We are booking 4 nights at the Marriott Resort & Spa next year - and are trying to decide whether to stay in a Deluxe Riverview room or a Junior Suite. The Deluxe room is B5200 on r24 and the Jnr Suite is B6200. Is it worth paying the extra B1000 for the junior suite or is the deluxe riverview good value. Any experiences of staying in either very welcomed.

Many thanks
B

Another couple of questions I have just thought of: Does the Marriott ever offer you the choice of upgrading upon arrival? Alternatively, has anyone ever heard of upgrades being offered to couples on wedding/honeymoon trip?

Dear Bella Bluebell,
I am intregued myself with this beautiful resort. After researching I found out that it offers a stay three night, get one free offer.with an automatic upgrade, but you have
plan to stay the three nights....check it out and post back and let me know what you have found....
I plan to visit Bangkok in the next two years...looking forward to your post...

the above offer does not say where to find it....the hua hin site had offers from may to oct 31 of this sort but i doubt there are any now....

those rates seem very high to me...when are you going??

i have stayed in both types of rooms...my last stay in june i was offered an upgrade to jr suite for an additionl $45 at check in...we took it...the room was larger and a bit odd shapped....there was a seperate sitting area with sofa seperated from the bed by a waist high railing...the bathroom had two sinks and a seperate shower room and seperate toilet room....we liked it but decided we would not do it again....we had NO view...vines over the klong between buildings...

we often have a river view room, in fact almost every time....i will not pay for it anymore as all the regular rooms are exactly alike....i like to look over the pool or over the river but it is not worth the extra money to me...i paid 3000 B per nite in may/june 05....www.huahin.20m.com including tax/service and breakfast....
i often ask for a pool view room and it is granted...

i understand that they will upgrade some honeymoon people if you ask...

i'm going to look now at the rates for 2006

i see the 5200 and 6200 rates for apr 1 to oct 31....last year they were much less....i would not make the res until after the first of the year and see if they go down...i bet they will...that's up about $10 per nite from the 2004 fall prices--high season....i paid 3000 ....no i must have paid 4000 last spring...same time i guess you are going....that was for a garden view room but each time i recieved a river view room without asking...i have silver status with marriott....you can get it instantly by applying for a marriott credit card---free for year one....look on www.marriott.com if you are interested...

Bob - thanks for the tips. I am going to wait to book and see if the rates go down and going to take a look at the Marriott credit card.
China105 - I'll post when I get back. Where did you see the offer you mentioned?

BB---you could do a back up reservation directly with marriott which requires no pre-pay to make sure you have space there....

james might be able to advise when he thinks spring pricing would be posted on HH site..??

Bella Blue Bell,
I stumbled upon it on a thai hotel sight...I wil look around for you tonite as I can't sleep. let me see if I can find it...I was looking it up through a Bumrungrad Hospital link for patients like myself who want to recoup from plastic surgery in a five star hotel in Bangkok.....I'll check back in when I find the site for you....later girlfriend...

THAHOTELS.COM!!!!!!!!!!

bella bluebell, Great News!!!!!

I found it!!!!!!!! In record time no less...sometimes I surprise myself...
Go to thaihotels.com.....on the left I put in Marriott Resort & Spa in the long box..then click...scroll down to almost the bottom of the page where it says in red.."this page automatically calculates"..then below that it mentions the three night special...they removed the free upgrade..but it is worth mentioning because this is not the only place I saw it....post to let me know you found it o.k.

Bella Bluebell its china105 again...i left something out. Go to thaihotels.com...go over to large spave box on the left and type in Marriott Resort & Spa. It will be the first hotel listed. On the same line as Bangkok Marriott Rresort & Spa...follow over on the same line to the far left column where it says "Discounted Room Rates and Reservations" click on that...the next page it brings you to is the page where you scroll almost to the bottom to find the red phrase that says "This page automatically calculates"...The offer is good until October 31, 2006. I got so excited I left out the fact that you had to go to the next page..I'm sorry...Did you find it now???? Let me know..
Also, don't be afraid to tell them that is is your honeymoon..you never know..I've read about newly weds paying for a jr. suite and getting better than that....waiting to here from you...lol

China - thanks for finding that for me. I am about to go out but will check it out tonight and let you kow how I get on...

Bella Bluebell. it's the column far to the right (not left like I said last night)..sometimes I get my lefts and rights confused....let me know lol china

Thanks for all the tips Bob and China - the Thaihotels.com website would save me just over B1200 if I booked at the moment (the rate includes tax and service and breakfast as per huahin). However, we've decided to sweat it out a bit and keep an eye on the rates...

BB--i think you will be fine...just don't let it go too long...

what are your dates??

Bob - my dates are 22nd July check in, 26th July check out (4 nights). The rates for Marriott have dropped on huahin/sawadee sites - the rate for deluxe room is now 4250 and the rate for deluxe riverview room is 4990. This sounds more in line with c.4000 you paid last year. We also get a free dinner (no drink) - BBQ at the Riverside Terrace (no drink) and a complimentary sunset cruise (1 drink) as we are booking 4 consecutive nights. How does this offer sound? We weren't particularly planning on eating dinner at the Marriott but we do arrive at around 4pm on our first day there so could use it on our first night.

Still trying to decide whether to book a gardenview and see if we get the upgrade when we get there...John is pushing for riverview, but I think it is probably worth seeing what happens - we are getting the UK Marriott Card which gets us silver status as your US card did. Also, later on in the trip we are staying at the Shangri La (which is where we have always stayed in the past) and will have a riverview then in any event.

What do you think?
Thanks!
BB

Hi Bella,
I can't help with all the questions on prices, but this past Monday, I just checked out of a Dlx Riverside room at the Marriott after a 4 day stay. The Dlx Riverside was very large and beautiful. I couldn't imagine needing a Jr Suite unless I had family members staying with me. For the two of us it was more room that we could use. Our view was the exact one overlooking the pool that is shown on the web site.

As Bob has said many times, this resort definitely has the nicest pool area even better than the 5 Stars up the river. A great place to refresh mid day or at the end of the day after a sultry day of sightseeing or shopping.

The boat shuttle was also a pleasant start or finish to any trip up-river. The boatmen were very nice and took their jobs very seriously. Nothing like a cool scented washcloth and chilled botter of water on the way back from the city.

The debate rages on about which hotel to stay in, but I could find no real fault with the Marriott Spa and felt more comfortable there as it was a little less pretentious as some of the other hotels I stopped into to "to take a peek".

123Go - thanks for the feedback on the Marriott and especially re. the Jnr Suite vs Deluxe room question. That definitely rules out the Jnr suite for sure then. Looking forward to your trip report...

BB---the jr suite was just a tiny bit bigger and was arranged differently and had the nicer bathroom, all of which amounts to nothing really...we will never pay the extra again..i also will not pay for riverside anymore...we have stayed there at least 20 times so it is all old hat at this point...

123---i love the way you have put it about the preteniousness....this expresses my sentiments perfectly, even though i have been unable to do it before myself.......when you compare it with the sh-la this is just exactly correct....i love sh-la also but not in the same way....our room at sh-la was no nicer than marriott..and it had no balcony---but we don't use the balcony...the view over the pool is fantastic...some of the true river views, such as those directly above the river in the south building seem to lack something--they are identical inside but the view, while good, is not the same---i like seeing the luch foliage as well....you can see the river traffic better, but i prefer to see the pool overlook and the river in the background...

BB- the dinner will be very nice in the riverside rest....tons to choose from and maybe a short show as well...
glad the prices have come down so that will be fine...i would not book until maybe march unless that makes you nervous...remember this is the very low season and they are not all that busy...it may come down a bit more...mine did last year...another 300 B...i think they had it at 4300 B when i booked and then it came down to 4000 in the march/april timeframe...i just found my bill and it was $115.34 converted from 4400B...that was before the 400B reduction...

the sunset cruise if very nice...it takes you up as far as memorial bridge and turns around...it was a cloudy day when we did it, but just as the boat turned abound the sun came out...perfect...the drink is expensive but who cares...maybe it cost us $10-15 but still that is cheap...they serve you a couple of hors d'oeuvres as well as i remember...lovely ride...

Bob - it is decided, we are going to book a deluxe room (no river view - but I like the sound of the lush foliage and pool with the river in the background) but i think we are going to book now. The idea of waiting makes me a tiny bit nervous as we are going to have some of our wedding guests staying there (who have booked already on the basis of our plans) and it would be terrible if they all booked in and we hadn't!! I am happy with the price as is now and happy with the extras that huahin are now offering if you book for 4 nights - thanks for the comments on the dinner and boat trip.
Thanks to all
B