Chateau De Khaoyai Resort Reviews by Arthur

A pleasant experience
by Arthur, Thailand - Mar 9, 2009

Overall, we had a pleasant experience. The hotel has not been open long and indeed building works were still going on in parts of the grounds and once finished I am sure they will significantly add to the hotel's attractions. Check-in at the main building was fine and staff were helpful although they had little information available about what to see and do in the area and contacts, so we had to mainly make all our own arrangements. We stayed at the Lakeside Villa where the rooms were not big, but were OK and fairly comfortable. However a number of facilities that we would expect at this price range were unavailable, eg tea/coffee facilities in the room, hairdryer in the room and the TV only had Thai TV channels which was poor for a hotel trying to appeal to an international market. Bathroom was fine and shower large with good water pressure. The room was cleaned well though for some reason the cleaning of the bathroom was not as effecient. There were a lot of fish in the lake and for 10 baht you could buy fish food pellets to feed them - which was good fun. Food was taken in a different building, in the restaurant. Breakfast was very limited, partly because it was mid week and there were very few guests. However when we asked for a different choice it was provided and was much better - but we had to ask, it wasn't offered. In the evening the food was much better and although the menu was still fairly small, the quality was generally quite good. However, although none of us wanted Western food, it wasn't availabke if we had wanted it, which could be annoying to some guests. Very obliging staff though. There were quite a number of sports/games available though we didn't use any of them on this visit. We did want to use the spa though, but there was no staff available in the spa and if you wanted a massage you had to book in advance and they would call someone in. But the charges were very expensive, especially as we couldn't see the staff and thus couldn't assess their quality, so we decided not to use the service. We were shown around the other buildings and rooms in the hotel and some of them looked very nice but they were mainly a lot more expensive than ours and I am not sure provided good value for the money. This was especially so in the main building where guests in the most expensive rooms had to share the building with guests in a number of dormitories, which I am sure would have made me somewhat unhappy if I was paying the top prices. Location was convenient for Khao Yai and the main northern entrance - though the map on the hotel web site was quite poor if one was coming from the other direction, as we were! Definitely need a car though as not easy to stay here if you don't have your own car. So, overall, a good stay, especially in the Lakeside Villa which was reasonable value for money but also definitely room for improvement as well.