There’s a feeling that this place is a touch above the crowd from the moment we were sincerely greeted to the hotel by Vireak. We were seated in comfortable chairs and given cold towels and fruit juices to refresh us after our journey. Vireak said he would like to show us two rooms in different positions in the hotel, both on the ground floor as there was no stairs and he was aware of Linda’s knee problems. One was a deluxe room and one an upgrade to a suite, not contest, we took the suite but it was lovely that they offered us the upgrade and the choice. In short that’s what sets this hotel apart, their attention to detail. They make a real effort to know your name, anticipate your needs and offer something (if they can) before you have the chance to ask. An example would be check out, where the standard time was noon. They asked what time we were being picked up for the airport and then offered for us to keep our room until 2pm. In the few mins we had to wait in the lobby, complimentary chilled water was served to our comfy chairs. The outstanding service, friendliness of the staff here are a credit to the Cambodian people and the training they must receive.
Our suite had a King sized bed with quality linens and plenty of space to walk around the bed. It was well equipped with large desk, tea/coffee making facilities, mini bar, air con, TV, mini safe, bathrobes and flip flops, plus a complimentary water and fruit plate. The en suite had a large rain head shower and pretty much everything you’d need, shower gel, toothbrush, razor, hairdryer etc. Outside was a private and secluded patio area with daybed, table and chair, plus a large bath and rain head shower (my favourite). Although outdoors, the area was screened so could not be overlooked by other rooms.
Breakfast was taken in the downstairs restaurant which is open to the air at the sides but has plenty of fans going to keep us cool. There is an egg station where eggs can be cooked your way to order, otherwise it’s buffet style with a selection of western and Asian dishes. This is also the lunch area but at night it is sublime tied by a rooftop area. The two floors are known as the Palate restaurant and serves as election of Asian and western dishes. The rooftop is a great place to eat, airy and delicately lit, with unobtrusively attentive staff providing excellent service. For our meal the staff repositioned a fan to keep us cool and an under table and very successful device to ward off any insects that may intrude on our meal. We chose Amok fish and Loc Lak Beef and both dishes were beautifully presented and deliciously tasty. The other nice thing was that the price of food and drink was comparable with other restaurants of quality in the area, not hiked up as hotel restaurants often are. Happy hour cocktails 5-7pm is a two for one deal, plus a free item from the tapas menu, they are also obligingly happy for you to order a couple of rounds during happy hour and serve both tapas but save your second drinks until after you’ve finished the first, even if that goes past 7pm. Try the Lemongrass Collins, so refreshing, we did….well it would have been rude not to. We also fancied a club sandwich one night from the room service menu and there was no issue with them serving it to us in the comfortable couches on the rooftop whilst we were enjoying our cocktails. “No we can’t” aren’t words they seem to know here.
We’d built in a rest day at this point on our trip and enjoyed spending a good part of it around the small and secluded pool area, with comfortable loungers and umbrellas. Towels are provide and there is a bar if required. It was thoughtful of the staff to clear the whole pool area for our exclusive use…….alright they didn’t but as most guests were out touring the temples we had it all to ourselves for some parts of the day.
There is an on site spa but we didn’t try this out.
Although most of the ground floor is fully accessible there was a step within our suite and one in the ground floor restaurant to access some parts of the buffet. The rooftop restaurant is only accessible by a flight of stairs. Thus people with mobility issues should check that this hotel and the rooms they have available are suitable for your needs.
Coming to Siem Reap……this is THE place to stay.
