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Bangkok Palace Hotel (Thailand)
by thefund
I stayed here on a trip with my college, where we travelled all over thailand and cambodia. We stayed here on 3 or 4 seperate occasions for 1 to 3 nights at a time. So I think I am in a good position to tell you about the hotel, as I have been in a lot of different rooms!
The position of the hotel isn't great. It's just under ... a freeway, so from the outside it looks rather ugly. It is in central Bangkok though which is great because pretty much everywhere is easy to get to. However the inside is pleasant although there are some grubby areas. There is a small cafe in the lobby which serves drinks and cakes. The drinks were good and the milkshakes some of the best you'll ever taste but the cakes were abominable. Do not buy them!
The rooms themselves were of a reasonable size as were the ensuite bathrooms. The rooms were equipped with a hairdryer and 2 bottles of complimentary water, which was good because the tap water in thailand should never be drunk, so it was nice to have some bottled water in our room when we arrived. The minibar like the rest of thailand is very cheap, so even though it is more expensive than in the local shops it is still cheaper than your local shop in England, so no complaints there. The view from the rooms though was disappointing. From one side of the hotel you have a view of the freeway, and from another you have a view of some old run down buildings. To be fair to the hotel though, finding a good view in the centre of Bangkok is difficult if not impossible. I've stayed in many hotels in Bangkok and even the best hotels cannot avoid views of the abundant slums and ugly buildings.
The beds were comfortable and I had no problems with my sheets. However my friends were not so lucky. Brown stains were commonly found on the sheets and one of the people in my room found that their sheet was covered in what was unmistakably semen. We were horrified! However after contacting the lobby this was quickly rectified, but from then on we had to rigorously check the sheets each time we stayed there, and often found something unpleasant! After reading reviews on tripadvisor we considered ourselves lucky after many people have found bed bugs in their room, so it could have been a lot worse! I'm not sure if bed bugs are still common in this hotel, but after having stayed in many different floors and rooms in the hotel I never had a problem and so can only assume that this problem is no longer apparent.
The food at dinner and breakfast was fine. There was a buffet for every meal with water, juices, salad and typical thai food as well as an 'english' breakfast. There was also a grill where chefs would cook meat in front of you from a wide selection. I always stuck to the basic thai food, which was pleasant, but not great. The food isn't very spicy here so if you want a taste of thai but don't want the traditional very spicy thai food, this is a great introduction! Since it's a buffet you can always go back and get something else if you don't like what you chose, so that's a bonus. However being in Bangkok I'd advise eating out of the hotel for most meals other than breakfast, and getting a better experience. I recommend the Silom Village Restaurant for some great thai food with a good show, all at a good price. It's the perfect way to indulge in some Thai culture with good food and an introduction to some Thai folk tails and the famous finger nail dance.
The pool is fine for an inner city hotel, and you shouldn't expect much. It is right next to the freeway so it's not the best of places to relax, but for a quick dip after a long day in the Thai heat it's good. The pool is large and much bigger than a lot of other Bangkok hotels, and has a bar by it where you can buy cocktails and other drinks.
One of my favourite places in the hotel was the bar in the evening. The bar is large and spacious with loads of comfy chairs. They sell a huge range of cocktails and other drinks. There is also live music every night and you also have an option of karaoke from a massive list of English, American and Thai classics. We enjoyed this most nights that we stayed at the Bangkok Palace Hotel, and it was a great way to spend the evening after a day travelling over Bangkok and beyond.
All in all, the hotel is fine but I would advise you to check your sheets! It's not the sort of place you would want to stay if you were spending a lot of time in the hotel, but then again, Bangkok is not a place you should stay if you don't want to explore. Bangkok is full of excitement and interesting sights, so if you want to go somewhere and experience the culture and the city, staying at the Bangkok Palace Hotel is a good choice! I would give it 4 stars but until the hotel invests in new sheets, I'll have to stick to 3!
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Ifa Interclub Atlantic (Spain)
by Cassiiekins
After reading previous reviews on the IFA Interclub Atlantic I was a little worried about my holiday, as I was going with a group of friends I had not personally picked this particular hotel.
When we first arrived at the hotel, at around 1am I was ready to go home, although the staff checking us in were friendly, everything ... was closed and we were hungry and thirsty, when asking where we would be able to get a drink we were told a machine, which in our block did not work, so this meant we needed to trek around a hotel in the middle of the night just for an expensive bottle of water, we had no air con and it was very humid.
Luckily after this experience the holiday got a lot better! We had friendly Thomas Cook Reps, and the hotel staff were very friendly, with productions being put on every night and activities being carried out all through the day by the friendliest of people who got everyone involved and had a good laugh with us.
Fair enough the corridors in the hotel were a little dirty, but who's paying to spend time there?
The rest of the hotel was pleasant and we had no complaints.
Lovely for families and young groups of people, there is an on-sight club and transport to the town is cheap.
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Iberostar Bouganville Playa (Tenerife, Spain)
by Homelovin
The Bougainvillea is quite a large hotel and is quite popular. There is a long distance between the reception and the dining room, then down further to the pool area. Going back and forth to your room becomes a chore, so plan to take everything you need in one go to avoid wasted trips. The lobby is large and marbled, here you leave a 10 ... Euro deposit for your pool towel. The dining room for breakfast and evening buffet is on the first floor, it's big and noisy, but there is a lot of choice and plenty of staff serving and clearing. There is nightly entertainment shows, but that just isn't our thing so we didn't attend. The pools are clean and large with plenty of sunbathing and shade space. Some spots overlook the sea too which is really nice, a bit windy there but nice and cool too. Our room was basic, the beds not too comfortable and as the week wore on I really started to miss my bed back home. The balcony had a sea view, but rooms round the back looked over the road and car park.
The best bit about this hotel is the location. It is right at the far end of Las Americas, really near Costa Adeje really, so it's quieter but you can easily get to the noisy bars and clubs if that's what you want. Walk in the other direction for a short while and there a more options for dining and drinking, again with a quieter atmosphere, and with so much choice the prices are very competitive.
A walk down some steep steps to the beach, here you can hire sun beds and parasols.
I would recommend this hotel, but it's not outstanding, just good. Approx. £75 per night on Hotels.com when we went in April.
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