Ambassador Hotel, Sukhumvit Soi 11

[chuckrivera]

Avoid unless you enjoy small old rooms in a hotel with terrible food and poor service. It puts on airs of being a finer hotel, but it is nothing more than a show.

 

We recently stayed at the Ambassador Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 11 in Bangkok. It was chosen because it was convenient to where we needed to be, but really for no other reason than that. I planned on doing a full review with pics, but as my stay went on, I realized that this hotel was not worth wasting my time on a review.

 

As you walk in the enormous front lobby of the hotel, you get the feeling that it is a very nice hotel. When you actually speak to someone at reception you quickly realize your mistake. Reception staff are not friendly, although I will give them credit for letting me check in three hours early with no fuss. I had two rooms booked under my name, only one was ready early and we put our stuff in there until my room was ready.

 

There is an Main (old) Wing and a Tower (new) Wing; we were put in the Main Wing. The carpet is worn and quite hard on the eyes and the ceiling is extremely low, about 7 feet high or so.

 

The rooms themselves are small with a King sized bed, small fridge, safe and two chairs. The bathrooms are granite and tile, and the highlight of the room is the extremely high pressure extremely hot water shower. There is an independently controlled air condition unit that couldn't cool the room well at all. It was quite stifling in there at night. We paid just over ฿2,000/room/night. Definitely not good value for the money.

 

The rooms come with free buffet breakfast that was quite possibly the worst hotel breakfast that I've ever eaten. Those that know me can tell you I rarely don't eat food, but there really was nothing worth eating. They charge a pretentious ฿399 ++ if you don't have a free voucher, but even thought it was free I felt like I overpaid for it. Compare this to the Landmark that charges a similar rate and actually has a high quality buffet breakfast.

 

It seems the hotels customer base is Indians and Arabs as those were the vast majority of guests I saw. The restaurant also advertise Halal foods and the breakfast buffet has an Indian section (the only ethnic variety available).

 

On the plus side, the ground floor directly outside the hotel is populated by shops of all sorts, including about 37 tailors and 63 massage shops. There is also a Villa Market which is only open from 6AM to Midnight.

 

There is a disco in the garage of the hotel named Climax that features a live Thai/Philippine band that wasn't anything special, but did have a good energy. The place was wall to wall freelancers of all ages, shapes and sized. There is a ฿200 entry fee that includes your first drink. The staff here are extremely pushy for drinks, repeatedly asking you to order even though you have a 3/4 full drink already in your hand. Go for the freelancers, not for the music or the service.

 

Bottom line is, there really is no reason to recommend this hotel. Ever. For anything.

Edited May 8, 2010 by chuckrivera

[luv u long time]

Thanks for that mate.

 

You are spot on, for that money, there is SO much better. Even Citi Chic around the corner is cheaper and is great quality.

 

The only thing I would recommend Ambassador Hotel for is the tailor in the lobby, but make sure you go to Peter Clothier (and not the one next door to him). Top quality suits with no quibble price.

[Millard]

Thanks for the review. I was considering the Ambassador due to its location. Having a freelancer disco on the vicinity was also a huge plus.

[plahgat]

A good thing with this old hotel is that you can easily sneak in and use their swimming pool for free without hassle even though you are not staying there! ;) :(

 

Plahgat

[cerberus]

I do not think I would be as generous as Chucks comments. Although there was Air-conditioning in the room, it was pumping warm air and both Chuck and I left the hotel with a throat problems the next morning. Since our return we have both gone down with some respiratory infection, with loads of mucus, a hacking cough and short of breath.

 

This place was a true dump and I have no idea what diseases are lurking in the air ducts but feel sure we got one of them.

 

The breakfast was not edible, unless you wanted additional health problem that the A/C had failed to give you.

 

Avoid this place its worst then the Grace

[US-Farang]

When I stayed there last summer, I had aircon problems, too. It was cool enough, but it was leaking water (or some sort of condensation) all over the floor. They sent someone up to "fix" it, but a day later it had the same problem. Someone came again to fix it, but I don't know if it was really fixed since I checked out the next day.

 

Plus, The Ambassador is not guest friendly. At least they weren't last summer. (1000 baht joiner fee)

[PokahJokah]

Thanks for that mate.

 

You are spot on, for that money, there is SO much better. Even Citi Chic around the corner is cheaper and is great quality.

 

The only thing I would recommend Ambassador Hotel for is the tailor in the lobby, but make sure you go to Peter Clothier (and not the one next door to him). Top quality suits with no quibble price.

 

 

+1 on Citichic. Really good price, nice rooms, girlie friendly, and good service and friendly staff