Review of Le Meridien Chiang Mai
First a caveat, this review is about my stay at the Le Meridien Chiang Mai in February 2015, so its quite possible things have changed since I’ve been there. Though I had a perfectly lovely stay, so hopefully they haven’t. 🙂
I landed at the Chiang Mai airport about 10:30 in the morning having taken an overnight flight from Chennai, India. Checking in at noon is often a stretch, I didn’t hold high hopes that I’d be able to get in any earlier. But to increase my chances and at least signal my early arrival to the hotel I splurged and booked the hotel car as my airport transfer.
Their Toyota Camry was 55o baht vs the 120 baht I would have spent on a taxi, but I was tired any having things go smoothly, particularly after messing up my flight out there, was well worth it.
We pulled up to a huge two story lobby bustling with activity. I went to the reception desk and was escorted up to the Club Lounge to check in.
That also boasted a two story ceiling but was quiet and relaxing with only the faint clinks of guests finishing up a late breakfast.
As expected, my room was not ready this early, but they invited me to have breakfast in the lounge while I waited. I wanted a shower before IÂ went anywhere, so I was happy to sit and catch up on email. Before noon they had me in my room.
Or rather a suite, because my Platinum status had upgraded me from a club room to an Executive suite. I could not have been happier!
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, a week or two before leaving for my 3 week adventure, I had landed a near full-time project for all of February, which meant I would be working 6-8 hours a day and having a good workspace was essential. And this suite came with a great desk, table, couch (for when I got lazy), and Nespresso machine to provide plenty of coffee.
The bedroom was accessible through two sets of sliding doors and also had a great window seat, which, had the haze allowed, would have afforded a view of the mountain and temple in the distance.
I LOVED the bathroom. A separate soaking tub with corner windows (and shades for privacy), a huge shower. Dual sinks, and a gigantic walk in closet.
It was a nice touch to have the toilet, with its own sink, outside of the bathroom doors so it would be convenient for any guests I had over without having to invade my private space.
Pool & Spa
The one area this hotel felt a little week was the pool and fitness center. I actually had one of the eliptical machines break while I was using it (and yes, I know how to use it) and the gym area isn’t very air conditioned which made it a little rough.
The pool is nice with an adquate amount of seating, but it only gets a few hours of sun a day, more towards the afternoon. So if you have visions of sun bathing during your Chiang Mai vacation, this probably isn’t the best property for that.
The Spa, however, was great. Not particularly opulant as these things go, but solid service and my therapist’s technique was some of the best I’ve experienced. Prices were a little cheaper than fancy hotels in Bangkok, ~2,500+ baht for an hour, 3,000+ baht for 90 minutes. I particularly loved that while I was there SPG elite members got an additional percentage off services.
The Club Lounge
While I wished that the haze has been less, I still loved the views from the lounge.
It overlooked the downtown with the moutain in the distance. In the mornings there was a pretty full breakfast buffet including pastries, dim sum, fruit and more, as well as an ala carte menu.
Starting around 5 or 5:30Â they offered cocktails and hors d’oerves for two hours, doing a good job of last call 🙂 The lounge was definitely popular and if you didn’t get there at the start it was hard to find a seat.
While I was there there were two options each for white and red wines as well as a sparkling rose. Afterwards was a very elaborate presentation of desserts. It wound up being a great option for me when I felt too sick or too tired to venture out at night.
The Location
I couldn’t have asked for a better location. It was a few blocks walk outside the city walls and immediately adjacent to the Night Market and only about 5-10 minutes (depending on how fast you walk) to the highly recommended Warorot market. The only downside was it was not next to any of the really great restaurants, so I was less inclined after a long day to venture out.
Staying on the club floor really did feel removed from the rest of the hotel — the lobby bars and restaurants had felt busy and hectic so not sure if I would have had a different feeling about it in a normal guest room. But I couldn’t have been happier with my experience, especially for only 4,000 Starpoints a night!
Miscellaneous: If you need an ATM there is one in the gallery building attached to the hotel.
And yes, I did take a normal taxi for 70 baht back to the airport. 🙂
ic photography as much as the stories!
More from this trip
- Planning & Itinerary
- Applying for an India Tourist Visa
- Part 1: What NOT to Do Planning a Trip to India
- Airport Overnight at Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel
- Etihad First Class Check In & Wingtips Lounge JFK
- Etihad First Class on Jet Airways: JFK-AUH
- Etihad Abu Dhabi Lounge Terminal 1
- Etihad Business Class Abu Dhabi-Chennai
- Hotel Review: Park Hyatt Chennai
- An Amazing Tour of South Indian Food
- I Never Expected To Make This Travel Mistake
- Chennai Airport Lounge & Thai Airways Business Class Chennai-Chiang Mai
- Visiting Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai’s Temple on a Mountain
- Where to Eat in Chiang Mai
Great review! I prefer these type of posts over the usual “deals” that you blog about. Seriously, this covers all aspects I care about as an SPG Plat. Although prob might want to mention the SPG category and whether you did cash n pts or whatever rate.
Stayed their last year (also Executive Suite) and agree with the review. Both the breakfast and the evening offerings in the lounge was excellent, and as Keri mentioned the club lounge is night and day compared to the hectic rest of the hotel. There were never more than five people in the lounge. If you venture down to the main restaurant for breakfast (free option for Platinum guests) … it’s like a Las Vegas buffet. Lots of choices but also lots of people, and I feel lower quality (more of the cheap stuff) than the club lounge.
Glad to finally read a trip review or a hotel review even though your information was 11 months old I had thought that your blog was all about merchandise you wanted us to purchase so you could get referral credit. I’d love it if you could go back to your traveling reports.
Sorry it’s come across that way, as I do appreciate you reading! 🙁
With all the holiday sales I was trying to highlight the products that I use and others might enjoy/want to gift (I probably get referral credit on less than 50% of the products I write about). Now that the holidays are over and I’ll have more time I hope to catch up on all my trip reports.
The views from the room weren t actually so great, but the pool did have a nice one. I think Chiang Mai is a city better appreciated from the ground level.
Great review! I recently stayed at this hotel earlier this year and everything you said reflects my recent experience. I didn’t get to stay in a suite (boo) and had a regular room instead of on the SPG floor. It was still convenient and quiet.