Duangtawan Hotel - Chiang Mai, Thailand

Breathtaking Panoramic View of Chiang Mai From Our Room

If you want a great location, the Duangtawan Hotel may be for you!
It is primely positioned to be in the center of the action - Chiang Mai's Night Bazaar. This is a hugely famous shopping area of Chiang Mai and really all of Thailand and it's not to be missed. 

Getting There From The Airport

The hotel has a shuttle service you can request or you can get a taxi. I would recommend a taxi - cheaper!

Rooms

Duangtawan Hotel has different rooms and rates and it seems that a lot of this has to do with what floor you are on. We chose a room on the 20th floor. It had an amazing view. (see photo above). The curtains just kept pulling back and back and the window was immense and glorious. There was a desk by the window - what a great backdrop to get some work done or make some FaceTime calls back home.

Our room had a large bed,  two nightstands, a small round table and chairs, a TV stand/drawers/refrigerator, a vanity with two drawers, a comfy bench seat, another bench, a closet with hanging room and place to leave your luggage as well as a safe. The bathroom was equipped with a glass stand up shower as well as a soaking tub, hair dryer, and some toiletries. 

I really enjoyed the style in our room as it has some lovely Lisu fabric accents. Very cool!
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Complimentary Toiletries

Feeling like a VIP in the Horizon Lounge

There were some perks of staying in the more pricey rooms, as you would expect. 

The Horizon Lounge was 3 floors above our room and you could go there for a more private and quiet experience at almost any time of day... if you time it right.

Unfortunately for us, we often seemed to arrive at the lull between happenings and didn't always make it back in time for the next session. 

One day we went to the continental breakfast. It is nice to relax and have quiet in that lounge. It was a minimal offering food wise, although I will say they had some incredible fruit pastries that were similar to, but way better than the ones at the general buffet. That being said, I LOVED the official breakfast buffet. It's my dream come true to eat, soups, noodles, and "real food" at breakfast time. Yes, it can get hectic down there. But for me it was totally worth it. I personally found the food choices wonderful and all in all, very tasty. There was also a station for Westerners to get their eggs and waffles and the like. They had Halal and Vegetarian areas as well as a glorious array of fruits and fruit juices.  YUM!
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Pre Dinner Cocktails With A View

Part of our VIP treatment was a little happy hour session in the horizon lounge every day from 17:30-19:00 (5:30-7:00 pm). Each person was entitled to 2 drinks each day. It reminded me a lot of the Manager's  Receptions at Embassy Suites hotels. Well.. actually I guess not really. The snack situation was very different. The 2 free drinks was the similarity. hehe.

We made it a few times to this happy hour and we usually had one of two girls doing the bar tending. I wish for the life of me I could remember the name of the girl who was so kind, mild and sweet. She made us feel especially welcome. Along with your drink they would bring a tiny bowl of something to much on. It was not always the same. Sometimes it was peanuts, sometimes it was some type of unfamiliar chip, and so on.. 

With the exception of our last night there, every time we went to the happy hour there was either no one in the lounge or just one other person/couple. So we picked our favorite spot by the window and enjoyed this view while we sipped our cocktails:

Take Me Back There!!!

The Internet Situation: Meh

Internet was complimentary with our room, however there were stacks of internet passwords at the front desk anyways it seemed like.  The problem was that it was a hassle to make use of the passwords. Every time you left the room, or even locked your phone, you would have to re-enter the cumbersome password. Every time. Each code was only good for a certain length of time, so then you would have to get another code and enter it 5 billion times just so you can refresh your feed to see that nothing is new because everyone back home is sleeping because of the time difference. Ha!!!

Laundry

We did not have laundry done at the hotel although we had some "free" laundry included in our room. It was something like 2 items per person per day and they gave us little cards to turn in. One day we tried to call to have someone pick up laundry and there was a communication error. So we scrapped the idea. 

Communication

There were times when communication was a bit of an issue. As mentioned above, for example. I felt this way also when checking in and out (by the way, reception is on the second floor or so). However, do remember that when you are in another place it is presumptuous to assume that everyone should know your language. While you may not have time to learn the language of the place you are going, the basics of "hello", "please", "thank you", "sorry/excuse me" and a warm smile are enough to keep things going fairly smooth even when there are challenges!

Other Stuff 

There was a really nice pool area that we didn't have time to go in either.  (Aw Man!)
We went to an event in the banquet room and it was a nice facility. 
They have a spa in the building which I also didn't visit, but just an FYI.
Just to reiterate that the location is awesome if you are interested in walking around Chiang Mai and particularly the Night Bazaar.

Verdict: Duangtawan Chiang Mai Hotel

I really enjoyed my stay here. It was perfect for what I needed and if I had more time I could have enjoyed the amenities a little more. There's always room for improvement, of course, but I was pleased and I dare say I would return to Duangtawan Chiang Mai if I needed a "hotel"-type accommodation. 
(This is not a sponsored post)

Where do you like to stay in Chiang Mai?!