Yuzana

The room is very plain Jane. There have been a few insects but not very many. The room is fine if you just need a place to lay your head, and then get moving in the morning. But if you need anything else at all that is customer service oriented; this is not the place for you at all. I asked the desk if they could locate a courier for me to help me get some things shipped. And like a student who works harder at being lazy than actually getting his or her work done; they spent perhaps 2 to 3 times as much time explaining to me that they don’t do custom service oriented things, and it would’ve simply taken them to make a phone call and find a courier for me. They have a breakfast, but I need to avoid meat and dairy for religious reasons. And so the ‘breakfast’ consisted of three pieces of toasted white bread, a bit of jam, and a cup of coffee. And for some reason, it took a good twenty to twenty five minutes to toast three pieces of plain white bread, and put a tablespoon of jam on a small plate. I asked if they have a laundry service, they said no, and made zero effort to tell me where I could get my laundry serviced. They have safety deposit boxes for use by customers. But they refused to count my money and sign their name to how much money I was putting in their box. Using the system they had in place someone could easily steal some or all of my money, and I would have had no recourse to justice whatsoever. So after having made the foolish mistake of counting my money in front of them under the assumption they would also count it, and then sign me a receipt for it: I prepared to defend myself in my room from attack in case they sent thugs to come and rob me during the night; I did so by purchasing wasp spray to spray in the eyes of an invader from across the room (far more effective than pepper spray); and prepared a lamp to sneak-attack an invader if need be (since I usually stay up most of the night). I have stayed in probably over 100 different hotels in Asia. And it is not even a contest to say this is the absolute worst one I have ever stayed in. BUT…it will comfortably get you through the night if a place to rest your head is all you need. That is why they get two stars instead of only one.

It looks like the owners are just waiting for it to be sold, no new investments are done - things are probably only repaired when absolutely necessary. It's a pity, for the location and it's potential. There are serious plus sides: internet is fast (3MB/s) rooms are spacious and it's 15 minutes walk from Shwedagon. Rooms and bathrooms are clean, but it all oozes a little sadness.

Normally I book over Internet sites: but this time I was in the neighborhood in the Merchant Boutique Hotel when a cab driver tried to persuade me of changing into this large outdated hotel. Thanks to Buddha: I made a visiting check of the premises, and I never checked in.