Back in July, I had a dilemma. I was going to Yangon for the first time, but there were no chain hotels besides Traders, and I don’t participate to Shangri-La’s Golden Circle program. Also, the prices of the hotels appeared to be out of whack.
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Then, I found out that Orient-Express had a property in Yangon called The Governor’s Residence hotel and that you could get it at a good discount through Luxury Link. I was able to lower the price of my three night stay from $800++ to $340 all taxes included. You can read my about my experience with booking through Luxury Link here.
Pre-arrival & Arrival Experience
The package that I had booked included airport transfers both ways. I would normally just get a local cab. I contacted the hotel through the web form on their website to inform them about my incoming flight details. TO my surprise they got back to me in a day and informed that a Guest Relations Officer would be waiting for me at the airport.
The hotel representative was holding a sign board with my name in the arrivals hall. It took some time for the car to arrive to the pickup point from the parking area.
Location of the Hotel
The Governor’s Residence is located in the Embassy District of the Yangon. The Thai, Malaysian, Chinese, and Lao embassies are all next door. It is couple of kilometers from the downtown’s hustle & bustle. It is remote enough that you can just relax by the pool and thing that you are somewhere else, but close enough to even walk to the city by foot.
Check In
As the hotel was aware of my arrival due to the car arrangement, everything was ready at the time we pulled at the hotel. I was on the morning flight from the Bangkok and arrived hotel way before the official check in time. Getting the room was not a problem as the July is not a high season in Myanmar.
Room 811
You can get the best idea about the room by watching the video and looking at the pictures that I take. It was fairly spacious room that had a work desk and a separate sitting area in addition to the bed. The television unit was tiny.
The bathroom was fairly sized but the bath tub shower combo just felt out of place in this setting.
Overall I wouldn’t use word luxurious to describe the room I had, but rather boutique.
Fitness Center / Pool
The hotel doesn’t have a fitness center and they don’t have an arrangement with any of the hotels that have to give guests a complimentary access. If you want to access a gym, you need to visit any of the downtown hotels and pay the guest entrance fee.
The hotel had a fairly nice pool and I did even see some people lounging around it. I was somewhat surprised because I wouldn’t come to Yangon to spend time by a hotel pool. According to the hotel, they are very popular starting and ending point of tours that take people around Myanmar to various cities and people like to relax before flying out.
Breakfast
Breakfast was quite extensive, although not as extensive as you would find at most hotels in Bangkok. There were plenty of cold items and eggs/pancake stations. You could sit inside or outside depending on the mood and weather.
The quality of the items was good, but not excellent. One morning I pointed out that the lettuce had seen its better days and they were promptly replaced.
Lunch
On the day of departure, I decided to use the lunch offer that was part of the Luxury Link deal that I got into. The gazpacho was good, but didn’t quite like the risotto I had. The desert was melting down by the time I got it. I was charged $16 for the bottle of San Pellegrino and pot of tea.
Bars
The hotel had a ground floor Kipling bar and second floor Mindon bar. The second floor one was a wonderful open space that has a pool table as well. As one might expect, the prices at both were very high.
Check Out
My flight was leaving early in the evening and my request of 5PM check out was granted. The hotel doesn’t have credit card facilities on hand, but they rather invoice all credit card transactions through their sister property in Laos. They just fill an authorization form that you need to sign and probably fax these once a day to Laos to be processed. This procedure will likely change once all the sanctions are lifted.
Conclusion
This is a lovely hotel and I wouldn’t hesitate to return, if I would be able to get a similar price per night as I got this time through Luxury Link. The hotel is more boutique than a luxury one in my opinion.
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