Clients travelling to Thailand can choose from a wide range of accommodation according to their budget and taste. Most offer extremely good value for money due to the strength of the pound with rates ranging from around £5-£200 per room per night. Below Travel Weekly looks at some of the product on offer.
The unusual
Among the most unusual properties to be featured by UK operators is accommodation in bamboo river rafts on the River Kwai. The price for one-night’s accommodation, transfer from Bangkok and two-day tour is £79 per person with Somak. The rafts have en-suite facilities but no electricity or hot water.
The Lisu Lodge in Northern Thailand, which is featured by several operators, is built in local style and offers accommodation for only eight people in four two-person units each with private facilities. Meals are taken seated on the floor.
Magic of the Orient offers a three-day excursion from Chiang Mai, including accommodation at the Lisu Lodge, from £228 per person.
Also rustic but offering a very good standard is the Similana Resort, in a secluded beach location at Khao Luk in the south of Thailand. Rooms, built of wood, are on stilts on the hillside or on the beach.
Also featured by Magic, prices are available on request.
Chain
Chain hotels in Bangkok include Meridien, Mandarin, Marriott, Pan Pacific, Hilton, Imperial Hotels, Amari, Shangri-La, Sheraton and Regent. Prices vary considerably with rooms bookable through UK operators such as Destination Far East.
There is a Holiday Inn, Merdien and a Sheraton in Phuket, and in Chiang Mai a Holiday Inn, Regent and a Westin. Other chain locations include Meridien and Dusit in Chiang Rai and Dusit in Krabi.
TABLE: Western look:the Mandarin, Bangkok
Budget
It is possible to find a bed in Thailand for less than £5 a night, with the greatest selection of budget accommodation available in Bangkok and the smaller resorts such as Surat Thani in the south.
Even the larger resorts such as Pattaya, Phuket, Ko Samui and Chiang Mai have a wide choice of budget hotels with prices from £10 a night. Some of these properties have restaurants and several will organise tours.
For more details, contact the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
Upmarket
Bangkok, Phuket, Ko Samui and Krabi boast several upmarket properties.
Two of the most luxurious properties in Phuket are the Amanpuri, which costs from £200 per night and The Banyan Tree, which is slightly cheaper – £1,095 per person for five nights, including return flights with Premier Holidays – and also offers an 18-hole golf course.
The course is located next to The Banyan Tree’s more affordable sister property, the recently refurbished four-star all-suite Allamanda Laguna Phuket which is ideal for both families and couples. Prices start from around £699 per person for five nights including flights with Premier.
In Ko Samui, the Hotel Tongsai Bay and the Santiburi Dusit Resort are two of the most prestigious properties. The Tongsai costs from £911 per person and the Santiburi from £921 for five nights, including flights, with Kuoni.
Krabi has the luxurious Ravayadee Premier Resort, which Sovereign Holidays offers from £1,185 per person for five nights including flights and bed and breakfast.
Among the most luxurious properties in Bangkok are the Royal Orchid Sheraton, Shangri-La, Oriental and The Peninsula, newly opened, which is offering introductory room rates of £50-£60 per night for next year.
All-inclusives
Few hotels in Thailand offer all-inclusive packages, although several offer semi-inclusive deals.
The only real all-inclusive property is the three-star Phuket Island Resort which is featured by Thomson and costs about £650 per person for a week including flights.
Among the semi-inclusive properties in Phuket are the Cape Panwa, from £829 for five nights including flights, and the Pearl Village, which starts at £819 for five nights, both with Sovereign. Prices include full board, some drinks and non-motorised water sports.
Mid-market
Most of Thailand’s holiday resorts have a selection of three- or four-star hotels to choose from. Facilities typically include a choice of bars and restaurants, swimming pools, gymnasiums and sometimes tennis courts.
Five nights in a mid-market hotel in Pattaya with Kuoni cost from £449 per person including flights.