No Latin...no... I would never wish my worst enemy to clutch Leila....you've gone beyond the pale this time!
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I stayed at the Tarntawan a number of times for all the obvious reasons but stopped because the place was to put it bluntly becoming shabby. Whoever the new owners are I hope they give the place a thorough refurbishment including the bathrooms and the common areas. I would love to stay there again because like so many contributors it was almost an integral part of the Bangkok experience.
Just back from three weeks in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Vientiane, and Luang Prabang. Because of Air Asia schedules, I was in Bangkok at the beginning (2 nights), middle (one night), and two nights at the end before flying home. Each time in Bangkok I stayed at the Tarntawan. The new management group is in place, no familiars behind the desk. Some confusion as the prior records of guests left with the old management company. The registration form asks if you have stayed at the hotel before.
Rates seemed somewhat less than in the past. I asked for and was placed in room 555 as it is located next to the wireless router and has a strong internet signal. The night bellman who greeted me on the first visit wasn't there on the subsequent visit. The security guard took on the duties of the bellman.
When I came down the first morning it was early and I had a quick breakfast, breakfast lady still there and still great. I checked at the desk about my upcoming reservation made through Agoda and was told they didn't have it yet. I showed them my paperwork and the desk staff asked a manager (female) what to do. She entered the information and noted my room preference. Staff dress at the desk is eclectic, mostly polo shirts.
Next morning when I came down with my overnight guest, we were both astounded to see that there were no available tables for breakfast, all were occupied by a members (male/female) of a tour group from Malaysia. The security guard who was also helping to clear tables told me that the staff was happy (suspect that the increased business indicated to them that their jobs were o.k.?). The breakfast buffet this morning had disappeared and been replaced by a large tray of friend rice with a meat. The menu was still available for ordering but the group was the first priority.
Left after breakfast, returning several days later. Desk had my reservation, 555, all in order. New faces behind the desk. I'd been thinking about moving somewhere else for the next visit, but, instead asked for two more nights. Booked and left for Laos. Returned after the passing of the king. Large portrait of HM with a condolence book in the lobby. Noticed that what was Lukas' office is now the business center/library. What had been the business center and the travel agency are now empty. Looks like something is planned for the space but no one knew/wanted to talk. Saw a few of the regulars who were there when I last visited when Lukas was there. They were (like me) just rolling with the situation.
Because they are helping with multiple duties (i.e. being the night bellman) the security guard was often hard to find when wanting to drop off/pick up identification. The breakfast on my final morning was back to the regular buffet. I left at 3am the next morning and the two clerks on duty took a long time to check me out...major problem being that the credit card machine didn't seem to like any of the three cards I had. I offered USD but they wanted THB. My guest who was departing when I was, gave me TNB to cover what I didn't have in my wallet. I gave him the USD to replace and thank him for his unprompted generosity.
So will I go back? I have the names of few other places and have been looking at AirBNB. Coming from the SF Bay area I fly United which gets me in close to midnight, so AirBNB doesn't work for arrival night, so maybe Tarntawan will be a one night thing in the future. It's hard to change the routine after so many visits...but the hotel has changed and is changing and other than the three security guards and the breakfast lady, there is little to hold my loyalty.
There must be several other gay or gay very friendly hotels in BKK....this place looks like it is changing
so guys in the know,,should post other hotels worth checking out...
Some have mentioned The Raya Surawong which is just near soi Twilight (same side and is new) and one that did stay there recommended it. No idea on their guest policy though but their pricing looks either similar or better than Tarntawan. I will be looking at this place on my next visit.
Looks like I'll be going back to the Rose Hotel. Anyone stayed there lately?
Not "lately" but about 2 years ago now and I found it to be fine. The room was small but that was more due to the small room I'd booked ( funny that eh) so I think if taking one of their even slightly larger rooms that would have cured that problem. They also have the added bonus of the swimming pool and joiners were no problem whatsoever as per in the TW.
ggobob, Thanks for your report. Much info.
The Raya Surawong looks nice. Wonder what their guest policy is?
Rose Hotel. Several years ago I booked in for two weeks only to find my whole room the same size as the bathroom at the Tarntawan! Left the next morning and back to the Tarntawan. Additionally the women at the front desk did not seem to know how to smile and there was an aged witch sitting at the elevator making comments!
Last 2 times we stayed in the Rose we had Aircon units that didn't work
Multiple appeals to change room or fix aircon were ignored on our last (and final ever) visit
Best they could do was offer us a fan for the room
If you like to sleep in a relatively cool room do not stay in the Rose
As of yesterday Lukas was still at the Tarntawan. I emailed the hotel about airport transportation and he answered! They do continue to provide airport transportation.
Sorry to tell you Lukas does not work there anymore ,I think they still use his email address.
I was there a week ago and asked the staff about Lukas and they told me he is not there anymore
That may be so but I did not send Lukas an email but rather addressed it to the hotel email address located on the current hotel web page.
So who knows??
really? you found a web site for the new trading entity Tarntawan Surawong Hotel? I knew they had a registered domain name tarntawansurawong.com but did not know they had a working web site or published email addresses yet - perhaps they are using another domain name? do let us know the URL and email address you found
they are of course on some of the hotel booking sites, eg agoda.com and booking.com has them listed - perhaps confusingly as Tarntawan Hotel Surawong and Tarntawan Surawong Hotel respectively
I assume you're not confusing this with the previous trading entity Tarntawan Place at URL www.tarntawan.com and email address tarntawan@tarntawan.com? both the URL and email address are still active
Monty Python fans will probably by now be wondering if all this was set up as a parody of the antics of the Judean People's Front v's the People's Front of Judea in Life of Brian.
bkkguy
The end of an Era
and hopefully the end of this Thread.
Time to suggest some other Gay-Friendly places in BKK
Besides the long list we have known before...
Would be good to know since I may be there in February.
GWM in USA
I've never understood the phrase "gay-friendly". What does it mean in a Thailand context? People don't glare at you when you come down to breakfast with last night's prostitute in tow? Why should you care? I've even seen gays glare when someone is "letting the side down" in that way. Fuck 'em, I say. People are far too sensitive.
Why is it the 'end of an era' why is it time to suggest some other gay friendly places? Virtually nothing has changed at the Tarntawan. Sure the mini-bar content is next to nil, but that is because the new management have to wait or decided to wait to introduce their own 'system'. What else is 'different'? well you have to re-register because apparently all the previous customer info was not available. So my bf and I had to fill in two lines on a sheet and handover our IDs as usual. Breakfast in rooms is now NOT 24hr, but that said...one of the previous staff was happy to oblige at 5pm, as the change was unknown to me. There was no info in the room to advise of changes, apparently the breakfast details were in the lift which I never use if only on 3rd floor.
The business/office has moved within the reception area to the left rather than straight on from the reception desk, has usual 2 computers and working printer I used for boarding card print. Papers available. Both lift/ID retainers still working there although have to double as bell-boys, security. We arrived went in to register and our luggage was up in our room, car parked and key left with security by the time we got to our room minutes after arriving....just as efficiently as normal. Less reception staff, but how many people does it take to hand over a room key?
'Well built' doorman/bell boy, 2 lift/ID guys, room service lady all same as before. 2 new staff behind reception desk.
My normal 'friends' rate was given along with a decent room on the 3rd floor. WiFi worked fine as usual. Tea/coffee/kettle in room as normal. Towels/bedding as normal. GAY FRIENDLY attitude as normal.
As usual there was a mix of other customers coming and going, some Korean, Chines, 6 Japanese golfers, gay gentlemen with boy thai friends, Japanese men with female Thai friends......
Personally I neither saw nor experienced any real negatives that would require me to look elsewhere for my brief stays in Surawong. Best indication for me was when I told bf as we were driving down Suriwong what had changed with Tarntawan...later he said he noticed nothing except mini-bar was light. We ordered food on room service menu, I had usual pork stew and mash (after weeks of rice and rice was craved) and bf had two Thai dishes prepared and tasted as before...very good.
If my next visit end January substantially changes to the point where we don't enjoy our stay, then that may the time to re-think. As for now, we'll stay with it.
By the way......ALL of the various staff members retained and now reliant on returning customers to keep their jobs intact, went out of their way to thank us for returning to stay at the Tarntawan. BF said when I was out and room service delivered the lovely lady we have known for years...went well out of her way and chatted a while with him to thank him for returning.
Newalaan2! Great report! Thanks for all the news and notes about the hotel. Still sounds good!
Newalaan, thanks for sharing that, sheds some light on what's going on
Thank you for that clarification, but I didn't say/mean to say ALL staff were retained, what I meant was...all (as in every one) of those who were retained and happened to be on duty during our stay went out of their way to thank us for returning.
The main thing I forgot to add was that the ambience hadn't changed for me or my bf. Often when we have our brief stays there they don't always coincide with all staff members being on duty, also there are shift changes, so we are used to not seeing everyone every time, the only one who we see every trip and did not see this one was the outside security guard, who always parks our car and moves it around the parking area to suit whatever vehicles come and go.
That's all very well you having an 'attitude'.....and when faced up, I too, have absolutely no problem in saying my bit, but when I'm with a Thai....why would you want to be on holiday and look to invite glares, disrespect or whatever? I come to relax, gay-friendly ambiance is part of that.....it beggars belief you have never understood what 'gay friendly' means in a Thai context....and why should you care??Quote:
Originally Posted by Patanawet
Well in my opinion one should 'care' about the feelings of your Thai bf/partner/friend/whatever. It is not just my situation I have to consider, it is my bfs too, the gay friendly staff non-attitude is actually more for his comfort and ease. It seems to me you have little concept of 'gaeng jai' and complications which impact negatively, for you probably means nothing...zilch... but if you are with a Thai that is a selfish and naïve attitude. My bf would NEVER consider the possibility of 'Fuck'em' attitude. We have stayed in places at the start of our relationship where snobby, negative staff/customer attitude was clearly picked up, not by me, but by him as that is who is was directed at. I'm not having that! and I don't want to be bothered with creating scenes just to try and win an arguement. I/we simply stay where we are comfortable, and if that includes the term 'gay friendly' then so be it. Life is too short to be continually facing up to negativity, I get enough of that shit in Euroland! So no, not too sensitive, merely seeking out comfortable, non-confrontational surroundings.
Thanks to new Allan for the clarification that not much of anything has changed ( which I'm sure many will be relieved about) - now, the one hughly important question that as yet remains unanswered ...... are the two bars of that LOVELY chocolate still in the room !!!!
I keep meaning to note down the brand name to get a box (more like a crate) shipped home as that, "almost" as much as enjoying cute guys is my other sneaky BKK dirty little secret when staying in the Tarntawan !
'gaeng jai' (แกงใจ) or 'curry-heart' is a new concept for me too. Is it somehow the opposite to jai yen? You probably meant 'kreng jai' (เกรงใจ) literally 'awe-heart' which is the Thai concept of being afraid to offend and therefore be considerate.Quote:
Originally Posted by newalaan2
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Well for me I hope the NEW Tarntawan has a new chief! Before breakfasts were good but some of the dinner entries were sad!
Any status reports on the Indra Massage around the corner from the hotel on Soi Tawan? I recall that they are housed in the Tarntawan Apartments.
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Scottish: NIrish. That man could get a creamy nibble between the nibbles and the ice cream if he chose to. In any well run society his dedication to pursuing sex would have earned him a bauble in the birthday honours list.
Alas it seems my reputation proceeds me and I am but a mere shadow of my former slutty self - although that's more self enforced and location based this last while than anything else so I might just revisit my old self when in the Philippines just to be sure that there's still some life in the old dog yet ! :-)
I recently stayed two nights in Tarntawan.
Service was ok; staff members were friendly and more-or-less efficient. Food and coffee were mediocre.
The place seemed a lot less "gay" than before. On my floor, two guests entered rooms with Thai girl friends.
I wonder if the new management is trying to cater more to non-gay folk?
The location is conveniently located for the gay venues. No one cared that I brought two guys back one night. The staff demanded that they leave their IDs at the front desk, and telephoned me after they had left.
Werner, Thanks for the up-date!
AS usual..off subject of original post, now back and forth about crap
I thought I'd look for somewhere else to stay when I first read about the changes, but I've just booked the Tarntawan for my upcoming trip. I did so based on recent comments here. It seems that there haven't been major changes, although I think the prices may have increased; I'm not sure.
A friend, staying there at the moment, said that up to yesterday he encountered very few Chinese.
Yesterday however there was an abundance of them there in reception.
Another hotel in Silom Soi 3, popular with some friends has just said that they will not be accepting Chinese group bookings any more.
Any information about the travel company inside the hotel. Are they still there?
What about the small library that was in the computer room?
OMFG is this still going on?
Was it Purple Dragon? They are now in Charn Issara Tower on Rama 9. Next to up2 hairdressers (the owner, Luck, is cute and a very good hairdresser) which I think still takes Balcony members'cards. But I digress.
OR was it Utopia ---- easily found on the net.
Purple Dragon, Ltd.
942/58 Charn Issara Tower 1
Rama 4 Road, Bangrak
Bangkok 10500 Thailand
Telephone: +(66) 2-236-1776 (from outside Thailand)Telephone: 02-236-1776 (within Thailand) Fax: +662-632-8664 - See more at: http://www.purpledrag.com/contact.ht....YU6QRXxd.dpuf
What do all of you think: Is the new management trying to make Tarntawan Hotel less "gay"?
The hotel seemed to have many more gay guest during past visits....