Tarntawan Place V The Rose Hotel or other

[paulfort]

I have enjoyed a great stay at Tarntawan Place on many occassions in the past few years, however whilst they give me a 10% discount for having a Utopia card, have noticed that the Rose Hotel & Unico Grand are often mentioned on this forum, both now appear to offer much more competitive rates, though believe the Unico is being refurbished, so might be noisy?

How do these hotels compare to Tarntawan, especialy in terms of how easy it is to take a "friend" from the bars back with you (a few years back when first visiting Bangkok stayed at the Holiday Inn Silom, ended up a real pain to get a friend back in, often being pulled up and having the joiner fee added to my account, dont want the pleasure of that again!

Would appriciate any advice you guys can offer?

[bing]

The Rose hotel has a great pool, if that means anything to you ,, I had it to myself for two days in a row when I was there last May.. There is no problem with bringing a friend back to your room. The breakfast is part of the deal and is offered to your guest as well. There is a very nice travel agency in the lobby area as well, and they can set up a day trip for you if you like. I have stayed there many years ago in the early 90's when the Rose was not so nice.. They have up dated the rooms and the bathrooms are also nice.

[a447]

I have stayed at the Rose on 8 occasions (Twice during each holiday, as I go to Pattaya during that time as well) and I honestly can't think of anything negative to say about it. Although I don't swim a lot, it is nice to know that there is a pool if it gets very hot. I walk in with a guest and they just take the ID card and don't say anything or give me any strange looks. The room is always clean. There is a convenience store on the corner to stock up on cheap drinks, although the bar fridge drinks are reasonably priced, it is in the centre of everything, but down an alley away from the noise, and there is a Tasty Thai restaurant opposite the alley. It is also close to Solid Bar. Finally, it is easy to get to from the airport. Before the Rose, I stayed at the Plaza hotel a couple of times. it was ok but a bit far to walk.
I've never stayed at the Tartawan but it seems overpriced. Location is good, though.

[danny99]

The Rose hotel has a great pool, if that means anything to you ,, I had it to myself for two days in a row when I was there last May.. There is no problem with bringing a friend back to your room. The breakfast is part of the deal and is offered to your guest as well. There is a very nice travel agency in the lobby area as well, and they can set up a day trip for you if you like. I have stayed there many years ago in the early 90's when the Rose was not so nice.. They have up dated the rooms and the bathrooms are also nice.


Whilst the rooms are just so-so even though refurbished over many years about 2002-? [smaller size yet almost double the price of Pinnacle Lumpinee], the swimming pool and adjacent sauna [inside the men's changing rooms] can be very interesting, particularly with the many young Japanese who stay there during their season. Uren Thai at the rear of The Rose [many years ago the owners house now totally restored] is a better than average Thai restaurant, treading that fine line by being acceptable to Thais, farangs and tourists.

Tarntawan Place = overpriced, dirty, somewhat run down, dreadful furnishing and linen, fine general staff with average to woeful management. This hotel was ONCE the standard by which all other gay/boutique hotels were judged. Alas it's steady decline since the loss of Kuhn Mike has left it wanting in many ways. Merely a shadow of what it once was.

Definitely agree with bigaussieal. I've become quite anti-Tarntawan, mainly due to their overpricing of rooms, which they can only do because of the location of the hotel. I first stayed there 10 years ago and was delighted to find there was no problem bringing a boy to my room, even several boys. But very little has been done during these past ten years to keep the hotel at a standard which would justify their increase in rates. Staff is fine, but not much else is.

[Beachlover]

Sofitel's rates are cheap at the moment. Might be as cheap as Tarntawan.

[ceejay]

Hi paulfort. I should have replied before, seeing as I have stayed in both the Rose and the Tarntawan in the last 3 months. Bigaussieseal and Bob have clearly had a rather different experience of the Tarntawan to me - I like the place, and have certainly never had a dirty room or dirty linen there.. But there you go, you can no more expect everyone to agree on hotels than you can on boys. So, to compare:
Prices. The Rose is cheaper by a lot for the basic room, especially if you book through Agoda where prices are about 10% cheaper than booking direct with the Rose. (the Tarntawan does not use booking agents so far as I know). Standard room in Tarntawan - 2700 baht/night. In Rose (through Agoda) ┬г32/night from UK (about baht 1700). A suite can be had for ┬г52/night (roughly baht 2750, or the same as the basic room at the Tarntawan). Two things if you use Agoda for the Rose. First, click through to Agoda from the front page here (Spike could do with the revenue). Second, they offer a very cheap "corner room". It's cheap because it's minute (and an odd shape) - I would only book it for an overnight stay on the way to the airport or something like that.
Rooms The basic rooms in the Tarntawan are substantially bigger than those in the Rose (so are the beds). Both are perfectly comfortable. The Rose has been recently refurbished. The carpet in the Tarntawan is a bit tired (faded, not threadbare). The bathrooms are both adequate.
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Food The Rose is clearly better. There is a separate dining space off reception for breakfast, snacks etc. There is a restaurant in a building near the pool which would be worth visiting in it's own right. The Tarntawan has no proper restaurant - it's basically an extended lobby area. The food generally is uninspiring.
Location Well, if you want to be in the centre of Silom, they both are. The Tarntawan is in it's own little cul-de-sac, with security as soon as you step off Surawong. The Rose is about 50m off Surawong at the bottom of a rather unprepossessing soi (filled with bins of rubbish at night). Security starts at a desk just outside the door.
[attachment=1:1pm9os16]Image00004.jpg[/attachment:1pm9os16]
Swimming poolThe Rose has a rather nice, well maintained one. The Tarntawan does not have one at all.
[attachment=2:1pm9os16]Image00003.jpg[/attachment:1pm9os16]
General Ambiance The corridors in the Tarntawan are rather bland and well lit and feel secure. The layout in the Rose is weird - there's this huge central well which has been walled off on each floor by translucent glass panels, and not so well lit. Rather weird space - looks like the set for a Fritz Lang Film. Not so well lit, and doesn't feel so secure.
[attachment=0:1pm9os16]Image00002.jpg[/attachment:1pm9os16]
Staff The staff at the Tarntawan are the best. Nothing is too much trouble for them and, unlike a lot of hotels in Asia and elsewhere, they are expecting you when you check in and are ready for you when you check out (if you have a plane to catch for example). The Rose staff are good, but not quite as good.
SecurityIf you've been to Thailand before you probably know how to check an ID and don't need the hotel to do it for you. Don't forget though that, if ID cards are kept behind the desk, you also don't have other people's offs wandering the hotel unchecked. The Tarntawan is well known for its security even among the boys - I have had a boy turn down an off because the Tarntawan "bad for me - I lose my ID". You will read the Rose also keeps guests' IDs at the desk. In my experience that is not always so - I have had the security desk wave me through with a boy, not bothering even to ask for a look at the ID. (The boy seemed as surprised as I was, incidentally). That either matters to you or it doesn't - up to you.
That's it, basically. I'd stay in either of them again.
I haven't bothered with pictures of the Tarntawan - I doubt it has changed much since you have been there.

[paulfort]

Ceejay,
Thank you for such a lot of information!
Like you I have never really had a problem at Tarntawan, the place is a bit tired, but the staff are great, just think they appear to be a bit over priced, & in view of the current crap ┬г v Baht rate got to shop arround a bit!
I have asked the Rose to quote me for a planned visit in March & will let you know.
Out of interest in Pattaya I normally use Cafe Royal, but concerned they are now splitting with Copa and a lift is being installed at the Copa end - hense likely to be a load of noise! any view on this?
Thanks

[krobbie]

Paulfort, very interested if they give you a better price than that quoted on The Rose Hotel web site (2100Bt). When I stayed 2 years ago a couple of times it was an acceptable 1800bt. Might be getting a bit greedy although I think they have had another makeover since my last visit.

I choose to stay near the river on lower Sathorn / Charoenkrung. There is an incredible place I like to stay there as the rooms are massive (43sq mt) with kitchenette and are nowhere near The Rose price. There is a pool on the roof also. The breakfast is also good and the Saphan Thaksin BTS is 3 minutes walk and just 4 stops to Sala Daeng. There is also a Tops supermarket and a Robinson's dept. store at the end of the soi. This place is a dream come true and about 7-10 minutes walk to the river. PM me for details.

Cheers
Krobbie

[blueboy]

I also used to stay at the Tarntawan, but gave up. Even though it is very gay-friendly and the staff are great, there is some healthy competition around with better furnishings, cleaner rooms, modern bathrooms and in the close vincinity.
Some have mentioned the Rose where I do find the rooms a bit small, I have mentioned the Glitz in a previous thread (next door to Tarntawan), and just look up latestays.com or most hotel booking websites and you'll find some great prices in the same silom/suriwong area.
It is a shame that Tarntawan seem to have lost the plot - they used to rely too much on location when there were no alternative hotels.

I choose to stay near the river on lower Sathorn / Charoenkrung. There is an incredible place I like to stay there as the rooms are massive (43sq mt) with kitchenette and are nowhere near The Rose price. There is a pool on the roof also. The breakfast is also good and the Saphan Thaksin BTS is 3 minutes walk and just 4 stops to Sala Daeng. There is also a Tops supermarket and a Robinson's dept. store at the end of the soi. This place is a dream come true and about 7-10 minutes walk to the river.As a sex tourist I prefer something closer to the night-time action so I stay at Tarntawan if I'm in Bangkok which was not often. In our beloved Pattaya nowhere is far from the action.

[Alaan]

Just back from a Thailand visit, and the last 3 days of it at the Tarntawan again.

At the start of my visit we stayed at Omyim for 3 nights, on the top floor in a very large room at Bt1550 with dining table, kitchen area, micowave etc... good staff, although no lift..no problem i use the stairs as exercise, but as recent as this guesthouse is, opened 2005? the furnishings are already very tired, bathroom shower etc not very powerful, shoddy workmanship on alot of the wood in the room, but has room safe, dvd player and ok for a short stay, easy access to Nong Chonsi BTS(200 mtr) and plenty of taxis passing right outside at 40bt to soi twilight/patpong area, but not as convenient as the Tarntawan for the night life.

I have to admit i personally prefer my stays at Tarntawan...and to be honest I'm a little fed up with the sweeping generalisations I hear about the Tarntawan by those pissed off simply because Tarntawan dont offer their rooms at rock bottom pricing....I reckon thats the main reason many take issue with,but the reason they keep a fairly consistant room rate is not only because of its location but because it is very popular, often fully booked.

Bigaussieal is a typical example of the blathering nonsense from someone who seems to ''invent' negative feedback to try and support the fact he is probably reluctant to pay their going rate, and whilst doing so conveniently misses out all the positive info. Where he gets the "dirty, somewhat rundown, dreadful furnishing and linen" from, god only knows, but I can't disagree more."loss of khun mike have left it wanting in many ways..a shadow of its former self" so please elaberate on exactly WHAT prior to the loss of Khun Mike compared to now has contributed to its steady decline? And in what way have the management proved to be "woeful"? If you and bobsaigon cant come up with precise examples then you certainly drop into the sweeping generalisations bracket. I have been staying there since 2000 and I find it EXACTLY the same quality of accomodation over that time, and in the case of the Suriwong rooms, slightly improved. The staff are virtually all the same personel over that peroid which in itself says so much about the consistancy of the hotel. I must be somewhat blind not to notice all that dirt and dreadful furnishings and linen. I'm a bit mystified at blueboy's Tarntawan has "lost the plot" comment.

THE FACTS...as I see them.....I booked a standard deluxe room which at this time of year is bt2700, was upgraded to suriwong room at same price and I found the room to be huge....very spacious, very large bed, immaculate in cleanliness, nice furnishings and with DVD player, fresh white linen, free newspapers/fruit/wifi/welcome drink as well as free computer use in the business room by the reception.., more than adequate western and thai breakfast, free for two on 24hr basis,2pm checkout as opposed to 12 noon in most hotels, good backout curtains, and very good bathroom with powerful shower and plenty of bathroom accessories as well as very large good drying towles/hand towles and face cloths, good aircon system and good choice of lighting in room. Also during the summer months the Tarntawan has usually ran a 'summer special' rate from Sunday to Thurday at Bt2200 for standard deluxe room per night. I have no vested interest in this place and only report as I experience. Added to that is the excellent staff, on this occassion I drove to Tarntawan and it is very tight for parking, but all I do is hand over the keys to security/bellhop and my lugagge is in the room pronto and the car parked for the 3 days I was there with no probs whatsoever.....so all I can find to say about the Tarntawan is positive and on top of this we have its excellent location. The only slight negatives for me is the lack of a room safe, it is a hassle going to reception everytime you want something from your safety box and for my Thai guy is the lack of the Thai-style toilet water nossle.

But as I say, the above is based purely on my own experiences there over a 10 year peroid, and if it wasn't up to a decent standard I certainly wouldn't stay there.I stay there with my Thai partner, so its location for bar trawling is not the main reason i stay there nowadays, but the fact that right on doorstep is soi twilight where we enjoy visiting for a drink at Maxis or one of the other bars (not agogos) and/or massage joints, and not far from silom soi2/4 etc as well as a very short taxi ride to any karaokes, Suan Lum night market and even Duen Pen if we fancy a thai country style pub with live bands, means that my last 3 days in Thailand before I return home are very comfortable and nice and lazy...we can come and go as and when with everywhere we want to be walkable, and the room always made up for our return and enjoy room service as a treat (contrary to other comments about the food being average we have found the Thai food excellent and my Issan guy is very fussy and quick to say if the food is not up to scratch, we had room service a couple of times to save time before we were getting ready to go out and my guy said his choices were first rate)or the 24hr breakfast any time, after travelling around Thailand driving and visiting Issan etc on holiday , we both really enjoy the comfort and convenience of the Tarnatawan.

[blueboy]

Alaan says
we both really enjoy the comfort and convenience of the Tarnatawan

Fine, and so did many other people. Nowadays though, there are other hotels around offering better value with newer furnishings within a stone throw away from Tarntawan.
I have friends that stay in Le Meridien accross the road - more expensive but they're happy with that and ca bring trade home, I have stayed at The Glitz next door which is excellent - go have a look at their bathrooms - there is no comparison with the Tarntawan's old style never been renovated ones, or their very large flat screen TV with 100 channels compare to Tarntawan's old TVs with 6 channels on them - these are just some examples.
I have also stayed many times at Baan Saladaeng on Soi Saladaeng, small 8 room gay owned hotel with fantastically large rooms for 2000 Baht or less. Extremely convenient for Silom and BTS, in fact more so that Suriwonge. I have stayed at the Rose and found it a bit small getting my fine figure around the bathroom, so wouldn't really choose to return. The Luxx, Silom Serene, Ballys and many other properties I have not yet tried and would like to.

When I said "Tarntawan have lost the plot", they have not kept up with the new competition in and around the area which is a shame....and we all have a choice, and some of us have decided to go elsewhere.

Dear Alaan, please excuse this "blathering idiot" for daring to have an opinion contrary to your own. I should be ashamed of myself.
If you care to do some looking you will find I went into great detail regarding my last visit to the Tarntawan Place. (February 2008)

I found the new assistant director Markus rather up himself, perhaps it was a personal thing but he certainly didn't appear friendly.
Lukas on the other hand was never there, at least during my stay, therefor rendering him ineffective in his role.

The cost had never bothered me up until my last stay where it became evident that it was far from value for money. I will pay any given rate for any place if it gives me the service and comfort I expect. On that ocassion the Tarntawan failed miserably.

If you are happy to stay at the Tarntawan by all means go ahead, enjoy your experience and have fun.

Bare in mind that people on this forum may have differing opinions to you and personal attacks are not necessary to express your own ideas.
Therefore may I suggest you stick your head right up your arse where everything else has been anyway and learn here that personal attacks are tacky....aren't they!

Have you ever been to Bang Kwau...LOL!

[paulfort]

Thanks for all the info guys, I never thought this would stir up such a responce!

To be clear for anyone thinking of staying at Tarntawan Place, I have always found the hotel to be great, just feel they are not now as competitive as others, and following the comments from you, I have now confimred a five night stay at the Rose next month at 2,250 in a Duluxe Superior, so hopefully not one of the small corner rooms mentioned, before heading down to Pattaya at Cafe Royal for a week.

I will let you know my views on how the two hotels compare when I get back!

[Alaan]

Thanks for the response blueboy.I do accept your view that there alternatives, I just felt that using the term "lost the plot" was a tad over dramatic, considering that as I see it, the plot there has been EXACTLY the same for the last ten years I have been going, and there is not much in your reply to make me feel any different.

I listed the things in a hotel or more specifically the Tarntawan which are important to my easy lazy comfortable last few days in Thailand before returning home. TV was not one of them. I do (rarely) watch some of the Thai comedy or music programmes with my guy when in Thailand, but a huge flat screen with hundreds of chanels means virtually nothing to me. I dont travel half way round the world to tune into chanel which reminds me of farangland back home, or sit and watch the fucking telly! i come to Thailand to get away from that, so a top range tv makes no impression on me.

I have seen other complaints about the Tarntawan bathrooms being dated, but I cant really see the real significance, sure they are not ultra modern but even if a little dated they are still very nice, decent size with everything working, good lighting and even a bath, i know my guy likes that occassionally as it is a treat for him, as well as good large towels compared to the dishcloths that pass as bath towels in many Thai hotels so to be honest i find the Tarntawan bathroom excellent for my needs and i would think most peoples...cant really think what more one would need from a bathroom....ultra modern chic furnishings? what does that do?

I did look into the Rose when it was first refurbished and kindly shown a couple of spanking new rooms, but i found them very small and although brand new,i could see that the furnishings and finishes in the rooms seemed not the best of materials or workmanship, also the bathroom although modern wasn't as good as theTarntawans. But again only my opinion here as I saw it.

If i found a hotel in a good location with a similar ambiance and ALL the features and benefits as per the Tarntawan, then yes, i would consider it. One of the aspects of the Tarntawan which i did not mention as its a given, is the easy ambiance of a gay friendly hotel, yes the usual culprits will tell me that no hotel is un-gayfriendly in Thailand, but that is not the point, although I still have a confrontational enough streak in me not to let the stares and/or comments of breeders in a hotel bother me that much, i can really do without it when all i want is an unstressful easy experience, but more especially for my Thai partner, he is treated with the utmost kindness and respect at the Tarntawan, whereas as we all know, that in a 'normal' hotel such as Tawana, Montien, Pan Pacific etc the staff(and customers) tend to show in their Thai way, disrespect and contempt for a Thai guy with a foreigner, much of this insulting behaviour is very subtle, but my rather shy Thai guy says he feels none of that in the Tarntawan, so that also adds to the overall positive experience for us.

As for Bigaussieal...it seems your queeny hissy fit with the aTarntawan appears to be based on the fact that the hotel managemnt didn't line up and curtsey your gracious arrival, and by this wonderful logic the management is woeful because YOU didn't take to the Assist Director, oh dear how exceptionally irresponsible of the managment to be getting on with running their hotel looking after the other guests rather than giving you a personal appearance, it would seem that the pompous arse up himself is your own goodself. I doubt if any other guests would expect the director/management to be running after their backsides,and resort to pathetic grousing about the hotel facilities just because they didn't.

And i didn't call you an idiot, that description, arbeit apt, was infact your own, you rant on about the fact you are entitled to an opinion, well who said you weren't? you gave one and I gave mine! So no specific examples of dirty, rundown,dreadful linen and furnishings then? beause if you cant back up your sweeping generalisations then yes, you are blathering, as I say in MY experience i haven't noticed this in the many different rooms I have had in the Tarntawan...sounds more like somebody was miffed at not being fawned over.

As I say it seems the REAL objection for those who are now disenchanted with the Tarntawan is on price, room cost, as most seem to bring up 'not competitive' 'value for money' 'better value eslewhere' 'overpriced' 'overpricing of rooms' 'seems overpriced' and that is fair enough...the 'value' is subjective in my opinion and there are times where the overall experience based on many aspects gives the true value to me.

The only other hotel in the area which caught my eye was, as blueboy mentioned, the Glitz. Are the rooms of a similar size or larger than Tarntawan, and are the bathrooms open plan into the room with glass doors or glass walled or do they have a solid door? from the pictures on the website it was difficult to see. It would also seem the rooms all have good size windows with views over suriwong road, would that be the case? I was considering trying there instead of Omyim where i normally stay for 2-3 days on my arrival in Thailand. Also some other interesting suggestions to consider.

I'll leave the queeny hissy fits to you Alaan, the eloquent effluent that comes from your keyboard is quite amusing.
I, as previously mentioned, had a bad experience at the Tarntawan Place. (Details of which were in a much earlier post, had you cared to look for it.)
As for fawning staff, I can live without that. A clean, well furnished room, with good service is what I would expect from any hotel charging these rates. My subjective opinion is that they did not deliver, simple as that!
If you are happy to stay there, go ahead, enjoy it.
Your seemingly over-zealous protection of the Tarnatawan Place leaves me doubting your credibility as a tourist/traveller. Perhaps you have more than a guest's usual interest in the establishment.
The Tarntawan was once an excellent hotel. In my opinion (subjective/humble/whatever) it is no longer so.
Your description of what I may have expected from the hotel is quite inaccurate, your suggestion as to the type of traveller I am is inaccurate and offensive, which is what I would expect from some fat old Pattaya queen. I suggest you stck to the subject of the post rather than dribbling your bubbles down your chin and making disparaging remarks about others who may have an opinion on this forum. :snorting:

[blueboy]

Alaan,

I will stick by what I said - Tarntawan have lost the plot. Simple: they have not moved with the times to compete with other hotels in the area who are also catering for the pink baht/dollar.
If a good TV with 100 channels does not impress you, or a clean and modern bathroom, then that is up to you. The Tarntawan is a good hotel for a few nights and there are somethings going for it, but only to repeat myself (sad), there are now other hotels in and around Suriwong & Silom which offer a better, cleaner, more modern and as gay friendly for a cheaper price.