Champasak Palace, Pakse

December 2011

Despite warnings, I still had high expectations for the Champasak Palace hotel. I had hoped for a faded glory, but glory nonetheless. Well, the hotel is definitely faded, that's for sure. It's another sad case where a little care and elbow grease (plus some bleach) would make a world of difference. It's not that it's awful, it's not just all it easily could be.

The hotel really did start out to be the residence for a prince, but it was abandoned in 1974 when the Pathet Lao took over. It was used as a communist party meeting place and guest house before a Thai company successfully negotiated to turn it into a hotel in 1995. The building features big wide wrap-around balconies, and most rooms either run from one balcony to the other, or occupy a corner. By opening all the doors, you can catch the breezes which blow down the Mekong gorge. Unfortunately, with the windows closed, the rooms are rather dark.

The bathroom of my room appeared to have been recently renovated, and was nicely done. But the rest of the room was not just tired, it was exhausted. The paint was peeling off the wall in places and the carpet was more appropriate for a pool area than even a three-star hotel. The free wi-fi wasn't reachable from the room, and was only usable, barely, in the lobby and restaurant.

Breakfast in the hotel coffee shop was very lackluster, with little on offer and almost no service. The hotel doesn't have any other facilities, even though there is a lot of unused space. In parts, it's in a bad state of disrepair, although most of that is away from the public eye.

Hotel facilities include a restaurant.

Rooms feature air conditioning, hot and cold water, color television (several channels), IDD telephones and hair dryer.

Pluses: Quirky charm.

Minuses: Poorly maintained.

Rooms at the Champasak Palace may be booked through Agoda.