Smith Residence

[waveydavey]

Looking for an apartment in Chiang Mai and came across the Smith Residence - www.chiangmaismithres.com/en/main.html. Anyone ever stayed here? Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[bsided69]

Looking for an apartment in Chiang Mai and came across the Smith Residence - www.chiangmaismithres.com/en/main.html. Anyone ever stayed here? Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I think There are at least 2 of them? Which one did you visit? Cm gate or the one on Narawat bridge rd, up towards the bus station?

[waveydavey]

Looking for an apartment in Chiang Mai and came across the Smith Residence - www.chiangmaismithres.com/en/main.html. Anyone ever stayed here? Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I think There are at least 2 of them? Which one did you visit? Cm gate or the one on Narawat bridge rd, up towards the bus station?

It's near CM gate. I haven't actually been there, I just came across the website whilst searching for an apartment and it looked interesting. You dont get too many centrally located apartments with swimming pools.

[BlackArtemis]

From the website it looks tiny.

[noise]

From the website it looks tiny.

I have been driven and walked that 3 way intersection for the last 25 years and that building have been there since some time way back (don't remember exactly when I first started noticing it). It just recently got a new facelift and, from the web site, must have been remodeled inside. Never been in there, but it looks interesting and I think it is a great location for someone who likes to walk a little. And there is a continuous stream of tuk-tuks and baht buses and pedicabs going buy the hospital across the street and the Chiangmai Gate for cheap transportation.

Edited March 1, 2008 by noise

[db1tau]

I was there about two weeks ago, the bigger corner rooms were all occupied so they only had tiny standard rooms for about 8000 THB. The pool is of course tiny and the gym too. But if you are single, your budget is below 10000 you want a pool and stay near the city, then it seems the right place for a short term rental. Since I have family, the rooms are just too small for us, so I stay here in flora house - that is triple the size (no pool and gym though).

Marco.

[BlackArtemis]

The new one over near silver road is the one I was refering to. under 4k for the small room.

[emh1969]

Just took a look at this place, the one near Chaing Mai gate so I thought I'd throw my two cents out there. I'll be comparing it to RCN Guesthouse (www.rcnguesthouse.com) and the Khumsiphaya (www.khumsiphaya.com), the other two places I looked at.

Overall, I'd say Smith Residence was the nicest looking of the three, followed by Khumsiphaya and then RCN. Room sizes were comparable in all three.

Costs: Smith = 9000 bhats a month (less for 3 months), Khumsiphaya (6500) and RCN (6000).

Internet: Khumsiphaya gives you free wireless in your room. Smith charges 400 a month (not sure if that's wireless or not), and RCB charges 500 a month for wired internet.

Electricity: Khumsiphaya was 6 bahts per kilowatt, RCN and Smith were both 7 bahts.

Water: I'm pretty sure the guy at Smith said that water costs 200 bahts a month (his English wasn't great). As far as I know, neither RCN or Khumsiphaya have this charge.

Room Amenities: All were pretty comparable with bed, desk, fridge, tv, etc. Smith did have a microwave in the room. And there was a bathtub in the bathroom (room with a bathtub cost 500 extra at Khumsiphaya).

Fitness/Pool: Smith has a nice, but small pool. Can't really swim in it but it would probably be nice to soak in. They also have a small fitness room with what looked like fairly up-to-date equipment. RCN has a fitness room that doesn't really deserve being called that.

Location: Both RCN and Khumsiphaya are in the old city, generally in the NE part. Smith is just south of the Chiang Mai gate outside of the old city.

So....my bottom line is that while Smith is a nice place, it's not nice enough to justify the extra expense compared to the other two places I saw. I also think the location is less desirable though that's just an opinion.

[waveydavey]

When I checked out the Smith Residence I thought the rooms were very small and not nearly as good as the photos on the website (I think they used a very talented photographer ).

Now staying at Flora House which for 8,000 is far superior although it is a little way out of town if thats an issue.