The deluxe rooms at the Mercure in Pattaya are not especially luxurious or spacious - but they are easily comfortable enough for 2 people, have a balcony, good air-con, are spotlessly clean, everything works (no broken lights etc - which is something that severly pisses me off in a hotel), and they're free of cockroaches (I can not sleep in a room where i've spotted even a single cockroach). There's also no problem with joiners at night (I always have BF with me anyway, but others in our party bring boys back without any hassle) - provided they have ID. There is a sign at the elevators telling you they have zero-tolerance regarding underage, but that's fair enough.

The pool is nice to sit around and the hotel bar is friendly and reasonably priced for a couple of drinks before going out in the evening - and a shuttle bus whisks you (free) to and from the entrance to BT as many times a day as you like.

In short, it's all that I want and I've been content to pay ┬г50 a night including breakfasts etc although I do note that the rates at the Mercure seem to be dropping - but maybe that's happening generally.

Having said all that I'm considering re-visting the Welcome Plaza next time as I hear it's been refurbished and it used to be my hotel of choice before it got so dilapidated that it became unclean. The breakfast offering is very poor tho - more like a canteen than a restaurant - so I generally went Room Only there. I also found that by booking directly with the hotel (at very little increase over the booking websites) I always avoided any issue with joiners, whereas I witnessed others who had used discount websites being hit with a joiner fee. Well, that's the explanation I was given by one of the bell boys anyway.