Need advice on my dilemma: I fly 24 hours (w/1-stop) from New York City, USA to Bangkok next month. Fine.
But I arrive at 1:40 am in the morning! Ugh. Add time for general lateness, going through customs, getting my bags, taking a cab to my downtown hotel (located about Sukhumvit / Soi 25) such that I arrive at the hotel’s front desk about 4 am.
It’s a top hotel. But hotel rules say I can’t check in and go to my room till 2 pm later that day. Meaning I’d have to sit in the hotel lobby or walk the dark streets of Bangkok for 10 hours. I e-mailed the hotel about my situation, hoping they’d respond with a cordial offering to at least try and get me into a room at their earliest, perhaps 9 am or so. Show me some compassion here! But no. Instead, they rather coldly responded that I should pay for an extra day’s stay. Tough tootsies.
Well OK. I pre-paid my hotel night stays. So I could bite the bullet and just pay up for the extra day to go to a room immediately. But on the other hand, it bothers me to pay full price with the night almost over. Sigh.
So, assume the worst case: That I give my bags to the front desk or the bellman and tell them I’ll come back to check in at 2 pm. What do I do in the 10 hours from 4 am till 2 pm? Walk around in the dark mean streets? Nearby Soi Cowboy is closing up. Should I twiddle my thumbs in the hotel lobby? Or perhaps I could wait after my plane lands at the airport itself, at a comfy airport lounge, which is perfect for this purpose. Except you can’t enter a lounge without an outbound plane ticket. Any thoughts or advice here?
