MDAccount

Thanks to all of you who are helping (in another post) with my search for a BKK hotel that offers rooms low to the ground! The response has been wonderful and very helpful.
In my research I've also come across a terrific site -- http://www.hotelcheckpoint.com It's an independent and objective review site for hotels in BKK, Hong Kong and Singapore. (They plan to add several more cities soon.) The site does not sell or book hotel rooms -- though it partners with three sites that do -- but it does provide very candid reviews, complete with photos that they've taken. If a more expensive room isn't worth it, they'll say so. If the site is too far away to be useful, they'll mention it. All in all, a wonderful website for learning about the options, and well-worth checking out. (Nope, I don't work for them. I think I wish I did, though.)

glorialf

Great site. Thanks. I checked out what it said about the Oriental (the hotel I know best in Bangkok) and thought it was right on tarket. Can't wait for it to expand.

By the way-- it really gives a good report on the Davis -- a hotel that has been mentioned from time to time recently.

JamesA

There are masses of sites with hotel reviews. The Davis regular gets excellent reviews and has been written up localyy as excellent.

I have seen reviews for same hotel where one person complained the beds were too hard, a week later someone complained beds were too soft. Someone said in a particular hotel the rooms were excellent, great service, amazing restaurants but he had a coplaint and it was that the elevators moved 'slowly'.

Reviews are ok as long as you always remember that they are written by individuals who have different likes and dislikes, what one person likes another doesn't like, we have seen that even on this foprum, some rave about a particular hotel, then someone else really gives a rough ride, I guess same can often apply to restaurants.

glorialf

what impressed me about this website is that I think it actually describes the hotels pretty well. Gives you a sense of the ambience and the differences. Doesn't just say 5 star or deluxe. Obviously, it is just an opinion but I think reading it gives some good insights. Seems far more objective than most.

simpsonc510

Thanks for the tip on the hotel site. I looked at it, and have now bookmarked it for future reference.

MDAccount

The site managers are responsive, also. I sent them an e-mail explaining my interest in knowing on what floor hotel rooms start being available (due to my fear of heights) and suggesting others would be interested as well. Within the hour I received a response from one of the team saying they agreed with me, appreciated the input, and had just added the question to their standard survey. It will now be part of every new hotel profile they do.

As for review sites in general, of course they reflect the taste of the reviewer. What I like about hotelcheckpoint.com is that they provide actual photos they've taken, as compared to the staged photos provided by hotels. On one property, they make a point of photographing the exact same layout as the hotel's shot but, without a professional set designer to touch things up, the actual room looks a lot less inviting.They also back up their opinions with a ton of information -- room size, bathroom size, minibar costs, laundry costs, comparisons to similar hotels, etc. Finally, they send a pair of reviewers to each hotel, and tell you when the reviewers disagreed with each other. It all seems remarkably honest, so I now use HotelCheckpoint for my objective reviews and tripadvisor.com (another wonderful site) for more subjective reviews.

faradie

You're right, its a great website. It's services like this and good people like u which make the internet so indispensable. Thanks again.