This review is rally late. I stayed at the de Arni for five nights over New Year's. In short, except the low introduction rates, there is nothing to recommend about the new hotel across Surawong from Tarntawan. The flip side is that, except for its location -- smack dab in the middle of the sex tourist ghetto -- there is nothing that would warrant the de Arni being crossed off anyone's list of possible Bangkok lodgings.
In the plus column are:
1. A really great staff;
2. Front-desk lock boxes (in addition to in-room safes).
In the minus column are:
1. Noise from the major street outside and from other guests as they come and go. The halls and rooms are not carpeted, and there is nothing to muffle the sound of doors closing shut and of other guests chattering on their way to the elevator -- and of the elevator itself.
2. the overall cheap look to the hotel (even the brand new TVs are small-screen, big-box old-fashioned CRTs -- I didn't even know they still made those). Also, the shower curtain rod in the first room I stayed in fell after I hung a rung-out wash cloth on it. The room I moved to was even noisier than the first because it had one of those double doors connecting it to another room where some guy with a really nasty cough was staying.
Three other matters:
1. The water coming out of the taps was clear except for the first second or so of hot water, but the water was still contaminated and shaving with it gave me a rash. This is common in low and mid-priced Bangkok hotels.
2. No problem bringing a guest back to your room. Twice I brought back guests I had met at G.O.D. The front desk clerk simply asked for my friend's ID card. When leaving the next morning, the ID card was returned and my guest forced to sign a Xerox copy of it that the clerk had made. I don't know how I feel about that.
3. The hotel appears to be popular among Asian families, and other guests checking in at 5:30 in the morning gave me the evil eye when returning to the hotel with another guy who had darker skin and a younger complexion than mine.