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New York Times Continues Aggressive Coverage of Hotel Booze Beat

Where: Sivutha Boulevard, Siem Reap, Cambodia

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.

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· Check In, Check Out: Siem Reap [NYT]