Exceeded All expectations

My wife and I have stayed in some great hotels in New York, Bangkok, Hong Kong, London and several other places across the globe but this place really is the only hotel that exceeded our expectations in almost every area.... Service, hospitality, style, restaurants and just sheer friendliness.

The experience was so wonderfully relaxed that we stayed 5 days rather than the planned two, which is the first time we have changed travel plans due to a hotel and not the town or country we were visiting. The accommodation is luxourious and very stylish while the menu in the main restaurant is simply to die for...One of their two fab chefs is Joannes Riviere,very friendly for a Frenchman!!! He conjures up wonderful Khemer traditional dishes with a twist and that left our taste buds begging for more...He gives great travel advice too and even briefed a "tuc tuc" driver to show us the temples few tourists get to visit...we had a great day.

The truth is, during our 5 days there we didnt encounter one poor service experience and were constantly delighted by our time at the De La Paix. The black tea shirts worn by the spa team bore the statement "The answer is YES now ask me the question"... What we thought was a marketing gimmick when we read that on the first day, proved to be a way of life at this unique hotel.

The only thing left to say is check out their web site to look at the images...as good as they are they dont do the place justice, trust me, this place was designed by a genius...

Sublime...

Nice place!!

History:

just returned from a trip going to hong kong/vietnam/cambodia/bangkok/singapore/bali/cebu/shanghai.... staying in decent hotels in each place... (shangri-la in singapore)

To begin, I did not stay at this hotel, i stayed at a hotel not so far away from this one. BUT that hotel sucked... compared to this one... each day we would come to this hotel to eat. Everyone at this hotel was soooo nice to us... you have free internet access on the second floor lobby. the pool is very very nice! VERY relaxing... this place is incredible.... I have some VERY high quality pictures if anyone is curious. it's extremely LUXURIOUS! although leaving the hotel, the surroundings do not compare as everything outside the hotel is poor and rundown... it's such a change.

that's all i can comment on as i did not stay at this hotel... just visited the whole place and ate at the snack bar (good pizza / ice cream / coke ) although pretty pricey! roughly 1.50US for a small coke... but i really wanted more westernized food so i didn't mind ;-)

all in all a VERY nice hotel and i'd recommend staying here based on what i saw initially. we didn't even stay at this hotel and everyone was soo nice to us.

Beautiful Hotel and Paying it Forward

I stayed at the Hotel de la Paix in early January 2006. The hotel is absolutely beautiful in a modern decor. The rooms are quite large. The location is in town as opposed to the hotels located on the way to the temples. I didn't view the location as a negative (internet, overseas phone calls, CD burn and the market were right across the street). The staff was pleasing and the food was excellent (try the 7 course khmer dinner). I traveled to Cambodia as a 34 year old female solo traveler and felt very safe at Hotel De La Paix. As with all new hotels there are a few things that need to be ironed out. When I discussed these small inconveniences with the management, my issues were addressed immediately. Additionally, these small mishaps are to be expected no matter which hotel you stay at. The real reason to stay at Hotel de La Paix is to pay it forward. The owner is Cambodian and I heard it directly form the locals. The owner donates money to help the local community, children's hospital etc etc. If you are traveling to Cambodia, my recommendation is to only stay at the Hotel de la Paix or the Shinta Mani (their sister hotel) as a small way to pay it forward.

Highly Recommended

In many ways the stay at de la Paix made our trip. The architecture and Internal decoration is mind blowing though the location in the middle of the town somewhat disappointing...looking out some windows you look into personal accomodations a few meters away. The Staff were most helpful and friendly and the food excellent. We visited other similar rated hotels in Siem reep and they were not a match to Hotel de la Paix

Roni from Uganda

Outstanding new hotel

We stayed here for 4 nights in late November, it was one of the best hotels we have ever visited, especially considering the location (we are used to the Oriental in BKK, Santa Caterina in Amalfi, etc). Absolutely gorgeous and understated decor, a staff that tries so hard to please, an really excellent restaurant (great buffet breakfast and the Khmer set menu was one of the best meals we have ever had, only $25pp). The room had wireless internet access and an IPOD, very comfortable bed and pillows, lovely pool area, spa gave us wonderful massages. Really liked the location - tuk-tuk or even walk to restaurants and the market in town. Every detail was high quality, well worth the cost.

You must stay here if you go to Cambodia

This hotel is really amazing. I am getting my doctorate in Hong Kong for the semester, and I have stayed in at least a dozen hotels in asia, and Hotel de la Paix was the best out of all of them! I brought my parents here when they visited and it really made their trip to asia perfect.

The service at Hotel de la Paix is first rate. If you need anything, they are at your room in a minute to give it to you. The restaurant at the hotel is first rate, and the complimentary breakfast was unforgetable.

My favorite part of the hotel was getting my daily massage after spending a day of visiting the temples.

I hope to visit again one day!

Fabulous end to our honeymoon

We stayed at the Hotel de la Paix for four nights as part of our honeymoon and absolutely loved it.

We booked an Intimate Package for $600 which included three nights b&b, a day tour of the Angkor temples, massage lesson for you and your partner, one butlered breakfast in bed, one dinner etc etc. Fantastic value and it seemed the extras just kept coming. We liked it so much we cancelled our plan to return to HCMC for our final night and stayed a fourth night.

I won't describe the hotel as the two previous reviews have said it all - it is a beautiful hotel with fabulous design. The pool was a real highlight for us - I don't think I've seen a nicer hotel pool anywhere else.

Another big difference to this hotel versus all the other five star places we stayed during our trip (Park Hyatt Saigon, Sofitel Metropole Hanoi and Life Resort Hoi An) was the service with a smile. The staff really seemed to enjoy working there which was a welcome change from the often stuffy / blank type of staff we met in the high-end hotels in Vietnam. Perhaps it's a cultural thing - we found all the Cambodians we met really friendly and gentle.

We ate in the restaurant for dinner on three occasions and found the food to be wonderful - however the breakfast was a highlight with some of the best eggs benedict (cooked to order) I have ever eaten.

Siem Reap itself is a lovely place and the Temples are amazing. If we get the chance to go back we will definitely stay at the de la Paix.

Fantastic and a steal at $165 US!

Let's start by saying that I am connoisseur of luxury hotels and have had a love affair with SE Asia for the last 12 years. Although based in beautiful San Francisco, I travel every chance I get to SE Asia. Thailand, Indonesia, you name it. I have always been enchanted with ancient ruins and recently took my second trip in 3 years to Angkor Wat. I had heard about Hotel de la Paix through one of my friends who is a travel writer who just can't stop raving about it and decided it was worth a chance.

Being a big fan of architecture and Wallpaper, the design of the hotel blew me away. Every where you look in Cambodia all you see is Colonial French architecture. Colonial this, colonial that. After a while it simply gets BORING. (BTW: Why is everyone celebrating the colonial past and not the Khmer present?) Hotel de la Paix is what I would call "contemporary Khmer". It has got elements of contemporary minimalism with the language of the Khmer temples, the tall narrow passage ways, the life sized female statues, the soaring entrance ways.

The restaurant there is also amazing. I would call it the anti-hotel restaurant in that the food is very good and stylish (I hate sterile boring hotel food). The night we were there the chef, a young Aussie guy came out to talk to us. He told us about how they send some guy every morning to go into the forest to forage for some traditional roots to use in the cooking. They had weird things on the menu. Dried snake (tastes like bacon), eel (not bad), all of which was beautifully presented. Don't get me wrong eating at the restaurant is not like something on Fear Factor, rather it was a wonderfully authentic culinary experience.

The rooms itself are very spacious and stylish. They have iPods in every room which you could take out to the temples. Very cool. Furnishings are very contemporary, lots of whites, with dark browns, and a dark polished hardwood floors. The detailing in the room is exquisite.

The one last cool thing, is that the hotel is not part of some gigantic corporate chain. It seems like all the hotels are part of some gigantic chain. Le Meridian, Sofitel, even the Raffles is a large Singaporean chain. It is part of the Small Luxury Hotel network but it is cool to know that the owner is actually Cambodian and that the money is going to stay in Cambodia and not some corporate gorilla. Very cool.

Amazing Hotel, Amazing Service

This hotel has only been open 3 weeks so I didn;t know whether to book there. Instead I chose to stay at FCC .... well for 1 night, until we checked out and checked into Hotel De La Paix .... WOW what a difference. The service and staff were great, from the moment we stepped into the lobby.

The Bedroom: We stayed in a Deluxe room $165 a night (offer stay 3 nights and only pay for 2). Beautiful room and bathroom, fantastic bed. White walls with some black and white pictures of Angkok Wat. Very stylish.

The Pool: It has part of the pool in the sun and part in the shade. A really lovely pool and the pool attendent was great. Water when you wanted it, sun block if needed ... as I said great.

The Restaurant: Again very stylish. Dark browns and straight lines. The food we had was the best of our holiday so far ... definitely.

The Bar: Wow, the bar changes colour and is stunning, the only thing was that as not many people were staying it was quite.

The Location: Great, on the main street, walking distance to Pub Street where there are some good restaurants. In Touch for Thai food and Karma Sutra forvery good Indian food.

I would definietly recommend this hotel. The other element is that is is owned by the same people as Shinta Mani, so the money is going towards educating and training street kids. In fact when the kids have done the 1 year programme at Shinta Mani they are employed at this hotel. Also the kitchen staff help run the local school.