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I was originally booked on a hotel closer to the city centre, however after debating whether I want to utilise my ALL (Accor) Gold Status, I ended up switching to this hotel a month out. So there are 3 ALL Accor properties right next to each other, this Novotel, Ibis and Ibis Budget, although the latter is just down the road a few minutes walk away.

LOCATION

Novotel is located in the Western part of the Chiang Mai city centre, but not far from the airport which can be an issue for noise as it is basically smack bang in the centreline of the runway, but the avgeek in me loves that, not so much the noise early morning or late night though. While it is further out from the city, it is only minutes walk away from a shopping mall, finding food is definitely not going to be a problem, or you can also dine in the restaurant in the hotel or the other restaurants within the ALL property.

CHECK IN

As my Grab ride pulled into the hotel car park, the staff came over and assist with my luggage. During check in, I was not acknowledged for my Gold status with ALL which is very odd since the last few properties I’ve stayed in all did acknowledge it (even if they didn’t give me any of the benefits that come with the status). Although in saying so, I was given some of the benefits that comes with my status, like a room upgrade to the next category.

During my stay I needed to get the receptionist to call my airline due to a delay, while waiting a European looking guy was pretty loud demanding that he “speaks to the General Manager not the Manager”. The Manager was being very polite despite that and informed him that the General Manager was away at that time and she can assist him with his issues, and brought him outside to a sitting area to discuss. I’m not sure what issues caused such a reaction by the guy but I definitely don’t endorse or believe such a tone will benefit anyone or resolve any issues. Even if the issues were not resolved by them a firm and assertive stance should have been enough for the hotel to make things right, if they want repeat customers.

ROOM

I was given the Deluxe room instead of Superior, the Superior room has a balcony but the Deluxe doesn’t, although I don’t see myself using the balcony often regardless.

Upon entering the room, on the left is a closet space with a small enclosed area where the ironing, safe and slippers are placed. There’s a luggage rack right under the hanger space and they do provide 2 robes. On the right of the hanger space is the minibar, while it is well stocked it is all chargeable as well. They have a bar style mini fridge which is also fully stocked with all kinds of drinks. I’m surprised that their complimentary mini bar doesn’t include instant coffee since that’s fairly common including tea, but they only have 2 tea bags there. Next to the closet/mini bar area is the full length mirror and then a connecting door to the room next door.

Opposite the closer/mini bar area is the toilet and bathroom. The vanity sink is outside while there are 2 cubicles, one for the toilet and the other for the shower. There’s some amenities on the sink with disposable toothbrush, shaving kit, ear plugs, etc.

In the main room area, the left side is a work desk with the TV right above the desk, which make the viewing experience not so pleasant if you want to watch something or connect your computer to the TV while working. There’s a chair and coffee table right by the window as well, the coffee table is large and I like that I could dump all my takeaway containers there and still have space.

On the right is the King bed with 2 night stands on each side. There’s light switches to control the entire room including the light by the coffee table which is really nice, I don’t want to have to get up from the bed to turn off 1 or 2 lights. There is also universal plug and USB plug there for you to charge your devices.

My view is looking towards the other side of the building and pool, underneath is the outdoor bar sitting area with a pond. The outside walls of the other building is all patched up and you can see the small cracks and they didn’t paint it over after, so it looks really ugly, the condition of the room isn’t any better with the walls all scratched up or chipped.

During late evening, my neighbour got back and started showering and blow drying their hair until midnight, and then restart at 6am. I could hear every single word from their room, I suspect it’s the lack of noise insulation from the connecting door, as I did not notice any noise from the other side so I don’t believe it’s a wall noise insulation issue. There’s also noise from aircraft taking off since it’s directly on the flight path but that didn’t bother me as much, it only last a few seconds and they stop between midnight and 6am, I’ve seen people complaining on the reviews so if people are sensitive to noise, they shouldn’t book anywhere near or in the flight path of the airport, Chiang Mai city centre is more out of the way which would be a more suitable choice. I think they should be more mindful when guests are requesting a quiet room that they don’t place people to a connecting room, if they have a lot of those then they need to find a solution to insulate the door and gap.

HOUSEKEEPING

I didn’t really get housekeeping to come daily so I got them to come on my 3rd day of stay, I’ve placed some plastic bags by the connecting room door handle because I washed them to reuse, but it was gone when I got back. I know that Asian countries view plastic bags like an infinite resource, there’s no initiatives by the government to reduce plastic usage but given that ALL have all these “environment friendly” initiatives they should train their housekeeping staff to be more mindful of the way they handle these things.

I also found a used tissue and rubber band by my nightstand next to my electric shaver that I was charging, I don’t know what the tissue was used for nor why they would be placed there by the housekeeping staff, I didn’t touch it or report it but again this is a lack of attention by the housekeeping staff which they should pay more attention to.

Speaking of “environment friendly initiatives”, used towels and robes shouldn’t be taken off to wash unless they are requested by the guest. Some hotels have ways of making guest indicate whether they want it washed or be reused, if I did request daily housekeeping, then the towels would also be washed daily. This is not what I would call environmental friendly, my robe was also taken away but fortunately there was a spare one since I was staying there alone. Again, if Novotel is serious about their environmental initiatives, then they need to do more to show that they are doing something to back up their claims.

AMENITIES

The hotel have a restaurant and bar on the basement level, you can walk down the staircase from the lobby which have a couple of sitting area set up and a swing chair. There are a couple of sitting area by the basement as well, but be careful walking to the restaurant or bar as there’s gap on the walkway for their pond, I’m not sure why they couldn’t install covers for it but they do have high-vis tape on those gaps which is better than nothing I suppose.

On the 4th floor you can find their gym which seems to be pretty well equipped as well, during my stay I could see a few people using it, but it’s also a very cramped area so it might not be ideal for more than a few people in there.

The pool is located next to the gym but it’s slightly elevated so you’ll have to climb a few steps to get there, it’s not accessible friendly though so you’re out of luck if you can’t climb the few steps. The shower/locker is near the gym area so you’ll be sharing it with the gym patrons and it’s a few more steps to get to the pool, ideally the shower should be right by the pool but it’s a small area I doubt they could do anything about that. There’s a couple of sun beds and umbrella for shade, but in the afternoon when I visited there was barely shade provided due to the angle of the sun so most of the chairs are in direct sunlight and the one I was on quickly become shadeless as well, I think they need to rethink about how they can provide shade in that area because the umbrella they have set up doesn’t really do much if anything. There’s a tiny shallow pool area which are for kids and the main pool is 1.2m deep which is not very deep for tall people like me but it’s good enough and I could still swim laps, just don’t dive because you might hit the bottom real quick.

ALL GOLD STATUS BENEFIT

While I did not get a verbal acknowledgment of my status as a Gold member, which the other ALL hotels did, I did get the physical benefit which is the most important part.

As a Gold member, I was upgraded to the next room category to a Deluxe Room. While the original room “Superior” has a balcony, the Deluxe doesn’t. Depending on how much you value your personal outdoor space, it doesn’t make too big of a difference to me and I would probably prefer a bigger room instead, as I will be able to go down to the common area to spend my outdoor time.

In the room by the work desk is also the “welcome amenity” that they provide as a Gold member. Now this is a very different type of amenity that I get from the other 2 properties I’ve been in, while the other 2 properties provided snacks/desert that must be consumed within a day or 2, Novotel did it differently by giving me 2 sealed packets of dried banana which I haven’t eaten for a long time, and it could be a local delicacy of Chiang Mai, it’s nice to be able to enjoy something local as well and the best part is the ability to bring it away after the stay. For the last 2 welcome amenity I didn’t get a chance to eat them because I was away from the room most of the day and by the time I get back I would have had dinner and late.

COST

There wasn’t any Red Hot Rooms for Chiang Mai and there aren’t many ALL Accor properties around here, apart from Ibis this is probably the more affordable property you can stay in, otherwise a resort in the mountains is the next best option but you’ll be shelling over $1000 a night. For the 3 nights that I’ve booked to stay here, I paid a total of THB 7520 (NZD$390) which is not the cheapest but for the late changes it is to be expected.

CONCLUSION

There are lots of room for improvement for Novotel, and given there’s a lack of options for chain hotels, this may be the only best option you have, there’s a much more luxurious resort under the ALL brand but you’ll be forking out many thousands for it, so between budget and luxury, this is the only option you will have. Its relatively location to the airport makes it more ideal for airport accessibility and cost but you’ll have to put up with the aircraft noise, and if you have a connecting room your neighbour would be an additional source of noise.

The staff including housekeeping could do with more training especially with the environment friendly initiatives that ALL is trying to push. The housekeeping staff could do more with being more attentive with their rubbish and such which shouldn’t be left behind let alone in an area which is near the bed and has personal item placed, it is showing the lack of hygienic standard by the housekeeping team.

The amenities are decent enough but don’t expect it to be anything world class, it’s there if you want it and good enough to satisfy your needs. The pool shade area is my biggest concern after utilising it for 2 days and find myself seeking shade, the harsh and brutal sun in Chiang Mai is not to be underestimated. Just to provide context on how hot it is, my phone was sizzling even under the shade probably hot enough to cook an egg. They need to find ways to provide more shade like a large cover spanning across the whole deck not just the tiny umbrellas as they don’t seem to provide much coverage.

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