Ibis Styles Siem Reap - good for the young !

This is a relatively new hotel in Siem Reap, and it is situated very close to the main tourist areas of the town and just a short car or tut tut ride ( 10 - 15 mins )from the temples and airport.

We booked two rooms, one on points and one with pre - payment. This caused some problems later as the hotel did not take the pre payment until departure, causing some confusion, as they took it twice.

The hotel offers a free platinum service of transport in an air conditioned van from the airport on arrival, and also on departure. They also have available a free local SIM card ( we did not use this so cannot comment on it as almost everywhere in the area has free wifi. ). This was a nice touch and was welcomed. The driver was pleasant and provided chilled bottled water as well.  .

Checking in was easy, as we were anticipated. The hotel had reached out to us to enquire about our incoming flight, and the van was waiting for us. We were last of the plane but almost first out of the airport having avoided the scrum for visas! It is worth the extra few US $ to pre order the tourist visa as it saved a long queue at arrivals in the small airport

A cold welcome drink was served in a funky stoneware jug, and welcome drink vouchers ( one per person ) were offered. These were good for local beer or mock tails. Although the van driver helped with the luggage from the airport into the van and from the van into the hotel, there was no help in moving the bags to the room. Infract when we found a trolley and used that, and a bellhop followed us to our rooms almost immediately to retrieve it. This is supposedly a four star hotel so I would have assumed that there would have been some assistance. Reception was polite and friendly, but seemed unsure of what to do and there was a language barrier. They acted if they understood, but often failed to follow through.

Our rooms were situated on the top floor, not next to each other but facing the town and river. They were not the best rooms that we could have been offered, but had the advantage of opening windows and chamfered walls, making the room much smaller. You had to be awake when you got up in the morning or you may have banged your head on the inward leaning wall. The better rooms are in the corners of the hotel, and probably on the third floor where the hotel swimming pool was situated. The rooms with an atrium "view" were a little more compact (maybe claustrophobic) with no possibility of air circulation.

The bed was a good size and comfortable. The toilet / shower area shared a door but was on the large size for the room. Local branded toiletries and a full amenity kit was available. The room also had a fridge with two bottles of water ( there was no problem in getting as much bottled water as required - I would not wished to have drunk the tap water ) Also a kettle with a selection of coffee sachets and a selection of tea infusions. Powdered milk.  ( The restaurant had some fresh milk ). The Wifi worked well, and there was plenty of plug sockets.

Breakfast was as expected. There were plenty of Asian offerings and few western. The French style pastries were reasonable. The egg station was good, and they made an excellent omelette. We also found that if you asked the waiting staff they would make a much better coffee than the machine. However you had to time your dining arrival not to co inside with the tourist groups that would fill (and then empty) the whole restaurant.

We also ate in the restaurant on an evening one occasion, the food was good, but the portions were not generous for the price.  As you would expect there was much better offerings within a few minutes' walk of the hotel.

We booked a sale rate, off season, and found on the whole the hotel was extremely good value for money. ( 20% of the Sofitel rate ) We were looking for a town hotel near the tourist attractions, and it was perfect.   However it had some problems.

It is situated in the main tourist area of the town, and as such as soon as you left the hotel there was a steady stream of people wanting you to take their tut tut or remork somewhere. Even sitting by the windows in the restaurant you would be approached. After a few days it became annoying. We were even in a tut tut going to a restaurant when another tut tut we had used previously asked us if we wanted to change vehicles ! This is not the hotels fault. It is just where the hotel is.

What is the hotels fault is:

Air-conditioning would not work continually. You had to reset it after a few hours.  We could not find a solution to this.

There were a lot of mosquitoes in the restaurant and pool inside areas.  It was the low season, and it did rain, and is next to the river. But there was no effective fogging or preventative measures. There were no mosquitoes in the rooms though.

Soundproofing could be improved. Infract SHOULD be improved. The walls were too thin on many occasions. The television has a good range of channels, provided via an internet box, but mostly in Chinese.

Housekeeping start doing their rounds at about 7am. They are noisy. This is even with the do not disturb sign on the room. However, they would finish in the late afternoon.

The hotel is in need of general refurbishment. It is about a year old, but it suffers from extremely heavy usage. There is an in house maintenance and painting team that painted about 12 rooms during our stay. They appeared to work 24h a day. Needless to say the whole hotel smelled of fresh paint.

The hotel appeals to large Chinese coach tour groups. If you have had the unfortunate experience of staying in a hotel with a Chinese tour group you will understand.  These were though probably the worst we have ever come across

There is a problem with "non guest" access to the hotel.  This is probably in connection to the tour groups. However when you are disturbed in your room, and the "unwelcome visitor" will not depart until you call the hotel security it is not a good feeling. OH to be fair found it funny. I did not. Hotel offered to change our room, and showed me the other rooms available -but it was the last night so did not make the move. We did however get an apology from the manager, and a few more drink vouchers. Security was good when they knew of a problem, and removed the gentleman from the hotel.

On check out I asked for the bill, and was only given one rooms bill. They had booked the other room in my sons name and despite making the original booking and paying on my points and my credit card,  I could not get them to issue the correct amount of points as my son does not have an Accor account.  Still missing about 1000 points. We stayed 9 nights. The Accor Plus card was not allowed on the "hotel specials".

Would I stay there again ?  Yes.  Despite its problems, and we were staying in the low season regarding refurbishment,  It is very convenient for Pub Street and the Night Market(s), and easy distance of most other things in the town. The transport from and to the airport was a pleasant surprise and welcome. I would probably ask to see what rooms were available before accepting the key cards, and would defiantly avoid the rooms overlooking the atrium.

Our son and his girlfriend found the hotel convenient and a good place to stay, as they could party out all night with the 24h reception and security allowing them to come and go as the wished. They would not have had such a good time at the Sofitel, where we went after they left. The Ibis is not a hotel to relax in. It is probably not for my demographic either.

All of the hotel staff, and especially the restaurant staff were very friendly and smiley and helpful where possible. It is a good hotel for the money, but not 4 star.

Once again, I apologise for my lack of IT skills when uploading the pictures - they have come in a random order.