Long trips are never completely stress free. There are always details to work out. Who to fly, where to go, what to do, etc. One of those make or break decisions is where to stay. I was thankful that all of those decisions were being handled by the travel agent.. and Janine — our real agent, as she did most of the hard work.
But as the time of the trip drew close, things went wonky with the travel agent provided hotel reservations. So Janine took over and picked places in Bali, and she asked me to handle Thailand. All along I have been offering to help out with the planning as needed, and Janine had been kind enough to allow me to be along for the ride.
Did she realize that I was just being nice when I offered to help? I did not need that kind of responsibility — or pressure. Oh well.. I don’t want us staying in tents so I had better get to it.
Where would we be without the Internet? Well, certainly not our hotel. There are hundreds of hotels in Chiang Mai and Phuket. I cannot fathom leaving a decision like this to a travel agent.. but people used to do that. There was really no choice. Now the likes of TripAdvisor and Yelp make it all a lot easier. But still.. there are no second chances picking the right location. Neither of us have been been to Thailand. And there are always some negative reviews for any facility.
I decided to go after small boutique hotels. And I banked on picking new ones, as I expected they would be immune to upkeep issues. I figured any lapses in service would be made up for by the low occupancy (it is the off season).
The hotel I chose for Chiang Mai is 137 Pillars. And from the moment we arrived, I was feeling pretty good about my choice. I will let some pictures do the talking:
Hrm.. Looking back, those pictures are pretty bad. It was at night, with a basic camera, and the dog ate my homework. You can check out some good ones here: http://137pillarshouse.com/accommodation/ We are in an East Borneo suite.
137 Pillars House is the little hotel that could. Incredible rooms, attentive service, beautiful grounds, and probably the best hotel food have ever had. Over the years I have stayed at a number of top hotels on business. 137 Pillars is keeping up with, and in many cases outdoing the Four Seasons, Peninsula, etc.
A few highlights: Amazing outdoor reception facility. Huge staff (perhaps a 3:1 ratio) that all know your name, remember your preferences, and generally work silently to take care of you. The bathroom is epic: Large claw foot soaking tub, outdoor shower, indoor shower, rain shower (yep, three of them, in two different locations in the bathroom), all TOTO fixtures, dressing room, top quality linens, frameless glass doors on all of the showers, sliding windows to allow the soaking tub to open to the secondary private deck (there is another one up front off the bedroom) and more. Oh there is a toilet too (in case you were wondering). The facilities are beautiful, including a large infinity edged pool, indoor/outdoor dining, water features all around, several outdoor lounges, and the historic 137 Pillars House (which has been reinforced to about 198 pillars now) which now serves as an entertainment/bar/lounge facility.
Of course, if they continue this level of service, the rates will end up so high I will never visit again. I guess that is the price of success.
We are looking forward to the hotel in Phuket — in my case with trepidation. It is going to be hard to top this place.