Amari Rincome Chiang Mai

(Photos only)

We stayed here in Nov. 05. The hotel has medium to small sized rooms,pleasant public area, small bathrooms, dated decor in older rooms. The Italian restaurant was ok, but empty. The hotel is located in Chiang Mai, on a fairly interesting shopping street and near a modern high rise shopping center, but 15 minutes (by Tuk-Tuk) away from the night market. We reserved a suite for approx Bht 7200 per night (USD 180 incl taxes/service). It was very spacious, but tattered, and the bathroom was not particularly clean. Also, the bedroom was on the noisy street side without soundproofed windows. We switched to a newly renovated "Deluxe" room on the garden side. It was recently renovated, but with a tiny, relatively unfinished bathroom, with gaps in the walls, plaster smeared on tile, and poor water pressure, with barely adequate hot water. We never received turndown service.

Buffet breakfast was nice, served in a restaurant overlooking the pool area.

Upon check out, we were overcharged approx bht 2400 (approx. $60)., since our initial reservation was over the Internet, getting a lower internet rate. However, when we switched to less expensive deluxe room from the suite, we were given not given the lower internet rate for the room, but charged the higher "rack rate" for the Deluxe room. We were given several lame explantions, all of which meant we weren't going to be charged the lower rate. I found this very offensive, and would not return to this hotel.

We visited our daughter who teaches at Chiang Mai University and used this hotel for our December 11-23, 2005, stay. I booked on-line directly with the hotel, then after speaking with a reservations specialist by phone, I upgraded to a "new deluxe" room on the 7th floor. It seems that the "standard" rooms face busy Huay Kaew street, "deluxe" rooms face the lovely garden side (complete with parakeets in huge cage, pool, tennis courts, water sounds, beautiful trees & flowers). The "new deluxe" rooms are remodeled rooms on both sides of the 6th and 7th floors. On my daughter's advice, I requested "new deluxe" on garden side on 7th (top) floor for the quietest stay. The garden side rooms were not available for our stay, so our balcony instead looked out over the busy street. I rather liked waking up to the sounds of the city, but on next stay will choose the garden side just to escape some of Chiang Mai's nasty street pollution. The breakfast buffet in their Lanna Restaurant was just fabulous and would suit tastes of Asians, Europeans, and Americans. We chose fresh fruit with yogurt, fresh juice and tea, and made-to-order omelets each morning. Eating on the balcony was a delight. Just be sure that you clarify that breakfast is complimentary, as it is an outlandish 625 baht ($15) per person if not complimentary. [As a comparison, our meals in Chiang Mai were about 80 baht per person.] Housekeeping was wonderful. Our king-sized bed was comfy and we were quickly provided 2 extra pillows to supplement the 6 already on the bed. Toilet was western. Shower was wimpy, although clean with plenty of hot water. The guest relations folks were polite and helpful. We were provided transfer to and from the airport in a comfortable new van. Guest relations arranged a car & driver for our daytrip to Doi Inthanon National Park. My husband is not a very adventurous traveler, so this rather Western hotel with wonderful Thai atmosphere was a perfect choice for us. We would definitely choose this hotel again. Regarding location, we didn't mind being a bit of a ride from the old city. Our goal was to be near our daughter's apartment and the University. We traveled around the city on rented motorbike, in tuk-tuks, and in song taos. Traveling the streets of Chiang Mai was definitely part of the adventure.

We spent several nights here and found it to be a very comfortable hotel. It is a little "tired" and can do with with refurbishment. The staff are very efficient and overall we enjoyed our stay here.

The one thing that did irk me (and I never did get round to telling them) was that the extractor fan in the bathroom was extremely filthy and had clearly not been cleaned in a while.

Great service, nice rooms and good rate.

We loved the pool and the food.

We have stayed at the Amari Rincome for each of the last 7 years. It is a medium class hotel which betters many premium establishments for ambience, service, food and value. The rooms ( go for a deluxe ) are more than adequate, the pool is lovely, the staff charming and the food really excellent. It is a cheap 15 minute taxi or songthaew ride into town so is out of the main bustle though still on a busy crossroads; the poolside rooms do not have a noise problem. The daily buffet lunch in the hotel's Italian restaurant is a delicious bargain at B280, half the price of breakfast.

The Amari does not pretend to be a luxury hotel but it is a very pleasant and relaxing place to stay and, at around B3000 per room per night from many sources it is excelleny value.

We loved the atmosphere at the Amari Rincome - a Thai chain that we feel makes you fairly sure of a good stay.

Admittedly it is a little 'tired' in decor but not unpleasantly so and I would say fairly quaint.

Staff lovely, so accommodating - allowed us to leave most of our luggage (free) while we took a 3 day trip into the hills. Pool wonderful. Good breakfasts. Good location - easy access to both the city centre and to the airport whilst not being too noisy or busy outside.

Opposite a huge market which is more for 'locals' than tourists but worth a look.

I am very surprised by the traveler reviews for this hotel. We just stayed there over the Christmas holidays and found it disappointing. I can understand that there are few better options in Chiang Mai, with the Sheraton a bit dated and a bit far from most attractions and the Four Season too far away in the hills. The Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi just opened in December 2004, but is much more pricey and also a bit far from Chiang Mai. Tamarind Village is a popular choice. But, I would want to stay at the Rachamankha (opened May 2004).

The Amari location is great, close enough to the city center and the area around the hotel is full of hustle and bustle and interesting shops. The hotel itself is very old, and badly in need of refurbishment. The foyer had eye sore signs of wear and tear. Our room was not much better, with smelly carpets, soft uncomfortable beds, balding blankets, poor lighting, clean but very basic bathrooms, limited hot water, and an allocation of two 500ml bottles of drinking water a day. We felt like we were staying in an Ibis, but at twice the price and not as clean. Breakfast was okay, with a wide range of hot dishes including pancakes, waffles, eggs, as well as local asian dishes but the quality of the preparation was average. We tried to cut our stay short as soon as we arrived, but was told that we were locked into a 4-night package stay including a obligatory USD60/person Christmas dinner. This was news to us since we had not pre-paid and nowhere in our correspondence did it indicate that we were locked into a 4-night package without the ability to cancel. We were too exhausted to argue and so we were pretty much resigned to stay for the duration.

On our first night, we went to the Rachamankha for dinner. We took a walk around the property and was thoroughly impressed with the style and atmosphere of the place. Of course, it was fully booked up as it has only a few (23) rooms and is very popular. The dinner menu was extensive, beautifully presented, and reasonably priced. However, we found the food just okay.

The following morning, a family emergency cut our trip short. After considerable discussions with the hotel manager and with the assistance of our travel agent, we managed to cancel the rest of our stay with minimal additional charges.

Very nice hotel! Beautiful ambience and clean, comfortable rooms. Location however was a little bit quieter than what we wanted, but overall you can't go wrong here.

Have stayed at Amari Rincome two or three times and would thoroughly recommend it.

Very reasonable prices but rooms good (try to get one overlooking the pool) and breakfasts excellent. Pool is also very very good.

One thing less impressive is the Lanna restaurant which I think is expensive. So many places to eat in the centre of Chiang Mai that are better value, including the Night Market. Get a tuktuk into town.