SAMALA Hotel Bangkok reviews

“This hotel is brand-new, and has immense potential. It’s a shame that I have to write this negative review, but I’m hoping it can spur the hotel to do much better in several areas.

We discovered this newly built hotel from a local friend and decided to book four nights during the festive season. Upon arrival, the check-in process took much longer than expected. This was in-part due to the poor command of English by most of the staff. We were assigned a room in Tower A and Tower B. Tower A rooms are much more convenient as the pool and gym are located on the same tower. The rooms itself were great, but there were many small issues which hampered the experience during our stay. For example, the shower drain drains water very slowly, resulting in an overflow everytime you take a shower. The water pressure itself was decent but they need to solve the drainage issues, because we had several different rooms during our stay and every room had the same problem. Other than that, the rooms were great. The power points have USB-A and USB-C inlets, so you don’t need an adapter when staying at this hotel, a very thoughtful point.

Next, the breakfast buffet was decent. Bangkok hotels are famous for their excellent breakfast buffets. I have stayed in countless hotels in Bangkok, and the benchmark continues to be Centara Grand at CentralWorld for breakfast. Samala’s breakfast buffet had a variety of options. The great thing is that the dishes are different every day, so you’ll never have a boring breakfast. The bad news is that in terms of taste, its not consistent. For example, there was one morning which had Hainanese Chicken Rice served, and I nearly vomited after tasting it. On another day, there was Green Curry Chicken served, and it was amazing. Speaking of breakfast, I want to highlight the excellent service by Mr. Tong, which I believe is the manager of the breakfast service. Mr. Tong was very attentive and checked-in on us to make sure everything was fine. Interestingly, he spoke much better English than half the front desk staff so perhaps he should be there instead!

Last but not least, I want to provide some inputs about the service. It was very inconsistent. Most of the staff at the hotel were very friendly, particularly the concierge, which was amazing at making dining reservations and providing recommendations for lunch/dinner. The front desk staff were also very friendly, and I managed to have a good chat with the front desk manager on several occasions. She had a good command of English, together with a woman who appeared fierce but was very friendly, but the same can’t be said for the rest of the staff. They had some of the worse English I have ever seen in any hotel. Bangkok is an international tourist destination, and if the front desk can’t get English right, it’s better they are moved to other parts of the hotel.

Also, some of the staff are extremely stingy when it comes to bathroom amenities. We requested extra Body Wash on several occasions and were told that we could only get two bottles each day, which is ridiculous. I have stayed in several hotels which also has small bottles for body wash and I have never encountered this issue. Samala seems to think that the guests want to steal the Body Wash bottles and so, don’t want to provide more to its guests. If that’s the case, I would suggest the hotel switch to large dispensable soaps instead, because this whole issue is simply ridiculous.

Lastly, there was an issue with the electricity in our room on the second night of our stay. The electricity kept going on and off as if the place was haunted! Worst of all, this happened at 3am in the middle of the night. I had to head downstairs to the lobby at 4am to get someone to fix it (see photo), but this issue should not have happened in the first place.

Overall, for the price paid, there are many other good hotels around Bangkok. Some hotels might be much more dated than Samala, but at least they don’t have nonsensical”

“Hotel is very well decorated and clean. Staffs are attentive and helpful. Just like any other 5stars but only cost fraction of the price. There is a good gym and small pool with bar to chill at lvl8. Located at the heart of Sukhumvit, within a short walk from the mainroad, therefore accessible to BTS Nana or Asok (you may opt for free shuttle from hotel to the nearest bts or mrt – check their schedule at lobby). “

“stayed in many 4 and 5 star facilities in Bangkok. This is one of the better. Room are spacious and beds comfortable. Beside a nice small gym and great rooftop pool. Breakfast is among the best in Bangkok in that hotel category with lots of vegetarian options”

“Very nice ,clean ,modern .Beds are very comfortable .Walk to BTS about 8 mins .Close BTS is ASOKE .
Breakfast is ok very basic .
Nice stay . “

“We had our,greatest 4 nights stay in SAMALA. .The bed is comfortable and the,room are spacious. So far, this is one of,tge hotel that i would feel like going back after a long day. 5 star standard for a reasonable price. Please keep up the work!”