Cafe Royal Sold

[newyorkgeorge]

I have heard that the cafe royal hotel has been sold to a real estate developer, and that they may pull the buildings down and build conodos, any updates or other info?

[frequentflier]

hope not..lots of staff there would lose their jobs.

All true newyorkgeorge.

[dab69]

good four days ago -via their website I contacted, asked if this thread was true.
Still no response. Wondering if I send mail to a friend there whether it will be forwarded-

[stevehadders]

I have a booking over Christmas and emailed the Hotel to see if my booking was safe or should I look elsewhere. I received a fast response ie the following morning saying that LCR would continue to operate as a Hotel with no need to worry....so business as usual...obviously there will be some changes, just as in every business I guess.....

[stevehadders]

And thinking about it logically, how could they knock down LCR in isolation...it's joined to the other units which in effect are Lin a terrace type format...you would probably have to take down copa, toy boys etc......

[NickysGayPattaya]

I have a booking over Christmas and emailed the Hotel to see if my booking was safe or should I look elsewhere. I received a fast response ie the following morning saying that LCR would continue to operate as a Hotel with no need to worry....so business as usual...obviously there will be some changes, just as in every business I guess.....

I remember Punya said the same about Howards when he sold that ...

[blazer]

I have a booking over Christmas and emailed the Hotel to see if my booking was safe or should I look elsewhere. I received a fast response ie the following morning saying that LCR would continue to operate as a Hotel with no need to worry....so business as usual...obviously there will be some changes, just as in every business I guess.....

I remember Punya said the same about Howards when he sold that ...


You are exactly right NickysGayPattaya.

There are no assurances that Le Cafe Royale will remain in its present form at all. Businesses come and businesses go. And they aren't going to make an announcement until it is in their best interests to do so.

Yes, Punya did say he would not sell Howards. However, It should not have been a total surprise that it was sold shortly thereafter.

[lonelywombat]

Cafe Royale is a solid building and as the building did not fall down when the lift was built, then I do not expect that any alteration will cause the developer if there is one, to worry.

Yes I heard the same thing when the staff of Howards were told well in advance it was sold, yet Steve Hadders still abused me for posting that.

Copa and LCR are two separate buildings and can be developed or converted if required.

[stevehadders]

Lonely Wombat I have never set out to abuse anyone on this or any other board - and very sorry if you thought any of my comments were taken this way - it has never been my intention.

In terms of the future we will see - in all honesty its a moot. Commonsense dictates that the footprint of only the Cafe Royale would only make commercial sense to build condos if they can build a lot higher (not sure the City would allow that, if all around stay same height), or if the footprint is expanded ...anyway we will see. iI would happily ager a beer, for what its worth, that it stays a Hotel for the short to mid term. If you are right wombat then I just stay elsewhere, not a problem for me

[stevehadders]

In terms of 2 seperate buildings - clearly you never visited when tyhey operated as one unit and knocked through on groundfloor and on the bedroom floors - when they went seperate ways I saw them filling up these passage ways......just as you would an internal wall, so would be interesting to have a professional's view on it

[newyorkgeorge]

And thinking about it logically, how could they knock down LCR in isolation...it's joined to the other units which in effect are Lin a terrace type format...you would probably have to take down copa, toy boys etc......
Maybe the new owners have bought copa as well?

Russian mafia property developers?

[scottish-guy]

Surely, instead of all this speculation, someone who is in Pattaya at the moment can just go and ASK?

:dontknow:

[paulg]

More to this week . Drag queen on Tuesday but who is the boy? D K Valdez

[attachment=0:2rkfur0p]cafe-royale1310151-383x495.jpg[/attachment:2rkfur0p][attachment=1:2rkfur0p]cafe-royale1310152-383x495.jpg[/attachment:2rkfur0p]

[colmx]

D K Valdez

He is one half of "el duo" a Pinoy twosome that used to play in the Cafe royale 2 or 3 years ago...
I may be wrong but i think he may be the "straight" one...

[zubes]

DK is one half of El Duo , before they split and were a rresident act in the Cafe, the other member Richard moved to Germany and has carved out a career there (also secured a recording contract I believe)

[dab69]

Must be solid construction rubble by now since no one spreads rumors without actually knowing.

[scottish-guy]

DK is one half of El Duo...

I think he's gone on to be been the more successful of the two - he certainly won the award for PMPC (Philippine Movie Press Club) New Male Recording Artist of the Year in September 2012.

Richard Claudio released a solo music video in 2011 but it doesn't seem to have led to much since then.

Happy to be corrected though.

[youtube:130h185w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCBUMiSZLMQ[/youtube:130h185w]

[youtube:130h185w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU9U_Z3FtHc[/youtube:130h185w]

[newyorkgeorge]

I popped in for some lunch today, and to be honest, to have a look around, spoke to some of the staff, the new owners are a Thai Company, with many business interests in Bkk, i was told that they will convert the ground floor into a massage parlour, like pattaya needs another one, but worse, is that it will be for straights! also, they are going to turn the Hotel into a family type budget hotel for Asians, obviously i cant confirm any of this, but i am just repeating what some of the guys who work there told me (in strictist confidence of course!) seems Boyztown is changing from being Farang owned bars etc to Thais, what with BBB now Thai owned, who will be next? Panorama, Copa? Ambiance is pretty much straight these days anyhow.

[Sooty]

I popped in for some lunch today, and to be honest, to have a look around, spoke to some of the staff, the new owners are a Thai Company, with many business interests in Bkk, i was told that they will convert the ground floor into a massage parlour, like pattaya needs another one, but worse, is that it will be for straights! also, they are going to turn the Hotel into a family type budget hotel for Asians, obviously i cant confirm any of this, but i am just repeating what some of the guys who work there told me (in strictist confidence of course!) seems Boyztown is changing from being Farang owned bars etc to Thais, what with BBB now Thai owned, who will be next? Panorama, Copa? Ambiance is pretty much straight these days anyhow.Outrageous! Who do they they think they are?

[scottish-guy]

If what NYG was told (in strictist (sic) confidence) is true, then I'm a little perplexed.

The new Thai owners clearly have a strange idea of what consitutes a "family type hotel" - even for Asians!

Opening a hotel which, it appears, will comprise of a ground floor knocking-shop - and within an area predominantly frequented by 60/70yo men sitting at bars and openly feeling up teenage boys - doesn't seem like a well-thought-through business plan to attract that "family friendly" clientele!

Perhaps they could ice their cake by illustrating their family-friendly brochure with a photo of a certain guy who (when in town) regularly sits on the Ambience terrace waiting on passing Thai boys rubbing their stomach to indicate they are available to crap on him?

Sorry, new LCR owners - Butlin's it aint.

:))

[stevehadders]

I guess we are in that difficult period of sale going through, due diligence etc, and until the transaction is completed, money paid etc etc no one can officially comment.....frustrating for those customers who wish to know but that's life and I am sure the new owners will be more than happy to let their intentions be known as soon as they can....after all it's a business and they need customers so little point in doing otherwise.
I did hear however that the potential new owner was a wealthy gay Thai who had several business interests...was also good authority...but hadn't heard about massage, family friendly etc?...and why convert this to a family friendly hotel...there are many hotels for sale in Pattaya that would be in much better position for families
I think wait and see

[DragonMaster]

Based on NewYorkGeorge's first information that Cafe' was perhaps being torn down and replaced with condos', it is probably wiser to just wait and see what the new owners announce when they are ready. Rumors don't really serve any useful purpose except to fuel speculation at what might be.

[scottish-guy]

We are queens my dear - if we do not have rumour and innuendo which we can endlessly embellish and promote as being cast-iron fact, we have nothing.

It goes with the tiara.

[davidsobe]

One of the posters said that BBB is now owned by Thais. Is this true? I thought BBB was a part of the Ambiance and owned by Swiss investors. Anyway, I do hope to learn more about Le Cafe Royale after the deal officially closes. I had stayed there in 2007, 2008 and 2010 (did not visit Thailand in 2009) and had a good time. Since then I booked the Copa in 2011 and 2012 (and did not visit Thailand in 2013). :-\

[scottish-guy]

OMFG, Davidsobe - 2 years missed out of the last 7??????

MiniMee will surely be on your case (and tout de suite I would imagine) - accusing you of having no right to comment on anything related to Thailand.

I await his intervention with baited breath - I mean consistency is everything isn't it, my dear Mini??

We are queens my dear - if we do not have rumour and innuendo which we can endlessly embellish and promote as being cast-iron fact, we have nothing.

It goes with the tiara.Well said scottish guy.
I await his intervention with baited breath - I mean consistency is everything isn't it, my dear Mini??My spelling may not be the greatest but even I know its bated breath http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bai1.htm

[Oliver]

Ambiance is not "pretty much straight"; well, it wasn't two weeks ago. Nor was it "straight" in June, or January. Of course, it's possible that bus loads of straight couples are waiting to move in as soon as I move out....but I doubt it. I have seen straight couples, invariably falangs with bar-girls, there occasionally- very occasionally- over the past decade but it remains a gay hotel.

I appreciate the concerns over the future of Boyztown but let's not exaggerate. In general terms, the number of straights in the soi is probably smaller than five or six years ago, when large numbers enjoyed the Throb shows (we don't see them at Copa) and we were frequently amused by long lines of Chinese tourists gawping at us while we drank in Panorama.

Older readers may recall that it wasn't long ago (fourteen years or so), that there were only a handful of gay venues in Sois 1 and 2. Nevertheless, the demise of Cafe Royal is hugely disappointing; it was the sight of the waiters in their little shorts (as well as a few other activities available) that persuaded me to return after my first ever visit to Pattaya.

[scottish-guy]

Okay, BG, apparently you're right - "baited breath" seems to be a common error (according to Google results at least) - the correct "bated breath" being short for "abated breath" apparently.

Since I now seem to be making regular spelling errors I really must check if my Critical Illness cover includes Alzheimer's.

Do you reckon you will remember Scottish?

[newyorkgeorge]

Ambiance is not "pretty much straight"; well, it wasn't two weeks ago. Nor was it "straight" in June, or January. Of course, it's possible that bus loads of straight couples are waiting to move in as soon as I move out....but I doubt it. I have seen straight couples, invariably falangs with bar-girls, there occasionally- very occasionally- over the past decade but it remains a gay hotel.

I appreciate the concerns over the future of Boyztown but let's not exaggerate. In general terms, the number of straights in the soi is probably smaller than five or six years ago, when large numbers enjoyed the Throb shows (we don't see them at Copa) and we were frequently amused by long lines of Chinese tourists gawping at us while we drank in Panorama.

Older readers may recall that it wasn't long ago (fourteen years or so), that there were only a handful of gay venues in Sois 1 and 2. Nevertheless, the demise of Cafe Royal is hugely disappointing; it was the sight of the waiters in their little shorts (as well as a few other activities available) that persuaded me to return after my first ever visit to Pattaya.
Well, i live here in Pattaya, and am a frequent visitor to Boyztown, at least 2 or 3 times a week, and I can assure you that at least half of the Ambiance customers are straight, i sit and watch minibus loads of them arriving, many with small children, so if that isn't being pretty straight, i dont know what is? maybe now they may stay at Le Cafe Royale? and as for the Cafe Royale waiterts wearing shorts, that stopped about 7 or 8 years ago, when most of the waiters received the pension passbooks!
Personaly, i dont see a problem having straight hotels in that soi, i regularly stay in "straight" hotels, so why cant they stay in a "gay" soi, times have changed, there is no "gay" and "straight" anymore, go to any big club here, and you will always see a mix of gay and straight customers

I doner understand you say you live in Pattaya but you felt the need to start a thread in a Forum used mostly by guys who visit infrequently asking whether a rumour you had hears about Pattaya is true?

[Oliver]

Minibuses decanting families in Boyztown to stay at Ambiance? Has anyone else seen this remarkable sight? I have never seen children there- indeed the Agoda site specifically identifies the hotel as being for over eighteens only. And in the fifteen or so years I've been staying there, as I said in my previous post, I have only occasionally seen a straight couple. And usually, short-time guests.
Other posters who use the hotel will confirm this.

As far as Cafe Royal is concerned, my post referred to the late 1990s, when I first came to Pattaya. In those days, the waiters wore shorts, a practice that stopped about four years ago.

[tony279760-old]

I had a very enjoyable month-long stay in cafe royale at the start of this year. i will be sad to see it changing to straight, if it ever does. pattaya is changing at quite an alarming rate and any business that doesn't adapt will be consigned to the history books very quickly.
For what it's worth, i did see families, snotty-nosed brats in tow, staying at the ambiance. they seemed to be having a good time, though i can't for the life of me imagine why any parent would bring their children to pattaya. it should make for an interesting show and tell class in school when little mary whips out the bag of pingpong balls she got on holiday.
next year they'll probably head to the red light district of amsterdam to watch on those hygiene-obsessed women cleaning windows.

[newyorkgeorge]

Well, it appears i am not hallucinating! someone else has seen Kids at The Ambiance! anyhow, an update about Cafe Roylae, for those of you who are interested, i saw Tom the manager the other day, and it was his last day working at Cafe, sadly his pa is very sick, and he has to return home to care for him and his mom, i wish him the best, what with both Tom & David gone now, will we see any familiar faces next year? i saw a young Thai lady there also,and i guess she is part of the new management team? she was very polite though, and gave me a nice friendly smile! :ymsmug:

[scottish-guy]

It occurs to me that whilst no gays are complaining about kids and families staying in Soi 3 - just wait till the families start complaining.

[Sooty]

Well, it appears i am not hallucinating! someone else has seen Kids at The Ambiance!These parents are to be encouraged. How many parents take their children to a holiday destination so they can learn how much they could be earning for just a few minutes' work once they reach the age of 18

[Oliver]

Perhaps twenty year-olds are "kids"? It is true that , in June, there was a party of about six Asians staying for a couple of days who were in their early twenties.

[scottish-guy]

Oliver, did these 20 somethings all have Asian flu into the bargain?

Otherwise why would Tony (above) describe them a "snotty-nosed brats"?

:-s

[tony279760-old]

what with both Tom & David gone now, will we see any familiar faces next year? :ymsmug:

when did david leave Cafe?

[dab69]

and since they no longer have to pay overpaid (by Thai standards) farang to manage,
will they be lowering prices?

No mate just lowering standards.

[stevehadders]

Now where will all those expats have their Christmas dinner?

[egel]

and since they no longer have to pay overpaid (by Thai standards) farang to manage,
will they be lowering prices?

No mate just lowering standards.

Excellent..and just within the 3 second rule. Well 3 hours anyway!!

[dab69]

and now for the most important question:

how about the continued employment of
the former Thai staff?

guessing some kept their jobs for now

[davidsobe]

What date was Tom's last day? Did he return to the USA? Where in the USA? :(

[newyorkgeorge]

What date was Tom's last day? Did he return to the USA? Where in the USA? :(
David & Tom left last week, dont know what their plans are? I am sure they still subscribe to this forum, maybe they will update us?

[dab69]

from their website:

All hotel guests are invited to join us every Tuesday evening from 8:00 pm. to 9:00 pm. in our Piano Bar for a free hour of cocktails. Come and mingle with other hotel guests and friends before starting your evening!

wow must have always missed that.

Bet that was the first thing to go anyway.

Wish I could be there for their Thanksgiving dinner.
This reminds me of a cheap hotel I used to stay at in Bangkok on Phetchaburi.
It had the cutest nice waiter. Went back (arriving on Valentines Day) and the whole restaurant
in the hotel was gone.

[travelerjim]

A special note of thanks to David...
who has for many years been a true "jai dee" ...
a good heart ...for the benefit of so many poor and deserving Thais.

His key leadership of and devotion to the good charitable works of "Thais 4 Life"
is truly appreciated by me and is a blessing to so many Thais in need.

Thank You David!
I wish you much success and the best of health...
Take good care!

tj

[newyorkgeorge]

There is no thanksgiving dinner this year, and as for the cocktail hour, that was shelved a long time ago, sadly, their website was never updated. Also, i see they have now stopped the 24 hour restaurant/room service, and cut back on waiting staff, and there is a board outside advertising for staff for their new karaoke bar, that will be fun for those guests staying above, god knows it's loud enough when they have the street partys, but Thai karaoke every night, yuk! =;