Hua Hin - Hyatt or Hilton?
 

In Hua Hin (late November), I can get a Gulf room at the Hilton for about $160/night or a Regency room at the Hyatt for about $180/night. Both prices are inclusive of tax, s/c and breakfast. I'm having trouble deciding which I want ... the Hilton rooms look great but the Hyatt grounds might be better. I'm a member of both hotels' frequent-stayer programs but don't have enough points for a free night. Any recommendations?

The Hyatt is in a better location, less crowd and very nice quiet beach. The Hilton is in town with more night life and the beach is not as exclusive. I would opt for the Hyatt.

I haven't stayed at the Hilton, but I have stayed at the Hyatt in a Regency Club room. The Hyatt's grounds are, indeed, spectacular. The Regency Club is lovely and the service is great. Frankly, when I'm staying in the Regency Club, I never go out for dinner because the "hors d'ouvres" are enough. You don't really have what I would call a "water view" from the Regency club rooms, as the hotel is set back from the water. You have a view of the lovely regency club pool and the beautiful grounds.

If you are at all interested in spa services, stay at the Hyatt. It's a five minute walk via the beach from the Chiva Som, which has been voted the best destination spa in the world. The concierge set me up for a full day of spa services at the Chiva Som (which included a lovely lunch as well) for about US$250.

Personally I did not like the grounds of the Hilton. The beach is also not good. (I have not stayed at either by the way)We spoke to someone staying at the Hilton and he liked the rooms. We ate at the restaurant attached to the Hilton and were impressed. The Hilton is in the town with the nightlife surrounding it- indeed the Hilton is THE place to be after midnight(infact one of the few places still open!)
The Hyatt has a nice beach but we did not see the grounds.
If you want to be in town then I would suggest the Sofitel.The grounds and pool areas are beautiful. However, if you pick the Hyatt it is cheap to get in to town- by tuk-tuk.

people are sick of me and the marriott...but i hope that you hae looked at it too....it is smaller than the other two, but has by our standards the best beach over-all but about equal to the hyatt....

i would not stay at the hilton period....we thought it was old, drab and noisy...terrible pool area and in the middle of town (which could be an asset to some)...

the hyatt was very nice but too spread out ...one bad thing about it is that you could not really walk to town or anything else...it is probably 10-15 minutes ride south of town....it is near to the chiva spa however....and to the best restaurant in hua hin---LA MER...make sure you go there...up on the hill overlooking the entire beach....fabulous view with twinkling lites at nite...

please give the marriott a look...i don't think it will be that expensive...the rooms are not fabulous but you are never in them, except to sleeep...i paid $65/nite last november but i think it is more now....

Hyatt without a doubt, massive grounds, wide stretch of beach. Hilton is in town, for nightlife note that sinmply means some rows of bars with snooker/pool and soccer matches on TV, otherwise there is no nightlife at all.

Oh and a P.S, the Marriott is also well worth considoring, close to town but good beach.

Try this site for reviews

www.balithai.20m.com

Hi

My wife and I stayed at the Hilton in Hua Hin last year and it is one of the best hotels that I have ever stayed at. I have posted a review of the hotel on this page: http://www.epinions.com/content_105634958980

I have also written a bit about our stay in Thailand in my trip report on www.gardkarlsen.com

Have a great trip to Thailand :-)

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

Thanks very much for your comments. Has anyone booked a room through Latestays.com? They are advertising the Hyatt for only $76 (standard room), but you can only book about 10 days in advance. I'll look into the Marriott a little more, it's just that friends recommended the Hilton and Hyatt.

I guess that company is just getting rid of rooms that haven't been sold.
If you want to walk/sit on the beach you need the Hyatt or Marriott, the Hilton has no real beach, just food stalls on the stand and you have to walk to the Sofitel for beach. If you want 'Thai style' then Hyatt or Marriott.
For $75 you could go to a small boutique type place like Kaban Tamor or the S'mor Spa, they are not Hyatt's but great character and local feel.

The current going rate for the Marriott is $70-75 including tax/service/breakfast, $75 for good room twin, that is easily and readily bookable with Thai Booking agents no problem.

I'm with rhkkmk. Definitely look at the Marriott. I just stayed there the first week of this month. It was my second time and I would still stay there again next time. It has beautiful grounds. Nice rooms. Good restaurants. Nice pool and a very nice beach. Plus its close enough to town to walk to, but not close enough for noise or crowds. And the staff are great. I was there two years ago and some of the staff remembered me from last time. Oh and through a local friend travel agent, and the fact that they were out of the cheapest garden view rooms, I booked ocean view rooms at only $5 more, $72 a night. As far as I am concerned, its my only choice in Hua Hin. By the way, the Hilton did not impress me at all. I took a walk around. It felt like a cramped beachfront hotel. No character, no style, and grounds were nothing special. Yeah and its right in the middle of town. I didn't like that either. I am a die hard Hua Hin Marriott fan also.

I think most agree the Marriott and Hyatt are both good choices. There are a lot of smaller boutique beach resorts just past the Hyatt including S'Mor Spa resort, Tanao Sri and the well famed Kaban Tamor, these are smaller places if you are looking for something of that type. For total get-away-from-everything the Praseban resort at pranburi, 30 minutes south of Hua Hin is excellent, in the same area as the Evason resort ( if you want pool villas ).
The only problem you may get is actually getting a room! Hua Hin hasn't suffered any down-turn in business and by all accounts it is very heavily booked up, so I would get in quick!

Another friend just got back from the Hilton and liked it a lot, especially the location (near town). However now I'm tending toward Hyatt or Marriott -- does one have a longer or nicer pool than the other? I like to swim laps early in the morning. I also like a nice green area to enjoy massages. Which is closer to town? I can't seem to find a map with the hotel locations on it. Thanks.

The Hilton is 'bang in town', again, there is no real beach frontage, just an area where people have set up food places. You can walk from the center of town to the Marriott in about 15 minutes, or just 5 minues by tuk-tuk, longer by samlor(bicyckle rickshaw), the beach is quiet wide. The Hyatt is about 10 minutes by tuk-tuk, about 3 kms from center of town. The pool at the Hyatt is bigger and the Hyatt has more grounds. But then again the Marriott is a little more lively, nice gardens, nice beachfront, also handy to walk to the Night Market at the Grand Plaza, almost opposite ( much cheaper and more local chacter than the Night market in the center of Hua Hin which is not much at all).
If I had to vote I would give Marriott 9/10, Hyatt 6/10 and the Hilton 3/10. Sorry but the Hilton is a 'skyscraper' of a hotel and my own personal opinion is that it isn't what people go all the way to Thailand to experience, now the Marriott and Hyatt much more local style and charm.

A seaview twin at the Marriott inc tax/service/breakfast is about US$76 at the moment, would be more in November but in my personal opinion it is the most 'natural' and most 'Thai' of those 3.

I am sure if you check the photos of the 3 of them you would love the Marriott.

Laura~

I stayed at the Hyatt last September. Beautiful hotel, beautiful grounds, nice rooms (love the bathrooms!). High point was lounging on a chair early in the morning and listening to Buddhist chants throughout the resort. I believe I paid about $1.00 for a shuttle to take me into town and I paid about 30 Baht for a ride on the back of a motorcycle back to the hotel. The ride took about 10 minutes. Very calming resort. Traditional Thai decor. The pool was freeform and had a beautiful sculpture of an Elephant that was part of the main fountain.

Has anyone stayed at the Chiva Som resort itself? What is it like? Are the rooms nice? How is the service? The food?

Any comments are greatly appreciated!

The Chiva Som without the the most expensive hotel resort in Hua Hin. It is primarily a 'health resort' i.e you go there if you are really into a health spa place. It is famous for having Top Movie Stars and the Rich and Famous as guests. If you are into the ultimate in health Spas (I think Conde Naste Ranked it Best in Asia or Best in World or something ) Rates High season ( from November onwards )are about US$370-950 a night.

Regarding the Chiva Som, I have not stayed there, but did two days of spa there when I was staying at the Hyatt (5 minute walk via the beach between the two). First of all, the spa at the Chiva Som is absolutely incredible - the most amazing spa experience I have ever had.

I did ask to look at the rooms while I was there. The Thai pavilions felt claustrophobic to me, I preferred the rooms. The suites are very lovely. The food is good (we had lunch as a part of our spa day). They are pretty rigid about some things at the Chiva Som - they serve wine at dinner, but no other alcohol allowed, for instance. After looking carefully at the rooms and what the Chiva Som has to offer, I decided that I'd prefer to stay in the Regency Club at the Hyatt and walk to the Chiva Som for spa treatments.

I agree with Kathy, met someone who stayed at Chiva and he couldn't get a beer! ( hence him propping up a local bar counter!). The Chiva has great Spa so everyone says but out of my price range! It is a good idea though as Kathie suggested to book a room and then use Spa places elsewhere. If you want a local real Thai style place you can try the Nirvana retreat, old Thai style house and gardens between Hyatt and Marriott, it's very Thai/Bali style with staff in old style Thai village costumes, under $30 for a whole afternoon with massage, manicure, facials the works, free fruit and snacks, but they only take 4 persons at a time so you have to book.