The Rodman Hotel

I walked passed this hotel last week from outside and thought it looked great. It looked compact with a swimming pool and lounging area downstairs next to reception. As the hotel was quite expensive, I looked out for a special rate online and found a couple of nights at a cheaper price. I was looking forward to going and having a relaxing time but I found the hotel a bland and strange experience. On a positive note, there was an error with my booking with a third party booking company which wouldn’t allow me to choose one double bed instead of two single beds. This was helpfully changed by staff who when I mentioned it put a double bed mattress in the room with the two beds together. There seemed to be more staff than needed. 3 of them just stood watching in silence whenever speaking I was speaking to reception. When I checked in, one staff member offered to take my suitcase up to the room as there was no stairs. I said ‘no thanks’ a few times as I had something fragile in the case but he still did as don’t think he understood English very well. This interaction when checking in must happen a lot so surely he must recognise ‘no thanks.’ One of my main gripes is that I made the mistake of losing my key card straight away. My shorts pocket was torn while pushing my luggage on the walk from my last hotel. So when I went out and came back to this hotel I realised the card had gone. I was annoyed with myself that I lost it but thought they would just replace it for no charge. I’ve been to hundreds of hotels in Thailand over 10 years and never seen a charge before for a lost key card. However they charge guests 300 baht when they lose their key card! There’s a piece of paper stating this when they give the key card just to make your stay relaxing however I was exhausted when checking in so didn’t notice this. I found this 300 baht charge for a lost key card totally extortionate and disrespectful to guests. Especially in the current financial climate and with so many other hotels to choose from here. It’s a buyers market so there’s plenty of choice. Think of the things you can buy in Thailand for 300 baht - even a hotel room for a night! 300 baht is the equivalent of many service staffs wage for the day in Thailand. I refused to pay initially so they gave me a new card which took a few seconds to swipe. I understand the staff are just following orders and it’s the managers policy. I was charged a lost card ‘special rate’ of 200 baht checking out and I just paid it so I could leave the hotel as I didn’t like it or the atmosphere anyway. I viewed the hotel next door which was much nicer and cheaper. Even if that didn’t happen, I won’t be recommending this hotel. The room was designed odd and uncomfortable. It was very crammed with not much space. It was really stuffy. The AC was high up, weak and in position away from main part of the room. I was exhausted from traveling so booked this hotel to relax for 2 days in my room and poolside but did neither. The room was too uncomfortable to stay in so I didn’t stay in it much. The curtain rail was designed not to cover the sides of the window so the sun came in. I pushed items against the curtain to cover the sides but still didn’t work. As for the pool area the sun was blocked by the building the whole time and it was hard to relax there. No guests went there much. There was no atmosphere. Some quiet music would have been nice and it was also connected with reception. Due to the hotel being so quiet, staff with not much to do were automatically looking over all the time. I give the hotel 2 out of 5 to be generous. Also minus 1 for the ridiculous and disrespectful key card charge. So 1 out of 5 in total. The hotel next door is much nicer and better value. True price I would say is 500-600 baht a night as the room is crammed, uncomfortable and AC is less powerful than a fan.

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