Bangkok Hotels

For those Westerners feeling a touch of culture shock, there are Bangkok hotels with familiar names on them throughout the city. The Sheraton should offer some comfort, even if it's actually the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit. The Peninsula, meanwhile, will warm the cockles of many hearts, especially those that are used to the Peninsula in Chicago, Illinois and other American cities that advertise its five-star service and amenities.

Those who haven't visited Bangkok themselves but have had friends and family members stay in Thailand have undoubtedly heard the same sentiment expressed repeatedly: "It's so cheap!" This is not some dastardly conspiracy by Americans in the know to sucker their frugal friends back home into visiting a secretly extravagant city and nation. Bangkok, like Phuket, Pattaya, and Khao Lak-Lam Ru, suffers from a devalued currency that tempts some Westerners to erect empires in Thailand.

Staying in Bangkok Hotels

One worry Americans have when booking their Bangkok hotels is a lofty language barrier. Indeed, the chances of your speaking flawless Thai over the phone when arranging your reservations are slim, but most Bangkok hotels have staffs that speak passably understandable English. The city is, after all, dependent on foreign tourist dollars for its own sustenance, which has encouraged many Thais to pick up the language.

While hotels in Bangkok are still comparatively cheap--at least when compared with top lodging choices in, say, Brussels or Paris--there are plenty of luxury hotels designed for business travelers, wealthy vacationers, and celebrities on holiday. Some, such as the Banyan Tree Bangkok and the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, even feature rooms that run as high as 1,000 dollars a night. Aside from these exceptions, most of the city's premier stays can be had for well under 200 dollars a day.