Amazing news, the French manager of D'Sens read my email (as I'd asked it to be forwarded) & moved the date of one of the private parties... so we could eat at their restaurant. Then he said he'd reserved their 'best table with a view of the Limpin. (sp?) Park', plus a complimentary bottle of wine.

glorialf,
I agree w/ your assessment of Le Normandie... their menu is very heavy, old-fashioned food. Not for us... and the prices are the equivalent to Los Angeles.

We still make stick w/ Harvey's because the date that the manager cleared, is not the date we wanted... and we're already eating at Lord Jim's that night... the chef at Harvey's seems to be experimenting... like the young chef at D'Sens.

This all seems a little over the top...the manager has switch a private party, offered the best table in the house and a complimentary bottle of wine.... and you aren't going to take them up on it? If so you should inform them as soon as possible.

yes, I replied & accepted...

it's not over the top... you are unaware that they had us switch our Lord Jim's reservations TWICE due to D'Sens scheduling a private party first on the 5th, then after we switched Lord Jim's to the 5th... a week later, she writes & says they now have a private party on the 4th & the 4th, and suggests the 6th, when we are at BKK flying to the US...

at THAT point I was exasperated... and embarrassed as I had to email Lord Jim's & get them to switch for the THIRD time... So, to make sure that I was not doing this I asked her to forward it to the manager...
and told him that I was sad that we could not eat there... since we'd plan to spend a small fortune... and if something changed to let me know, as the hostess was switching dates & days of the week...
it was the manager who moved the party on the 4th... Now, I've had the Pen. make the switch via phone... to make sure that we can, in fact, still get a window table at Lord Jim's...

typo, the 4th & the 5th... then she was referring to the 6th as a Wednesday, when it's a Thursday...
so another restaurant is involved in the hostess' confusion

don't forget a big tip for the people doing all this planning work for you at the penn and at the restaurant...

Absolutely give them a huge tip at the Penn!

They're not doing any planning, guys... I have done all the planning & emailing... I am only having them to the switcheroo, as this silly D'Sens hostess has mucked it up so much... I don't want the Lord Jim's folks to be confused.

Ditto for the spa appointment, we're not taking our MACS, so I will be off email... and I think the spa's email is not functioning...

I've traveled a lot & the job responsibilities of a concierge is to make reservations... recommend stuff, etc., that is why there are concierges at 5* hotels.

Big concierge tips are for when the score impossible to get theatre tickets, they schedule/arrange itineraries, special stuff, etc.

I have a friend who is a concierge at the St. Regis & CNT magazine wrote a whole article on it... their Travel Editor actually recommends using a concierge at 5* hotels even if you are not staying there, then tipping them, if it's a big favor they do. IMO that's very nervy.

When one is paying $300+ in BKK part of what the room rate includes is a conciege to take care of stuff like this... it's their job.

Sorry guys, but there is nothing I have asked the concierge to do that is not routine... and there seem to be at least a dozen of them, I rarely get a reply from the same one.

The person who's been incredibly helpful to me is the reservations manager at the Khao Lak Orchid Beach... Jirasak.

He will get a gift from us.

If it were not for the incompetent reservations hostess at D'Sens, none of this would have happened. I am embarrassed to email Lord Jim's & switch the reservation for the third time, all due to the hostess at D'Sens.

From the current Siem Reap post, we can see that you are also keeping the Raffles concierges on their toes. The grapevine is crackling... all the concierges in SE Asia are shuddering, only a few days before Oksana comes to town!

ekscrunchy, hahaha!

This whole post is giving me hives.

Oh no... wait, I have to scratch my leg..ok, that's better.

LOL

AskOksana appears to be taking the art of travel planning to new heights of magnificence. This is one trip report I'm really looking forward to.

'... and there seem to be at least a dozen of them [concierges], I rarely get a reply from the same one.'

Does this mean that you've E-mailed the poor sods twelve times?

From the Siem Reap post..

'...when he asked why in 6 weeks they had not replied to me, the employee said, "I am bored of her questions."

Do you think there's a message here?

Take care not to stress yourself out too much on the details. The point of it all is to ENJOY yourself.

Two words to ponder upon:

Discovery. Exploration.

DON'T FORGET TO TIP THEM ALL!!!!

and i would cancel d'sens!!!