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Online hotel booking via affiliate
programs from:
Agoda
Reservations 24
Evolution Tour |
If you are planning to stay at a decent
hotel rather than a backpacker's chipboard mansion and have enjoyed reading
the site so far, please support it by either booking your hotel here
or, if you can handle a little less luxury - staying at
our guesthouse, "our
boutique bijou homestay" in travel brochure speak.
Obviously you aren't going to trust me
with your credit card details, I cant say I blame you, my partner knows
she can't rely on me to feed the dog on time so god knows what I'd do if I
had to worry about dealing with online reservations for dozens of hotels.
Therefore, that's left to the experts -
all reservations are done through two online booking agencies 'Reservations 24' and 'Agoda'. Or one Koh Chang based tour agency with a good
reputation for reliability and efficiency - Evolution Tour.
(I've been using them for a couple of years without any problems.)
The two online hotel
reservation programs that many of the larger, more professional looking hotel booking sites use. Some
hotels are featured on both affiliate programs, others only on one.
The way it works is simple, commission is paid to whoever runs the website
you book your accommodation through.
On
this website, far
more people make their bookings using R24 than Precision. One email I
received mentioned they were more flexible and the booking experience was
far easier. But I've used Agoda to book hotels in Thailand with no
problems at all.
But, being a locally based agent, Evolution
Tours often have better deals from their partner hotels than the big
websites and can also be relied on to confirm availability of rooms and
answer emails quickly.
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The main difference between this site
and the other, larger, commercial hotel booking sites run by corporate
entities is that:
a) I've actually wandered into these
resorts and had a look around, so . . .
b) my mini review is probably a bit
more honest & impartial than a site where every property is a "back to
nature paradise, nestling amongst lush tropical vegetation on an idyllic
palm fringed beach" regardless of actual location, building work going
on next door, the fact that 90% of the vegetation has been concreted over
since the original write up was done or that the beach in the photo isn't
the one that's outside the hotel.
Most of the hotels on the island
are listed here. Likewise, many of the small but very nice bungalow
resorts aren't listed either. The problem for visitors to Koh Chang
is that they are happy solely to accept walk in guests.
|
 'Inspiration'
Beach Villa For Rent on Koh Chang.
'Inspiration' is a unique 4 bedroom beachfront modern Thai-style
villa with private pool. Available for private holiday
rental. Ideal if you want privacy and luxury away from the
large resort hotels. Located on Pearl Beach, midway
between White Sand beach & Klong Prao beach.
More details here. |
Should you book in advance?
Yes, if you're looking for hotel
standard accommodation. In virtually all cases you'll get better deals
booking online in advance than if you simply turn up at the hotel and ask
for a room. In the high season, if you're looking for a comfortable bungalow
you'll find there aren't that many places that can be booked online.
Therefore, book a couple of nights at a 2 star resort and head off and look
for bungalows by the beach when you arrive.
One final piece of advice is to avoid
the cheaper, older resorts such as Koh Chang Resort, Klong Prao Resort,
Chang Park Resort during long weekend holidays & other Thai holiday periods
as they are very popular with groups of traveling Thais. The reason
being, Thais travel in large groups and there's a good chance you'll find
yourself staying next to a group of 6-8 people who've got their own karaoke
system and set up an outdoor kitchen a few metres from your balcony.
 The hotels . . .
I've grouped the reviews together by
beach. Starting at the north-west of the island and going down to the
south-west. The satellite photo opposite will give you an idea
about the location of the beaches. The ferry piers are at the north east of
the island, so are nearest to White Sand Beach. From White Sand Beach to
Bangbao is around 20 minutes drive.
(There's info about each of the beaches in the 'Map'
section of this site and you'll find photos of the areas in the
Gallery.)
Price guide. The price range
shown next to each hotel indicates the range of prices from the cheapest low
season room to the price for the best room or suite during high
season.
$ = Under 1,500 baht ($37)
per night
$$ = 1500 - 3,000 baht ($37 -
75) per night
$$$ = 3,000 - 5,000 baht ($75
- 125) per night
$$$$ = 5,000 - 8,000 baht
($125 - 200) per night
$$$$$ = Over 8,000 baht
($200) per night
(Recommendations:
I've limited myself to five places where, from my knowledge of them and the
feedback I've had through this site, the plus points easily outweigh the
bad. I've no connection with these hotels at all.)
Klong Son Bay
White Sand Beach
Pearl Beach
Klong Prao
Kai Bae
Lonely Beach
Bailan
Bangbao
South East Koh Chang
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