My stay would have been a pleasant...
My stay would have been a pleasant one if i had not been bothered with the bed bugs that were present in almost every room in the older building of the hotel.
During the first night of my much anticipated stay in bangkok, my roommates and i were horrified at the sight of bed bugs in not just the beds, but also walls of the room. We had painful and itchy bites on our legs and back with just an hour on the bed. We are lucky that we did not sleep immediately upon returning to our rooms the first night. We were then tranferred to 2 other rooms that were also breeding grounds for the bed bugs. After thorough check in the fourth room, we finally settle ourselves for the night.
As we know the seriousness of bringing bed bugs back home, we washed all our clothings- including the new ones we bought in bangkok, and bags in the bathroom for the whole night. The clothes are then hung around the room and since the hotel do not have portable iron, we have to use hair dryer to blow dry the clothes for 2 whole nights. Though the hotel is kind enough to offer laundry services, we decline the offer as we are sure that bed bugs roamed the laundry area since the bed sheets and blankets are likely to be washed and dried there too. And true enough, a jacket that happened to be taken into the laundry by the house keeping person were spotted with bed bug when it was returned into our room. Hence, the bags that were taken into the laundry were rewashed by our hands when the house keeping people returned to our room.
The assistant manager promised us that the bags and luggages will be washed and dried with hot steam iron and that they will be ready by the 2nd night. In the end, we only managed to get them by noon on the 3rd day as according to the laundry department, the bags and luggages are put outside to dry and the rain has made it impossible to dry up by then. We felt cheated and furious. We would very much prefer to wash and dry the bags ourselves, as by putting the bags out to dry with other bed sheets and blankets, bed bugs are sure to get into them. So, we washed the bags and luggages again on the third day and there was fear of them not drying up quickly enough as our flight home is on the next day.
The supposedly pleasant shopping trip in Bangkok has become 4 tiresome days stay. All the washing and drying has taken up much of our time and we barely have enough rest as we still have to make full use of the day to shop and tour around. Needless to say, we are also not able to find time to enjoy any of the hotel's facilities, such as the swimming pool. Our room was also very messy due to the wet clothing laying around the house to dry. By the last day of our stay, we spent great due of our time in the morning to dry the bags and luggages using the hairdryer and only managed to pack our things on time.
Nonethless, the staff in First hotel has been helpful and taking great efforts to assist us. The assistant manager Chhat (not sure of the spelling) has been very patient, apologetic and accommodating. We would like to thank him for his sincerity and eagerness to help. The house keeping staffs are very friendly and efficient and greatly ease our anxiety when we were busy washing and drying our stuff. The receptionists however were impatient with our request for the bags and service ought to be improved.
I hope the hotel has done something about the bed bugs since our stay. Bed bug is a serious issue and First must take cautious and immediate action to eradicate them.
Read full First, Bangkok review
Summary
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4/6
Customer service
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2/6
Cleanliness of accommodation
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2/6
Quality of room
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4/6
Value for money
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Not Rated
Quality of food
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4/6
Family friendly
