Phnom Penh is still very much in its infancy when it comes to tourism development, 
and this even includes the way certain properties within the city are run. On the luxury end of the market there is not really a great deal of choice of hotels but the choice is more than enough to satisfy every possible taste, and please the most frequent of travellers. What we discovered on our way around the hotels is that one should not carry pre-conceived ideas as to what is the best, which is the most luxurious etc as Phnom Penh is full of small surprises and our choice for the most luxurious hotel would surprise many. There are a couple of things you should know about Phnom Penh. One is that the hotels are not cheap, hoteliers will tell you that this is because all materials have to be imported. Connecting to the internet is also a chore and an expensive one. Please read our separate guide to Connect to the Internet in Phnom Penh. The other is that there seems to be no standard plug in any of the hotels, each of the hotels we visited had a different type of plug, whether it be a Thai standard, French standard or English standard so we do suggest that you take a couple or one multi adapter along with you.
When choosing a hotel within Phnom Penh, the location is not such a major concern as traffic while it can be bad during the rush hours can be easily avoided and is no worse than any other major city. Location in terms of attractions close by, should be a major consideration as this will allow you to enjoy a little of Phnom Penh’s nightlife and restaurants without being restricted to a hotel or having to take a taxi.
The river area is perhaps the finest location in that regard, as the quaint shop houses that run along the river offer everything from fine dining to everyday French or Khmer cuisine, in an unusual almost Mediterranean like setting with outdoor cafes and such. Being close to the river also allows you the opportunity to see first hand just how enormous the Mekong is.
Please note that some hotels accept limited types of credit card, we strongly suggest you check directly with the hotel prior to departure whether they accept the card you plan to pay with.
Below we review all the major hotels in Phnom Penh, some are available for reservations online with special discounted rates and others not yet. We have also compiled a Hidden Hotel Costs of Hotels in Phnom Penh to show you some of the ‘hidden costs’ of the hotels where you may choose to stay.
In our continuing series of Hidden Hotel Costs which has already covered, Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila, we move to the capital of Cambodia and look at what you can expect to pay for some of the hidden hotel costs in Phnom Penh’s finest properties.
As in our other such surveys we have taken what we believe to be generic products which most hotels should offer clients and ones which guests may well be tempted to use. The Coffee is the price of a coffee in the hotels main lobby area. The coke is the price of a Coke or Pepsi in the rooms mini bar. The shirt is the cost of getting a mans long sleeved shirt laundered (not dry cleaned) through the hotels laundry. The club sandwich and fried rice are the prices of respective items through room service. The cost of the telephone call is the price the hotel charges per minute for a local call to a regular telephone (not mobile which carries a different price), this is very important because that is how you will be connecting to the internet if you use your own computer. The cost of the incoming fax is how much the hotel charges you for faxes they receive for you, most hotels do not charge if less than 10 pages are received at any one time but surprisingly we found one that did !
Hotels Coffee Coke (minibar) Shirt (laundry) Club S/wich (RS) Fried Rice (RS) Tell Call (local 1 min) Incoming Fax
La Parranda US$ 1.75 ++ US$ 2 + US$ 2 ++ n/a US$ 2.50 ++ US$ 0.50 1 Page = US$ 1
InterContinental US$ 3.00 ++ US$ 3 + US$ 3 ++ US$ 6 ++ US$ 7.50 ++ US$ 0.10 FOC
Sunway Hotel US$ 2.50 ++ US$ 2 + US$ 2.80 ++ US$ 7 ++ US$ 6 ++ US$ 0.10 FOC (-10)
City Villa = = = = = US$ .03 =
Raffles Le Royal US$ 3.00 ++ US$ 3.50 + US$ 3 ++ US$ 8 ++ US$ 10 ++ US$ 0.30 FOC
Mi Casa US$ 2.50 ++ n/a US$ 2.80 ++ n/a n/a US$ 0.12 FOC
Cambodiana US$ 2.80 ++ US$ 2.50 + US$ 2.80 ++ U$ 8 ++ US$ 5 ++ US$ 0.20 FOC (-10)
Amanjaya US$ 1.20 nett US$ 1 + US$ 3.75 ++ US$ 5.50 ++ US$ 3.50 ++ US$ 0.10 FOC
So why do we do these time consuming surveys you ask ? The reason is quite simple, in that we believe you can see a lot about the management of a hotel through its ‘hidden hotel costs’ and how the management views your comfort level and satisfaction. After all once you have checked into the hotel, the hotel has to a certain extent a captive audience, and while spending a little extra here and there may not break the bank, sometimes it can be just infuriating to feel you are being taken for a ride.
Therefore we believe that if the hotel takes your comfort and welfare into consideration into account then there should not really be any surprises in our surveys.
In conclusion we have coloured all the most expensive in each category in red and the best value hotel per category in blue.
The results are really quite staggering (as always with these surveys). The most worrying expense in the survey is at La Parranda who is the most expensive hotel for telephone calls charging a staggering US$ 0.50 per minute for a local call whereas the cheapest is at City Villa at only US$ 0.03 per minute and the average being around US$ 0.10 per minute, although the Raffles Le Royal also charges way over the top for a service that most frequent travellers will require, at US$ 0.30 per minute. La Parranda also stands out as the only hotel we surveyed to charge for incoming faxes whereas most hotels do not charge for this service at least under 10 pages per time.
The amazing Amanjaya Hotel stands out as being the best value in 4 out of seven of the categories, namely coffee, coke, club sandwich and incoming fax but surprisingly has the most expensive shirt laundry service at US$ 3.75 ++.
The highly regarded Raffles Hotel Le Royal stands out for the opposite reason as it manages to be the most expensive in four out of the seven categories namely coffee (shared with InterContinental), coke, club sandwich and fried rice (US$ 10 !!).
The other hotels were very much in the middle of the park with their prices.
While hoteliers can claim that their products are of a superior nature, better service etc, we hope with this survey, to select items that are as generic as possible. We hope you have found this survey useful and we hope even more that it may have helped you save a little on your trip to Cambodia !
