It's rough out there for travel junkies and road warriors. All that time away from home, checking into hotel after hotel, staying in new cities: it's enough to make you want a stiff drink. Or, apparently, not:
"Do you have nonalcoholic beer?" a guest asked a passing waiter. "Yes sir, we have beer," he was told. "But do you have nonalcoholic beer?" "Yes sir, we have beer," the waiter said again, politely gesturing toward the menu. "But do you have ... Oh, forget it. Bring me a beer."
That's the latest word from Stuart Emmrich who checked into the Hôtel de la Paix in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Wait, so a high level of service is now frowned on by the Times? (We give the waiter points for graciously doing his best.) Surely the hotel has something to make up for its lack of O'Douls? Indeed it does:
Even the standard rooms are huge: a soaring loft space with a large seating area, a comfortable, spacious bed on a wooden frame, and a terrazzo bathtub big enough for two (or three, for that matter), as well as a walk-in shower
The hotel spa and gym also get high marks, and an on-property cafe has free WiFi that draws tourists who don't want to drop $300 on a hotel room in Cambodia. Not paying inflated hotel WiFi rates: the quickest way to more beer money.
If Brad Pitt and Angelina ever want to get away without the kids to Cambodia, and they don't want to deal with other hotel guests, then maybe the The One Hotel in Ancient Siem Reap might be the best choice for this jet-setting humanitarian duo.
So what makes The One the one? It's single room. Yup, for $250 a night you can have this one-room hotel to yourself.
Think of it as your own stylish pied-à-terre. While the row house's wooden jalousies, potted plants and thatched roof are straight out of a Graham Greene novel, the neighborhood itself is of the moment, with art galleries, a day spa and owner Martin Dishman's funky lounge, Linga Bar, just across the street.
And since you got the place all to yourself, you can get whatever you want with four staffers serving you and another four serving your travel partner. Some other perks include a complimentary cell phone to use during your stay, a penthouse suite on the second-floor for guests that includes a breakfast area and an open-air jacuzzi, and a master bedroom with a king-size bed and a 32-inch flat screen TV.
Just make sure you bring someone with you when you stay here because one can make a very lonely number.
[Ed. Note: This is the Bad Rate in our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature. The rates here were valid on November 14, 2006 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
Each week in this space, we usually counter our listed Good Rate with a corresponding Bad Rate in the same city. This time, however, we've been stumped. The truth is, even looking at hotels during a major festival, it's hard to find a bad rate in Phomh Penh, Cambodia.
Traveling in developing countries isn't for those who need everything to be perfect all the time, but the irony is that hotel facilities and services in a country like Cambodia are often far better than you could expect at home. The English language proficiency might be iffy, but you'll have an army of people waiting on you even at the cheaper places. And you can't beat the prices. Here's what we found for November 15-18 on various booking services:
· Price range of $52 to $98 on Expedia
·Price range of $23 to $147 on Precision Reservations
·Price range of $25 to $290 on Travelocity
That last one was for a room at the Raffles Hotel Le Royal, which Precision Reservations listed at $147. The hotel's own buggy site took a while, but finally quoted us $140 double to start. (Expedia says it's sold out.)
This is the top hotel in town, putting up lots of foreign business people, World Bank types, and NGOs living high on the donation hog--and this is festival time, so demand is high. After that it drops down to $120 a night for a standard at the Prince D'Angkor Hotel & Spa in Siem Reap--pictured here--or $320 in the best suite. At Precision Reservations, which lists 27 available hotels, a half-dozen hotels of those three stars or more are under $60.
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same city and decide which is better worth your hard-earned benjamins. The rate listed here was taken on November 14, 2006 and is subject to change.]
If you just happen to be near Cambodia this week, snag a reservation at the Bougainvillier Hotel Phnom Penh and check out the festivities from your riverfront room. We can't quite make out all that's going on November 15-17 from the official tourism site, but here's what's listed for the festival in WhatsOnWhen:
Strangely, the current of the Tonlé Sap river, which runs through Phnom Penh from the Tonlé Sap Lake to the Mekong, switches direction each November. During the heyday of the Khmer Empire, the rulers were thought to have the power to effect this reversal; nowadays, it's the occasion for fabulous boat races on the river at Phnom Penh.
Through Precision Reservations--one of the best sites for booking hotels in Asia--we found a good deal at Bougainvillier Hotel Phnom Penh. You can get a view of the river from your room, watching the boats glide by, decked out in a a very Asian large suite for $83. (The photo here is a view of a previous year's festival, from the hotel.)
This is an intimate, French-owned hotel in the prime tourist district, a few minutes walk from the Royal Palace. The French/Cambodian fusion cuisine in the restuarant gets high marks, and with prices from $4 to $14, you'll remember why there are major advantages to traveling in a cheap country.
It's not like we really care to visit all the places mentioned in those books called "Places You Must Go Before You Die or You're a Real Loser", but we'd be lying if we did not admit to feeling slightly cool about ticking some of these strange places off our list. Siem Reap, Cambodia is one of them.
Our pick here is definitely the Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor. Not only do we get the exotic touches of Khmer culture, but French hotel design. Plus we don't have to go far; the hotel offers dinner theater and traditional Cambodian dance performances. Although the Cambodian performance art style is full of ornamentation, bright gold masks and costumes, the hotel apparently doesn't push the bling:
If you are looking for bling and glamour and mood music in elevators then this hotel is not for you. This hotel is in an old colonial mansion with a newer wing along the side. The pool is one of the largest in Siem Reap and hardly ever has people around it. Privacy is good and ample at this property. This hotel is old world elegance.....not new showy glitz.
This is all the more reason why it's our pick in Siem Reap. The last thing we want when we're in Cambodia is a Las Vegas style hotel. Besides after the dinner theater music that will without a doubt be ringing in our heads, we wouldn't be able to handle any elevator music anyway.
The One Hotel Angkor in Siem Reap has one room, one blood, one life you got to do what you should.
Seriously, we are guessing it is really hard to complain about the service when you are the only guests at the hotel. The 360 square foot high ceiling bed room is pretty much your one and only room. However, there is also a rooftop terrace with a queen sized day bed, an outdoor shower, and a hot tub.
Get this, supposedly the One Hotel provides you with an iBook and Ipod and mobile phones for the duration of your stay. If they upgrade to a MacBook Pro and split the cell bill with us we are thinking of opening up a new HotelChatter Cambodian branch office inside this room--at least for a couple nights.
Since this hotel is so small it can only have, at most, ~365 guests in a year, if we did the math right. If you are/were one of the lucky ones send us pics and stories will ya?
While this picture of an iPod and speaker set up may not be visually fascinating, the fact that it is part of the in-room amenities at the Hotel de la Paix in Cambodia is a Hotel Maven's wet dream.
The hotel is barely a year-old and was created by designer Bill Bensley. It has 100 rooms, and is close to the famous Angkor temple. Plus there's restaurants, customised spa treatments, free Wi-Fi and DVDs in each suite. Kenworker's Flickr photos give you an excellent tour.
a good choice for those longing to visit the temples at Angkor but wanting to avoid the tour bus crowds and the large luxury hotels springing up around Siem Reap at an alarming rate.
Former filmmaker, photographer, and New Yorker Jerry Gorman and his wife, native Cambodian Thina Ollier, founded this B&B about a year ago.
The couple not only hosts your stay, but also serves as an invaluable source of local area information. For instance, Vietnam Airlines is apparently notorious for canceling flights, and these affable hosts went to the local airline office to make sure Cathy's flight was taken care of--nice touch.
The guest house offers airport transfers, they will pack you a lunch upon request, and they will make local taxi, temple, and restaurant arrangements for you.
All rooms have air conditioners, deluxe rooms with private baths start at $55/night.
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by pbb
Each week in this space, we usually counter our listed 
