Advance Booking For Hotel In Nov Required?

[sagit911]

I am coming to CM in Nov with family. I read somewhere that end of year is usually a busy period when most tourist come to CM. I will be staying for a week or two so I need to know whether I need to book my hotel NOW or I can still get rooms when I come in November.

My preference is to wait till I get there in November so that I can see what I pay for and I do not want to commit to a place for too long in case I dont like it.

I will be looking for family type accommodation around 1000 baht per day. Any advice would be appreciated.

Sagit911

[seeker108]

Hi Sagit,

You need to provide more info, so we can better help you. How many in family and ages of child(ren)? How do you define family accomodations? What part of town do you want to be in?

Tourism may be down a bit this year, but I still suggest you line up something in advance. If you will be in CM for 1 or 2 weeks then you might be best in taking a 1 month rental as you could get something at around 7,000 including utilities for the whole month.

Use the red search button and check out some of the posts on apartments, condos, etc

Seeker

[cmsally]

Many hotels fully booked in November as I've tried booking. At that price you are looking at high end guesthouse or long term accommodation. Although there probably will be something available I would set yourself up for the first couple of days (especially if coming near Loy Kratong). Then take a day to look around as you have time.

[sagit911]

Thank you Seeker and CM Sally for your help. Really appreciate it. I was getting nightmare flashes of a "Zero" reply.

We are in a group of 7 adults 4 teens and 2 kids. I have stayed in Downtown Inn near the Night bazaar for one night in Sep 05. I think it cost 800 baht per night. Not too bad but I remember seeing some tower block -the Lanna Palace or something Lanna along the same road. It looks newer but I dont know the price.

Since we are such a large group, getting from place to place might be a problem so we might like to stick around the Night Bazaar area. We intend to do some city tour and hire a guide with a van (14 seater?) for some day tour into the hills. And maybe a 2 day tour to ChiangRai and back.

So I will probably need around 5 rooms? We dont drink so pubs and bars are not on our books but we would like to be near food and some shops -walking distance? I have checked out some of the hotels recommended. I suppose I take both your advice and book and prepay in advance. But then what if the place or service is bad .......? We will be stuck!

Sagit

[cmsally]

The place you saw was the Royal Lanna. Service not probably different from Downtown but probably bit more expensive. Book for 2 nights then if you don't like it you can move. But in Night Bazaar you might find most places booked up through most of Nov. I tried to book Empress and booked almost the whole month.

[just_Elaine]

Several people that we know stayed at the Chiang Mai Plaza hotel. Their rooms were good, but they most likely stayed in the deluxe rooms. The location is in the near the night bazaar. We thought the lobby looked very nice.

Look here for the reviews:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews...Chiang_Mai.html

Here is a site we use to book hotels that we found had good rates:

http://www.asiarooms.com/thailand/chiang_m...ea&type=#hotels

Oh, I think I would definitely book ahead especially if you will be there early November to mid-November. Early November - people will have holidays after Ramadan and mid-November is Loy Kratong (16th, I think).

Elaine

[sagit911]

Thank you Just Elaine for your help. I will definitely book early as suggested by all of you. Actually, I am coming on the 29 Nov so I presume the peak period still apply?

Sagit

[just_Elaine]

Thank you Just Elaine for your help. I will definitely book early as suggested by all of you. Actually, I am coming on the 29 Nov so I presume the peak period still apply?

Sagit

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm not really sure. I think so based on the rates though. Once we thought we could just extend the days and get the same rate, but the hotel would not do it and said we could only get that rate through an agent. So we normally pre-book and pre-pay to get the better rates. Oh and I forgot to mention that if you use the asiarooms link that you should do it several days before you plan to go. It takes at least a couple of days for them to sort everything out.

Just noticed that the Duangtawan hotel is pretty reasonable. That's a newer hotel and in the location you wanted. I don't know anyone who has stayed there though.

[SiamOne]

yes, book ahead. Use one of the internet sites to get the best rate

it starts to get busy in November, so worth booking