The staff are very friendly and helpful but one can’t help observing they clearly know little about the hospitalily industry. Clearly management are at fault here. In Managements defence they put on an impressive New Years Eve, pool side party, with extremely good food. Its a pity they cannot replicate this in the day to day running of this hotel.

The spa is not what one would expect of raffles, its an outhouse conversion with car mats in front of the showers, I am sure you can imagine the rest. The sauna was cooler then outdoor temperatures, coupled with a steam room without steam.

In conclusion this could be an excellent product, its not. In terms of value for money this hotel is a rip off. The minute you check in to this hotel every thing is extra (as it is in all five star hotels) at 5 star prices, it a needs substantial upgrading to bring it to five star standard to justify their extras.

If you are travelling to Siem reap book a middle of the road hotel for one tenth of the price of this hotel it will probably be as good as this one.