From pre-arrival through check-out, we had a perfect experience with Bann Tazala's staff. I'm a million mile frequent flyer and am quite familiar with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Ritz Carlton and Shangri-la properties in San Francisco Bay Area, Bangkok, Tokyo and Hong Kong. For Chiang Mai, the suite at Bann Tazala caught my eye so we gave it a try. The reviews to date were mixed so I factored down my expectations, but as it turned out, there was no need. Pre-arrival, I emailed the hotel with my thoughts about how we want to spend 4 days/3 nights in Chiang Mai. The hotel staff responded with recommendations for how to schedule the activities across the days and then arranged for Tana, a very experienced tour guide to take care of us for the duration. At check-in, Ann made it a very easy process and graciously showed us to our suite (at the very back of the property). We walked through the 3-4 courtyards, past the dining room, the pool, the "family room", the library, the other guest rooms and arrived at the entrance to the suite (overlooking a koi pond). The suite was perfect for our family of 4 (kids 9 and 11) and had 2 AC units. One unit cooled the front sitting room. The second (and larger) unit cooled the bedroom and the adjoining dressing area/bath room. All the rooms were very well appointed with high quality sheets, towels, mattress, leather sofa, etc. We didn't try out either of the LCD TVs nor the outdoor Jacuzzi tub in a private garden (accessed through the shower). We had plenty of space to spread out all our stuff for the trip and not get in each other's way. The decor is consistent with a traditional wealthy family compound that one might find in China circa 100-200 years ago. I enjoyed the different courtyards and the different standalone rooms: dining room, family room, library. I thought the hotel just updated an existing compound, but was informed that they built all of it from the ground up about 7 years ago (around the same time as the Mandarin Oriental across the narrow street). The breakfast is delicious and the staff are friendly and helpful. I felt very much at home during the entire stay. The price/room is great compared to MOH across the street or Four Seasons across town, but is higher than the typical hotel in Chiang Mai. For our purposes, it was an excellent value. I did peek into a standard room and it seems to be a good size for a couple, but not large enough to include kids. Maybe a toddler can comfortably fit. Bottom line: strongly recommend this hotel for its service, amenities and location (easy to get to anywhere via car). And strongly recommend the Suite (especially for families).…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.