My friend and I stayed at the Banthai for 6 nights, and we enjoyed our time there.
The location was not necessary the most important factor, but when we realised how central it was, there were no complaints!
Attached to the hotel, officially, is a restaurant that we really enjoyed the thai food, a StarBucks, a Pizza restaurant, a McDonalds, an icecream parlour, a bar, a stake house and Mexican restaurant.
What we didn't understand the first night is that in Thailand you can pay 10% tax on top of a meal, and in some places, particularly Bankok, you may be charged an extra 7% tax, unless you have a visa, which entitles you to the 7% refund at the airport when you leave, and presumably show your receipts.
By staying at the Banthai, we were given 10% discount on most of the Hotels' restaurants (although not likely Maccas or Star Bucks), so effectively, the tax, when we put the meal on the room to pay once we checked out.
10% might not be a huge discount, but if your meal cost you $10 Aus or Aud, then you save yourself $1, which adds up.
While I would not automatically call it a "child speciality" hotel, there were 3 pools, with slides at the end of the pool.
A lot of Australians travel to thailand, and we were in Thailand just before Australian School holidays, so there were not many...My friend and I stayed at the Banthai for 6 nights, and we enjoyed our time there.
The location was not necessary the most important factor, but when we realised how central it was, there were no complaints!
Attached to the hotel, officially, is a restaurant that we really enjoyed the thai food, a StarBucks, a Pizza restaurant, a McDonalds, an icecream parlour, a bar, a stake house and Mexican restaurant.
What we didn't understand the first night is that in Thailand you can pay 10% tax on top of a meal, and in some places, particularly Bankok, you may be charged an extra 7% tax, unless you have a visa, which entitles you to the 7% refund at the airport when you leave, and presumably show your receipts.
By staying at the Banthai, we were given 10% discount on most of the Hotels' restaurants (although not likely Maccas or Star Bucks), so effectively, the tax, when we put the meal on the room to pay once we checked out.
10% might not be a huge discount, but if your meal cost you $10 Aus or Aud, then you save yourself $1, which adds up.
While I would not automatically call it a "child speciality" hotel, there were 3 pools, with slides at the end of the pool.
A lot of Australians travel to thailand, and we were in Thailand just before Australian School holidays, so there were not many children there. So if you're looking for a hotel without screaming children, I would happily suggest the Banthai, although I cannot make promises when the school holidays come around.
The hotel had a drive way that was about 20 metres long, and then there is one street to cross and you are litterally on the beach! So the location was pretty fantastic!
The rooms were clean, we received complementary thongs (flip flops) and beach bags to keep as well. We were given a cocktail on arrival, and there were also beach towels as well as normal shower towels in the room.
The pools were clorianated each night, and we were in the pool at 7am when they first opened. There were fragipani trees in bloom in August/September, and while this meant there were the flowers floating in the pool, the pools were cleaned each morning.
The hotel was airconditioned, and there are safes in each room. I would say each room looks onto a pool, and if you do not have a balcony, then you are probably on the ground floor, so it's literally 5 steps from your door into the pool, if not less!
The hotel is around 20-30 years old now, and that's demonstrated more by the structure of the hotel, rather than the actual feel of it. The staff were lovely, and while we made a conscious effort to speak Thai, most spoke English to some extent, and the pool boys would talk to you all the time, even if you were sitting on your balcony several floors up!
The breakast each day had so many things available, we didn't know what to choose, although I was happy to eat waffles and pineapple, and danishes all day!
All in all, I liked the hotel, and would encourage people to stay there, if they like staying on the beach or sitting by the poolMore
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