This was our final stay on our recent holiday to Thailand. We had stayed at beautiful places in both Phuket and Chiang Mai and I booked this accommodation so that we would have somewhere special to stay that would be a bit different and provide a traditional feel.

Let me start by saying that the hotel itself is quite beautiful and has been refurbished very well - I did like the recycling of old shower screen doors for the pool fencing! Although I have to agree with Mandy_Reen - for a place that is trying to claim 4-5 stars the service falls well short of what is needed and I think this is generally caused by the language barrier. Unlike the other resorts we stayed at, the level of english of the staf at Praya was quite poor and I found this particularly frustrating.

Our problems started with our arrival. The taxi driver wasn't sure where on Prah Athit to drop us so I rang the hotel and handed him the phone. As it turned out, he was exactly where we needed to be dropped. He spoke with someone there then handed the phone back to me and also I spoke briefly with the woman and told her that we were on the street and looked forward to seeing them shortly. We got out, walked to the pier and waited there for 30 minutes. I rang again and the woman said she'd told the taxi driver to call again when he dropped us off - which is what we had been doing when we spoke to her the first time. Even though I'd spoken to her straight after the taxi driver she never mentioned calling back to me or I would have reiterated that we were basically at the pier. Even the waiter in the Navalai River Resort restaurant (where you wait for the barge) checked to see if we were okay, commented on how long we had waited and then used his own phone to call the Praya - again! - on our behalf. So that didn't bode well for our stay.

It was quite late when we arrived and we were bone tired so dropped straight into bed. The next morning I noticed dried blood stains on the sheets - not ours - and tried to communicate this to the same woman that we'd spoken to the night before. She didn't understand. We did manage to agree that they would come and change the sheets. In general I found the rooms nice but a bit small and poky. I thought the suites would be roomier but I think size must have been sacrificed during the renovations to include ensuites in each room. Also, the shower head in the ensuite drove us mad. Half the holes were blocked so we were only getting about half the flow - with the rain head this meant we could almost walk between the jets of water!!

I knew when I booked this place that the only way to and from was the boat. I thought this would be quaint. In reality it really annoyed me because we had no freedom to come and go. One evening we were walking down the steps and could see guests getting ready to get on the ferry. We thought our timing was great but as we walked through the front gate the boat started to motor away and we had to wait 20 minutes for it to come back. We sat by the pool but unfortunately there was no one available to even get us a drink while we waited. On our last night we went out for a special dinner at Breeze at the Lebua. We were still enjoying the view and the degustation at 10.30 and knew there was no way we would make it back in time for ferry cutoff at 11pm. Not having realised we would be out so late, we didn't make any arrangements for a late pickup and I assumed that phoning at 10.40 was probably a bit rude. Also, we didn't know when we would be finished and ready to go back so we ended up taking a room at the Lebua and not staying back at Praya. The lack of flexibility was probably the most frustrating aspect for me and, regardless of our other problems, the main reason that I wouldn't stay again.

On a positive note, the food was quite okay. We had breakfast included in our room rate and they were quite good. It is a fixed menu that you an choose from. The fruit and pastries were quite nice, as were the eggs and bacon. I found the pancakes very dry. And when I asked if I could have a side of bacon with the pancakes they thought I was a bit odd and told me that "bacon goes with eggs not pancakes..." I gave up!! We also had dinner there one night. The food was quite nice but a bit pricey. While it was clear that one of the waiters was in training, they did try hard with the service.

This is the longest review I've written on here because I didn't want to do Praya Palazzo an injustice. It is a beautiful hotel but it is different and has it's own quirks. I didn't want to tar it too much with my own issues ie. I knew it was difficult to access yet that really annoyed me! However, when a friend asked what it was like I said "beautiful hotel but a bit like a thai version of Fawlty Towers with their service". If you're patient, don't want flexibility to come and go in the evenings and are happy to muddle through then this might be a really lovely break away for you. Although if you want to explore Bangkok, be free to come and go at night as you please and want top notch service that is easy to deal with then this isn't the accommodation for you.

We stayed at Praya Palazzo the first two nights of our honeymoon and were really impressed at the beauty and serenity of the place. The staff was exceptionally friendly and helpful - they even bringing us late night sandwiches free of charge when we missed dinner. The ferry added an extra special dynamic to the whole experience, although I wouldn't recommend it if you want a night out on the town as it quits running at about 10.00pm. Overall highly recommended if you want a bit of quaint luxury in Bangkok.