Date of stay: Oct 4-7, 2012
Siem Reap, being the tourist city that it is, has hundreds of hotels and inns. For a tourist looking for a place to stay in, that can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Good, because surely of the hundreds, you're bound to find one that'll suit your fancy and your needs; bad, because you'll have to check the features, the prices, and the reviews of hundreds of hotels.
So the decision of which hotel to book wasn't as quick as we hoped it'd be. Grace, Istine, and I had to exchange e-mails, and then meet up to discuss our options.
Istine checking out the view from the balcony of our room.
We weren't really looking for anything fancy. We reckoned that since we would be out exploring most of the time, it wouldn't make sense to spend a lot on accommodations. We had a set of criteria for our room/hotel, nonetheless, to make sure our stay was pleasant. This helped narrow down our options:
- Hotel in the central area (to make sure that everything would be accessible in case we needed anything.)
- AC room (because Siem Reap is also known for its hot climate).
- Clean toilet.
- Triple room, or at least the hotel allows an extra bed in a double room.
- Room price is less than P2000.00.
- Free breakfast and airport pick up.
- Huge number of good reviews from customers on tripadvisor.com and agoda.com.
Here are other Siem Reap hotels and inns we considered:
View from the dining area. The balconies and the pool give this side of the hotel, according to Istine, a Mediterranean feel. The pool with its waterfall edge and fountain is, hands down, the hotel's best feature.
We eventually booked with Rithy Rine Angkor Hotel, and we're glad we did because it gave us plenty of bang for our buck. Here's how:
1. Seansean Sin, the manager/owner, was very helpful. I sent him a couple of e-mails, initially to arrange the airport pick up, and he responded very promptly every time. I asked him if he could recommend a tour guide for when we visit the temples, and he arranged for that, too.
2. Our triple room, which cost only P1500.00 a night, was 40 square meters, the biggest among all the hotels we checked. We also had a balcony that overlooked the sundeck and the swimming pool.
3. The hotel is a 10- to 15-minute walk away from the night market and old market. It's 50 meters away from a convenience store and the quirky Under Construction restaurant (more about this in another entry). It's also close enough to Siem Reap's biggest supermarkets (Lucky and Angkor).
Rithy Rine's tropical style interior. Clockwise: The corridor on the second floor, details of the Churning of the Sea of Milk wood carving on the same floor, Istine doing an impression of the apsara dancer carving, and the hotel's staircase.
4. Everyone at the hotel was friendly. The receptionists patiently answered our questions about getting around and coordinated with our tuktuk driver (since we didn't have a Cambodia phone). The people in charge of the kitchen were really nice. They gave us hot water for the instant noodles we brought in from the Philippines (yes, we flew in with noodles and canned stuff because we didn't want to spend too much on food).
5. Breakfast included good coffee. Too bad they could only give us a cup each a day; but hey, we could have as much fresh milk as we wanted, so we couldn't really complain.
Taking our time after breakfast and taking advantage of Rithy Rine's free WiFi on our last day in Siem Reap.
6. The manager allowed us to check out at 1:30 p.m. instead of 11:00 a.m. since our flight home wasn't until 10:00 p.m.
7. We had a bathtub in our room, which we found very useful after a long and exhausting day, since we were unwilling to pay for massages.
8. We had strong WiFi connection in our room.
Photos from the hotel's website. Top left: The hotel looks small from outside, but do not be fooled, the hotel has a total of 59 rooms. Top right: Deluxe triple room. Bottom: Reception area.
For only P500.00 a night (since the room cost was split to three), I really feel I have no business complaining about anything, but we wished we had a phone in the room that connected us to the front desk. It was quite inconvenient to have to go all the way down when we needed something, hot water for the noodles included.
Speaking of hot water, we don't know what happened to the coffee or tea maker that was supposed to be in the room as described in the room features. Also, if I'm going to be anal about toilet cleanliness, I'd say that the floor and the tub needed more scrubbing. The same goes for the toilet door which seem to have gathered soap residue. The wooden floors of the hotel also looked as if they could use some polishing. Again, this is me being anal. It really wasn't bad considering the hotel passed Istine's standards (she was most particular about cleanliness when we were searching for a hotel).
Map from the hotel's website. On our last day in Siem Reap, we opted to walk from the hotel to the post office then to the Old Market area (more about this in another post).
Labels: Cambodia, Rithy Rine Hotel, Siem Reap, Siem Reap Accommodations
Rithy Rine's tropical style interior. Clockwise: The corridor on the second floor, details of the Churning of the Sea of Milk wood carving on the same floor, Istine doing an impression of the apsara dancer carving, and the hotel's staircase. 
