Family Hotels in Thailand ???
 

We are planning to spend 3 weeks in Thailand in Dec-Jan. Mom, Dad and 3 teenagers. I am having difficulty finding hotels / condos suitable for 5 or even 4. We have traveled in many parts of the world and even in Hawaii(which some would consider expensive) we have had no trouble getting 2 bedroom condos in the $100-150 / night range. So far I havn't had much luck finding anything. Any ideas??? We are thinking 3 days or so in Bangkok; 4 or 5 days in Chaing Mai and 2 weeks in the Phucket area where we hope to dive / snorkle and relax. Any ideas??? Thanks

Ok first the bad news!

Dec/Jan is absolute peak of the peak season.

If you can avoid the period Dec 20 to Jan 10 it will make a huge difference pricewise. Also during Christmas and New Year most places have a compulsory Dinner/Party and the costs are 'substantial/shock-level' pricing.
Especially Phuket rates are well high at that time, there are a few places which I will mention later but not that many at all. I know exactly what you mean, it is similar in Australia where there are just so many apartment style hotels/accommodations with rooms/kitchen etc quite reasonable in price, although Thailand has a vaste range of accommodations there are not many at all that cater for families. Our kids are still small and we tend to stay at places we know where we can arrange just one room, perhaps with one extra bed or whatever, but with 3 teens you are going to be hard pushed.
We often travel with extended family so sometimes up to 6 or 8 adults plus a whole load of kids along. In those cases we go for lower star but take a suite or suites, so although not tops in star quality you do become often the hotel's most valued guests!

USD 100-150 a night for 5 again will be tight. Although I lived in bangkok for some time living in a place means you rarely have reason to frequent hotels, there has been mentions recently of some serviced apartments and I am sure others will come in on that.

Ok for Phuket here are a few, but you must also think about getting 2 double rooms and having 1 extra bed on one of them, but for USD 150 it will be tough.

I was going to suggest Central Waterfront Suites, but they want over $ 200 a night for a 2 bedroomed, but intil Dec 19 and from Jan 11 that is only about $ 160, but you have to add another $ 27 for 1 extra bed.

http://www.r24.org/beachsiam.com/phu...ralwaterfront/

Andaman Beach Suites range from $ 150 to $ 250 range depending on dates

http://www.r24.org/beachsiam.com/phuket/beachsuites/

Family suite at C&N Resort is from $ 150 to $ 175

http://www.r24.org/beachsiam.com/phuket/cn/

Old Phuket Hotel ( not old, new ) is from $ 135-170 for family suite


http://www.r24.org/beachsiam.com/phuket/oldphuket/


Ok that gives you a start to get ideas of what you get for your bucks.

Chiang Mai is a whole lot easier!

Suriwongse goes from $28 for a double ( about $40 for a double with an extra bed ) to $68 for a suite, this is not luxury but perfectly ok

http://www.r24.org/beachsiam.com/chi...ngse/pictures/

In fact Chiang Mai is easy to get a good place for $40 and then get one extra bed so with $100 you should have no trouble

www.nongasia.com/chiang_mai_hotels.html

or you can go straight to a list ( click to sort by price )

www.r24.org/nongasia.com/chiangmai/hotels/

We can all suggest different ones in Chiang mai but I don't see you having any problem there if you go for 2 twin/doubles and have an extra bed in one of the rooms.

All those links allow you to request accommodation without any commitment, i.e you can request rooms without credit card, you can request even 4 or 5 no problem, they come back with what's available and give you a few days to decide and only once you decide do they want any credit card info, so it's a hassle free enquiry.

I'll let others come in with the BKK serviced apartments.

For domestic flights if you are doing BKK-Chiang Mai-Phuket-Bangkok check out the Thai Airways pass ( they are the only airline with a direct non stop chiang mai to Phuket 1 time a day )

www.thaiairways.com

There 'are' budget carriers but you would have to route via bangkok

www.nokair.com
www.airasia.com

Another full service carrier with a 'pass' ticket deal is bangkok Airways but they have very few flights on the BKK-CM sector.

If your beach time is to dive and snorkel you might be better off in the Krabi area as more relaxing.

If you can delay until after mid january you will see a substantial drop in costs for accommodation and a whole lot easier, in fact if you can drift to the end of january you will see far more accommodation available at better prices all round.

You need to look at your long haul flights too as dec into jan is also the peak time for high airfares.

There are, especially this refers to Phuket, so many 2-week vacation travelers from Europe that many hotel rooms are taken up by tour operators, many of those head back by mid january and it really is so much cheaper and less crowded.

Gfamily,

I am with you. We are only a family of three but i had a heck of a time trying to find a vacation rental in Thailand. I own a vacation rental company in the US and believe that renting an appt/condo/house it is the most economical way to travel/accomodate 3 or more persons for more than a few days at a time.

Anyway - the only family accomodations i could find on the island of Samui - at the Rajapruek Resort on the west side of the island. I found a 2 bedroom 2 bath suite (no kitchen though) for a decent price considering it is high season.
I looked at renting a 'villa' (as they seem to be called in Thailand) and found what i would call a vacation rentals in the US - houses with multiple bedrooms and furnished kitchens so you can cook in if you choose...But it seems nearly all of them up were in the mountains and farther away from a beach then i wanted to be for my vacation. Most were very beautiful though.

I did not look for a 'villa rental' on Phuket but if you do a google search i bet you will find something. I came up with quite a few vacation rental/ property managment companies in my searches so that may be a good place to start.

Good luck to you!!

Villa rentals on Samui a lot easier than Phuket, there is a very very small market and highly expensive, and again because of land price the majority are actualy no where near the beach as is the case on Samui too, it comes down to land price, hotels that can put 60 rooms on a 100 meter beachfront is cost effective but building villas/houses just makes it so expensive.
I really wouldn't bother looking for such places on Phuket ( I lived there several years ) as I doubt it can be found.
Tip, if you are searching about Thailand I suggest using Yahoo because for some strange reason a lot of Thailand sites seem only to appear on Yahoo, teoma etc.

ahhh yesss...makes perfect sense! land values and such. Wish I would have thought that through before I spent my hours searching online!!

Thanks for the YAhoo tip. I will take a looksee.