Review of Bagan King 3*

We stayed at Bagan King for 2 nights in July 2015. The airport is located a bit out of town so the drive in took about 45 minutes and cost 12.000 Kyats. The building stands out a bit on the corner as it seems to be a pretty new building and with 6 floors it is higher than buildings around it. Check in was fast and we got room 402. The small elevator worked just fine but it was also possible to take the staircase. The room had dark wooden floor, light walls and dark furniture. The bed was a bit on the hard side but decent enough and I was pleased to see that there was decent reading light for use in the bed. There was an open wardrobe with a few hangers and a small safe, a small table with two chairs, some complimentary water and also a kettle for making tea or coffee. There was a small fridge that had Coke, beer etc and 1 Coke was 1.5 USD and can of beer was 2 USD. The decoration in the room was a bit “tacky” – the phone was made in an old school style and the lighting above the bed was shaped like the watchtower in the palace – a bit much in my opinion. To get internet access we got a code on a small piece of paper that could only be used on one device. It worked fine on my iPhone but when I went to get a code for my iPad it didn’t work. After a lot of running back and forth (or up and down I should say), they said that there were some problems with iPads so the receptionist had to put my iPad ID into the server and that gave me access directly. It should have been easier to get access. The bathroom was a bit of a disaster to be honest. There were a few amenities which were great – I think there was even shaving kit and tooth brush. The shampoo and shower gel was also good but came in bottle with a narrow opening so it took forever to poor some liquid out of the bottle. The golden round basin was a mounted on a dark furniture. The shower was the problem with the bathroom – it had a nice rainforest showerhead but no doors or curtains – so when taking a shower there would be water everywhere (including the toilet that was right next to the shower. This was annoying as it was difficult to use the bathroom for a while after taking a shower. An improvement would be to get some fold in shower doors mounted. The breakfast is served in the restaurant on the 6th floor and it has a good view of the city – there was even a telescope pointing right at Mandalay Hill. The breakfast was not epic in any way – a bit of bread, a bit of cereal and eggs made according to your order. The staff was helpful when we asked them to organize a guide for us for the day. The hotel location is in the middle of town – the moat of Mandalay palace is only a couple of hundred meters down the street. But keep in mind that you can only enter the palace through the entrance on the east side these days. There are some restaurants within walking distance of the hotel and there is also a small convenience store called g & g a short walk from the hotel. Conclusion: a room that was fine but a bathroom that is not working very well as water splashes everywhere when you take a shower. The Wi-Fi setup was not very good and the breakfast was not impressive. If I go to Mandalay I will probably look at other hotel alternatives.