Sunday, September 5, 2010

Siem Reap Hotels The Different Kinds of Places to Stay

Looking for Siem Reap Hotels to stay in?

Siem Reap has been booming over the past few years as more and more people learn about the wonderful town and Angkor Wat ruins.

Nowadays there are plenty of accommodation options available; in fact, you can find something to suit every taste and budget range.

One of the things that makes Siem Reap so special is that despite its boom in tourism, the Siem Reap residents have retained their simple ways and prices have not become inflated at Siem Reap hotels and hostels that are run by locals.

There are plenty of hostels in and around Siem Reap that provide comfortable lodging that does not stretch the hip pocket even for the most budget conscious backpacker.

You can still find budget Siem Reap hotels from around US$5.00 per person!



Budget Hotels (Hostels)


One of the advantages of budget hostels is that they are often run by Cambodian families and not multi-national corporations. This means that you get very personalized and friendly service in many cases as well as excellent tips and travel advice from Siem Reap residents.

You will find that although the budget Siem Reap hotels are cheap, they offer all the basic services that a budget traveler to Asia might want: hot showers, clean rooms, cable TV and Internet access. Although the décor in these budget hotels is simple, they are almost always very clean.

Many hostels and guesthouses have restaurants and tourist desks attached and they will almost certainly be able to put you onto a tuk-tuk driver who can show you around town and the ruins.

One of the disadvantages that you may experience upon arrival in Siem Reap, as in many other Asian cities, is the old commission trap. Many tuk-tuk drivers and taxi drivers get commissions for taking you certain budget guesthouses. Sometimes you may have trouble managing to get to the guesthouse you want as the driver tries to insist on taking you via 15 different commission paying hostels.

Many of the family run guesthouses are charming and the staff friendly and helpful, one of the disadvantages is that the quality of service can be erratic. To avoid an accommodation nightmare do your research and talk to other travelers to find out which hostels and guesthouses have the best reputation.  High end accommodation, while more expensive, will certainly be of high quality and standard.




Book Siem Reap, Cambodia
Hostel
Arrival
Nights

Hostelbookers is one of the best website out there to familiarize yourself with the hostels and guesthouses in Siem Reap.

It has reviews by previous
visitors so you can see the good and the bad, and it covers more than 30 hostels and a few of the hotels.

The "no booking fee" is also great way to stretch the budget even more.


High End and Luxury Hotels


Since accommodation tends to be so affordable in Siem Reap, you may wish to take advantage of the prices and upgrade to a higher end hotel option. Siem Reap certainly has plenty of these options now available too, with many of them having sprung up in the past few years.

Worldwide hotel chains like Sofitel and Raffles have opened hotels in Siem Reap, but there are many 4 and 5 star hotels all throughout town.

If you are looking for a little luxury high end Siem Reap hotels can certainly provide it. The high end hotels in Siem Reap offer the lap of luxury, while exploring the ancient Angkor temples. Some of the facilities you can expect to enjoy in the high end hotels include: spas, swimming pools, baby sitting services, dazzling views and lush gardens, cafes, lounges, gymnasiums, beauty salons and much more.


Search Siem Reap Hotel Deals

At high end Siem Reap hotels, such as Hotel De La Paix, you will
almost certainly have a pleasant stay, but sometimes the disadvantage of glossy resorts is that you do not get to connect with the locals. And locals are most
certainly one of the town’s best attractions for their warmth and friendliness.

If you're looking to stay at higher end
hotels, try Hotels Combined. They search multiple hotel search websites  and display the result all in one page, a la Bing.com, so it's very quick to sort and filter and you get all the results very easily. I've tried this search tool, and I'm very impressed.

Sometimes it is also worth checking with
the hotel directly, once you know what you want. In this difficult times, some hotels might give discounts when asked for, even though it's not advertised somewhere else.


So in short...

Both budget and high end Siem Reap hotels have their advantages and disadvantages. Before arriving in Siem Reap weigh up your budget with your vacation expectations and desires and work out which accommodation option is likely to work best for you.

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