MONTIEN HOTEL SURIWONG BANGKOK

Does any one have experience with the Montien Hotel at Suriwong road? Is it a gay friendly hotel?

The least gay friendly hotel I have had the displeasure of staying in, in Thailand.

[thanatorn-old]

I could not agree more. I stayed there a couple of years ago and apart from an ideal location and fairly good standards, it is not to be recommended at all in terms of gay friendliness. I took a boy up to my room and unaware of this i was charged 1000 baht joiners fee and the looks of disapproval and bad attitude were all too obvious. ( I wonder if it would be the same for a "straight" arrangement). I checked out first thing the next morning and have never ventured back.

I was warned about the anti-gay attitude and huge joiners fee at the Montien so have steered clear of the place.

You seem to want to be in the Suriwongse area and are looking for a gay friendly hotel. You cannot go wrong with the Tarntawan Place hotel which is definately more gay than straight and about two or three minutes walk to Patpong, Silom 4 and the Soi Twilight bars. They do not have a pool but do have a preferential agreement with a nearby local fitness centre which includes a nice outdoor swimming pool.

http://www.tarntawan.com/

I thoroughly recommend the hotel.

[Dick]

I stayed 10 dyas at the Montien Suriwong (not the Riverside) with my bf approx 18 months ago.
The booking for a double room was made in our joint names. Had absolutely NO problems whatsoever. A real delight. Staff were efficient, very friendly and courteous to both of us. No hint whatsoever of any staff prejudice, even when showed to a twin room by mistake after check-in, and swiftly moved on to a double as booked. I saw two other farang/Thai couples during our stay who looked equally pleased to be there. My bf frequently collected the room key independantly... no problems either.
Those who would argue with my appraisal might say we had no problems because my guest was named in the booking, or that my bf was presentably well turned out and didn't give the appearance of a bar boy. That might be true, but had there been any prejudice or policy towards gay people, I think it would have become apparent during the course of our 10 night stay. If I wasn't aware of other peoples criticisms, I would certainly have said the Montien was gay friendly.
It's a really nice hotel with comfortably rooms and friendly staff.

They don't like prostitutes of either gender. A friend told me he was checking out once, and the guy in front of him was disputing a mini-bar charge. They said "You had someone with you in your room last night and that must have been it". As the guy was heading off to catch a plane he had no time to argue

[lonelywombat]

A Thai I had met in a Thai restaurant, when he was doing his MBA in my home town, came to visit me at the Montien. The head of security created a big scene when in mid afternoon we went to go to my room. He even blocked our attempts to get into the lift

My friend who is not gay was 26 at the time, in an excellent job and probably earning more than the hoon in charge. I was told several stories from friends in BKK that Montien were not visitor friendly and treated girls the same way. My room was prepaid and I stayed rather than have to forfeit the money

Two years ago I was booked into Montien again, this time for a visit on business. After 2 nights I checked out and moved to the Sofitel Silom. Now that I have found Asia-rooms.com I always look to see if I can get a cheap rate at the Sofitel whenever I go to BKK. There are no problems at all as there is a public bar on the second floor and a disco on top floor, and guests use the same lifts.

In an apology I received from the hotel, they stated they were a family hotel and wished to protect their image.

Dick is the first gay person I have heard mention Montien in a good light

Some of my friends (mistakenly!) held their annual party there 3 years ago -- a little over half the guests were gay, as was the theme. The staff were quite surly with the farang guests, and actually rude to any Thai male guests. As it happened, a Thai guy was paying the bill... and he made a point of giving a very generous tip to the performers (a dance troupe, some musicians, etc.) and none to the Montien staff :) Montien: to be avoided.

A Thai I had met in a Thai restaurant, when he was doing his MBA in my home town, came to visit me at the Montien. The head of security created a big scene when in mid afternoon we went to go to my room. He even blocked our attempts to get into the lift

Very similar to my own experience. My partner arrived a few hours later than me on a different flight and we thought the cesk clerk must've been trained by the Spanish Inquisition.

Thank you all for the answers on my question; my decision is clear: I do not go tot Montien. I will book in Unico Grande.

Hans from Holland.