Finally found the Patra Boutique Hotel, yay! Our taxi couldn’t come into the small road so we had to walk in from the main road where we alighted.
For those of you who have missed my earlier post on How to get from Don Mueang Airport to Bangkok City Centre, click on the link to read more.
We actually arrived around noon time but we weren’t allowed to check in because the hotel was very strict about their check-in time (2pm). The lady at the reception desk just asked us to come back again at 2pm in a rather unfriendly manner.
As we didn’t want to wait around and waste time, we left our luggage at the baggage counter near the entrance. There wasn’t a room or special designated space to keep luggages secure. Even though we were given a tag and someone was seated there to keep watch, it was still out in the open with a lot of human traffic. I would suggest that you do not leave valuables in your luggages if you intend to leave them there.
The hotel will collect a 1000 baht security deposit upon check-in so please have that ready in cash. It’s meant to cover any incidental charges and will be refunded upon check-out.
Patra Boutique Hotel
74 Soi Juldis 19
Petchaburi Road, Phayathai
Rajathevi, Bangkok 10400
Thailand
Tel: +66 95 226 6324
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/patrabhotel
Website: http://www.patraboutiquehotel.com/
Patra Boutique Hotel is located right in the heart of Pratunam. Those of you who always come to Bangkok to shop wouldn’t be unfamiliar with this area. If you wake up early in the morning, you can catch the morning market in wholesaling action where mainly retailers would come here to stock up on products.
And from afternoon till evening, there’s the regular market where you can shop till you drop. You can find a plethora of products from clothing and shoes to accessories and jewellery here. It’s the shoppers’ paradise with so much to see, bargain and buy. I will write about the Pratunam market in more details in a separate post later.
This was the hotel lobby area – pretty spacious with lots of seating space. Always spotting people stuffing new buys into their luggages or rearranging things around just so everything would fit, lol. A common sight isn’t it when you’re in Bangkok?
A painted map on the wall which would give you some ideas on where to go or what to see if you haven’t got a clue.
The hotel offered free wifi in the guest rooms but you can also use these laptops at the lobby to check your mails, etc.
Smiling Buddha
This dining area was pretty well used by guests in this hotel. Basically if you buy street food from outside and you don’t want to eat in your room because of the lingering food smell, you can do so here before going back to your room.
This weighing machine came in really handy because most if not all of us would probably end up with overweight baggages because of all the shopping so you could use this to gauge if you still have the space to squeeze in more stuffs.
On one side of the lobby was this retail store that carried local souvenirs and snacks. If you don’t get the chance to go to the Big C supermarket, you can actually make your purchases via the hotel. Of course, the prices would be marked up for such a service but overall, they were still quite reasonable. Real time saver and very convenient too.
If you order over 1000 baht, your items will be nicely packed in carton boxes which you can easily check in at the airport.
Up to our room. There wasn’t any bellboy service here so you would have to lug your own luggages. Security was fine as you would need to tap your room card to be able to access the lift so you don’t have to worry about having funny people around.
The common corridor wasn’t air-conditioned as the windows at the ends were open.
And this was the room that was allocated to us.
Big double bed
The usual fittings. Nothing overly special about the room even though this was a boutique hotel. I thought it was more like a no-frills hotel because it was really basic but good enough as it wasn’t like we would spend a lot of time in the room.
Overall, the room was spacious, clean and well-maintained.
Do note there were no international channels on TV, only the local Thai ones.
Ample hanging space
Hairdryer and safe (big enough for a 15″ Macbook)
The lady at the reception said the mini bar was complimentary but when we opened the fridge, we only found 2 bottles of drinking water. It was only when we came back to Singapore and I was writing a review on TripAdvisor that I read from another guest’s review that there were supposed to be snacks and soft drinks too so I guess the housekeeper must have forgotten to replenish stock for us.
They were very particular about the no-smoking rule and kept reminding us non-stop even though we already said we were non-smokers, lol.
Bathroom was generally clean. Water pressure was good.
Not much of a view from our room window. Could see Baiyoke Sky Hotel in the background as we were just minutes away from it.
Coming out of the hotel, I must say I really liked the location even though it was in an alleyway-like street. The street was bustling with street food vendors from morning till late night – impossible to get hungry if you stay here (not like you will ever be hungry when in Bangkok, lol).
See that mango sticky rice stall on the left side? That mango sticky rice was one of the better ones I had in Bangkok because the mango was always sweet and the coconut sauce wasn’t overly saccharine or cloying. I would always have one box for supper before I go to bed. So good. ??
On the left hand side while walking out of the hotel
Besides food stalls, there were also two 7-11s, pharmacies, money changers, massage parlours, tour operators etc on the same street. Pretty convenient as everything was within reach. By the way, this street is also where the famous Sabx2 wanton mee is located.
As the lane was small and narrow, it was inevitable that there would be human and traffic jams. Do watch out for cars, motorbikes and tuk tuks coming from the front and back.
This was the right side which was quieter
This was also the same way to get to the nearest BTS Station Phaya Thai. It might look as though the station was very near. In fact if you would ask the hotel reception for walking direction, they would tell you it was just a 10-minute walk.
We tried that route in the day but it was really dodgy because you would have to pass by the squatters/slums area by the railway tracks. Not recommended to walk whether in the day or night. There wasn’t enough lighting and the route just wasn’t straightforward.
I suggest that you stick with the main Phetchaburi Road and go to Ratchathewi BTS Station instead. Or just take the taxi or tuk tuk, it’s inexpensive anyway.
Overall, I really don’t think Patra Boutique Hotel qualify as a boutique hotel because it doesn’t have a distinctive character. It’s more like a no-frills, budget hotel. Room rate starts from S$50 for a superior room on Hotels.com which is very affordable. I was very happy with the hotel room for the price paid. Room was clean and bed was comfy for a good night’s rest.
Another plus point was that the Ratchaprarop Airport Link Station was only a short walk away. Go there by the Baiyoke Sky Hotel route. Do not walk along the railway tracks because of the makeshift houses there. The train will take you to Suvarnabhumi International Airport for your flight home. I will share more about this at the end of my Bangkok travel series.
So if you’re into street food and cheap/bargain shopping, you might want to consider staying at the Patra Boutique Hotel. No point spending too much on high end hotels as you can use those extra cash for more eating and shopping. 😉