shinta mani or fcc cambodia
 

..have read wonderful reviews of both here from many. ..is the fcc cambodia undergoing construction now (January 2005?) that would be a factor and are the showers now working at the Shinta Mani????going in April with 17 year old daughter who is now teaching outside of Chaing Mai. would appreciate feedback if anyone has been to either recently. thanks.

Stayed at the FCC a couple of weeks ago. There is some work going on adding new rooms above the wing near to reception. Did not cause us any problems as the work was during the day when we were mostly out at the temples. really like the hotel. as the name implies it is more like a club than a hotel. The food is excellent & reasonably priced and the restaurant and bar are usually busy with non residents as well as guests which makes for a good atmosphere. Good location 10 miniute walk to the market/downtown area, so close enough but without the noise, also close to a number of restaurants.Would definitely stay again.
Visited the Shinta Mani for dinner but didn't stay because it was very quiet i.e. no one in the restaurant! Seemed a very nice hotel though. Check out the Pansea and Victoria hotels both seemed very good, but somewhat larger the FCC

We stayed at the FCC last month and like the previous poster mentioned, there is some construction going on, but guests werent affected by it at all. We also visited Shinta Mani which is around the corner from the FCC. Our friends were at the Shinta Mani so we did see their room. We preferred the FCC to Shinta Mani due to its location/restaurant/size of the room. Our friends were of the same opinion.

i think I remember seeing the fcc.....
is it on the river??? does it have a swimming pool? can it accomodate a rollaway or a 2nd bed? what can i expect to pay per nite...
thanks for the advise...we havent figured out
where to stay this time but we want a pool for sure.

Its not really on the river, its on the main street. It has a nice pool, smaller by big hotel standards but a normal size for boutique/smaller properties, Shinta Mani has a similar sized pool. The rooms can accomodate a roll away bed for sure..If you're going to use a guide in Siem Reap ask the guide to get you a good rate at the hotel. We paid $120 USD -we booked directly from the hotel. Our guide said she could have gotten us a better rate had we gone through her..I think she mentioned $90 USD.

For the FCC, is it better to book a pool facing room or a garden facing room? Any thoughts on the suites?

We had a pool facing room though we asked and paid for a garden facing room...its only when yuo check in that you realize the garden is a patch of grass that leads to the pool and they have about 3 such rooms...not any different that many of their pool facing rooms. The only down side I can think of with the garden view rooms was that they were closer to the entrance of the hotel and the parking - again, its a small hotel in a small town...not much noise...enjoy your stay!

Thanks for the input. Guess I'll take the pool facing room.

Could you tell me which guide you used? Maybe I'll book the hotel through her if you think she was a good guide.