The Signature Hotel Thapae

Foreign travelers BEWARE. Great hotel but the front desk doesn't have your best interests in mind. This hotel should have gotten 5 stars and was well on its way to getting that rating. Check in was smooth, room and bathroom were incredible (one of my best rooms in Thailand). The location is probably the best in Chiang Mai, if you want location to old city and all the night markets. If I had a complaint with the room or location, it would be that the water in the shower is Luke warm to warm. Definitely not a hot shower. This didn't bother me enough to let the front desk know because everything else was incredible. Now, why am I giving this hotel 3 stars instead of 5 then? Well, because I went to the front desk once, the day before I left. I wanted to find out if scheduling a taxi ahead of time would be worth the extra 20 or 30 baht. The woman at the front desk was pleasant and called her "taxi" then looked at me and said 250 baht. While this isn't a lot, it is when compared to Grab or Bolt. Almost double the fare of the other two. I ended up taking a bolt to the airport for 80 baht (so that is 3x the price) and i only waited 3 minutes after ordering, for them to show up. I mention this because as a foreigner that has lived in Thailand almost a year. I expect a little price gouge for the ferrang, but to charge three times the normal price is ridiculous. It is straight taking advantage of someone that doesn't know any better. So if I was to take a tour and have them arrange the taxi I'm sure what would normally be 2k-3k baht, could easily be 6k-9k baht. If you need an amazing place to stay and can handle travel and planning on your own. This place is incredible. If you would like to have some of the convenience of having the hotel help plan and arrange travel, stay elsewhere. I highly recommend downloading Grab and Bolt if you are not familiar with Thailand and pay with card instead of cash so the drivers can't change the price. The apps are very user friendly. If you are a foreigner expect a little price raise, this is normal. To raise it three times is a scam and completely unacceptable. The gentleman behind the counter were always friendly and smiling. The woman was as well until I said that price was ridiculous and said I would handle travel myself.

Small room but the shower was amazing for Thai hotel standards. One star deducted because I booked a double room but they gave me a twin bed room.